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July/August 2021
News
Three Brooks nature reserve report for June By Sara Messenger of the Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group
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radley Stoke Green Gym continues to meet every Thursday and has even managed to grow, welcoming several new members to our group, some with two legs and some with four! Although we have been hampered at times by the rain, we have managed to complete a huge amount of work, even though we were still required to meet in groups of six or less, which is why, at times, you may see small groups of us heading off in different directions. Mostly this works well, so I am not going to mention at all that the boys, when left unsupervised by the girls, managed to lose our grappling hook in the lake! The earth bank near the Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS) Primary Phase entrance has had its annual trim, which took a lot longer than expected both because of the weather, the amount of bramble that seems to have sprung up and the number of children keener on chatting to us than finishing their ‘weekly mile’. Although we are not keen on once again replacing the skate park hedge line, as despite the canes and guards they do seem to get mown on a regular basis, we have managed to plant more trees, many donated by local company CGI. Before planting we are requested to get a tree planting licence from SGC and we do try to, but as this often takes so long to arrive, if at all, we choose to use our common sense when planting. Officialdom sometimes appears to move at the speed of the continental drift!
Apple bench
In the community orchard alongside the path behind BSCS we have a beautiful ‘apple bench’ which was carved from a single piece of sweet chestnut by artist Andy O’Neil. Unfortunately, the
structure leans backwards so the rainwater pools and rots the seat. Although we have repaired it in the past, I was keen on solving the root problem, so I suggested to the ‘boys’ that we could just lift the back an inch or so. “It will be easy,” I said. “It won’t take long,” I said. I cannot tell you what, after a couple of hours had passed and a fingernail or two had been sacrificed, they said! Who knew that like an iceberg there seemed to be more beneath the surface than above? We had to return the following week with more tools, but with equal parts of muttering and mattocking, the seat has now been tilted forward just enough for the water to run off. I am confident that the boys and I will soon be on speaking terms again! For a rare change, we spent a session in the water as we spotted that, at the Three Brooks lake, the Stoke Brook entrance was clogged up with reeds, over hanging branches and general debris. Although the shoals of fish didn’t appreciate sharing their space with us, clearing it back has greatly improved the width and speed of the flow into the lake, as well as letting us have some fun!
Water voles
Several of us have undertaken some water vole training and Green Gym are very keen to take forward some ideas on how to improve the brooks and the surrounding habitat for them. We used to have water voles in the reserve, but we haven’t seen any evidence of them for several years now. Although we don’t know what led to the decline of our colony, we are hopeful that with the right habitat they could return. Sadly, we also learnt that they have been lost from 94 percent of historical sites and that they are on the Red List as they are Britain’s most rapidly declining mammal. In 1989 there were an estimated 7.3 million
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