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March 2017
Sport
News
Great demand for BS 10k Run places
Three Brooks nature report for February By Sara Messenger, Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group
Workdays
ENTRIES have opened for the 2017 renewal of the Bradley Stoke 10k Run, to be held on Sunday 11th June as part of the town’s community festival. But you’ll need act quickly if you wish to take part, as more than 500 of the 650 places available have already been snapped up. Organised by local ladies-only running club Sole Sisters, the
race starts and finishes at the Jubilee Centre. The race route takes in much of the Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve as well as stretches along Brook Way and Bradley Stoke Way. ● To find out more about the race and how to enter, visit the Bradley Stoke 10k page on the BSJ website: http://bit.ly/bs10k
Our recent workdays have mostly been filled with coppicing, which is cutting hazel tree trunks down to ground level, so that in the spring, many new straight new stems will grow again from the base. Although it may look harsh, the tree does not die but is rejuvenated and most managed woodlands have a rolling programme of coppicing hazel every seven years or so. We’ve also coppiced the large willows down by the lower newt pond, as these are getting too big to have beside paths and houses. The wood from these has been put aside to be made into some more simple seating around the reserve. Our next workdays are on 4th March and 1st April.
Spring has arrived
The pond life on the reserve is beginning to stir with a few frogs and newts putting in an early appearance and we have enjoyed watching the birds eagerly checking out the new bird boxes we have been installing as part of National Nest Box week. We are so pleased with our new woodcrete boxes that we have placed an order for another 30. All the boxes are numbered and their place marked on a map, so this year we will have more of a chance of remembering where we put them!
The lake
Before much of the lake area is cordoned off for the planned Wessex Water work, we decided to get in early with an extra day’s volunteering. Green Gym made two floating platforms and these were launched on Sunday. We’ve never tried this before and we think we overdid the floatation side of things, as they are floating very much higher than we expected! But thank you to the three children who were brave enough to sit on board to test them for us, although if they hadn’t sunk under me I think they were always going to be fairly safe! The launch was nearly postponed, as the local superstore was unable to cut any fake turf for the platforms, but Almondsbury Garden Centre offered us some of their store off-cuts for free. Then the added height meant that we had to add a ramp for the birds to get on board, but by the afternoon everything was ready and the platforms were towed out to the island by kayak. The platforms have been secured to a tree on the island as we felt that if we needed to maintain them it would be easier to pull them back in than trying to retrieve anchors in the middle of the lake – although most of the lake has only a foot or so of water, the mud is quite deep and treacherous.
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