The actual work party for November is on Sunday 19^th November at 10:30 at Blue Beck Copse. Some may not be aware of this area but we have been quietly managing it over the years having planted it in the 1990’s. The Copse is to the north of the site, just north of Blue Beck where it joins the Ings Dyke and south of the New Meadow where the Tansy Beetles are on the bank. The plan is to coppice some of the hazel and willow there and hopefully we will be joined by Leilah of Dragon Willow and a friend of hers, who can make use of the cuttings, otherwise we will be disposing of way from the floodplain.

On Friday 24^th November from about 10:00 am we are hoping to mount the remaining Barn Owl nest box on a tree in the Copse Meadow. The Copse Meadow is to the west of the cycle track as it leaves Rawcliffe Meadows and heads towards our copse a few hundred metres north. The trees are along the Ings Dyke.

Thanks to Anne Heathcote and the Freshwater Habitats Trust we are now getting several pairs of chest waders, pond gloves and a crome ( a sort of bent fork that’s great for clearing ditches and ponds), which will come in handy for Sunday 3^rd December’s second assault on the Typha in the water voles scrape in the Reservoir Basin (from 10:30, as usual). We’ll probably need a third session there in the New Year, the programme for which is currently being planned. The annual report will soon be started too, so any recordings welcome in due course!