During planned re-roofing works on Ivy South, Woodland and Ivy North hides, it was found that some of the wooden support posts had rotted through causing certain sections of the structures to subside! This caused some of the windows to jam, the gutters to sag, and in time the floor beams too would have rotted too. Whilst the contractors were still on site, we decided to address the issues straight away. After levelling the hides, the old posts were removed and replaced with concrete slabs and a layer of damp proof membrane to prevent rising damp.
Although this additional work set the completion date back by a few weeks, we hope that it will have extended the life of the hides by a good number of years! With this in mind, we took pre-emptive action to level and re-roof Lapwing hide while we were at it!
Minor repairs were all that were needed to refurb the Ivy South and Lapwing access ramps however Ivy North and Woodland ramps needed replacing entirely. We’re relieved to say that the work is now complete, and that all the hides are open, accessible and dry once again for everyone to enjoy.
With the hides up together again, we have now turned our attention to finishing another big infrastructure project on the reserve – the ever popular boardwalk. With staff changes, weather extremes and increased material costs, the odds have been stacked against us, however good progress has been made and we are anticipating to finish the work in the early part of 2023.
We are super excited to have this open soon for the thousands of people that visit Blashford each year to enjoy once again! A huge thank you again to everyone who donated towards this project appeal – it wouldn’t have been possible without you!
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 
Fabulous progress.
Well done. Wood rots !
looks good ,hope to be there in september
Great work by all. We will be popping down for a visit as soon as the weather (and us) thaws out a bit. Continued support by members and visitors, is vital to keep this wonderful reserve going for future generations. I am sure the wildlife is grateful too.
Steve and Chris.
Looking forward to my invite to the boardwalk grand opening soon!