Habitat Improvements at Bicester Wetland Reserve
In January 2019 the BOS received a grant from Thames Water and this enabled us to hire an 8 tonne excavator and driver for 3 full days of work on the reserve.
In the past few months we have experienced difficulties in moving water through the reserve while at the same time maintaining the shallow depths to pools to ensure muddy edges are exposed and attracting waders such as Common Snipe. By digging trenches we were able to lay two additional drain pipes at the southern end of the reserve and increase the flow of water drained thus helping us maintain the desired levels.
A second task was to scrape away sections of unwanted vegetation such as hard rush Juncus inflexus at water edges and on the retaining bunds to expose mud and allow observers clear views.
Our thanks to Ian Crump Biodiversity Field Officer at Thames Water for his help and encouragement.
We have also had a work party reed cutting, involving Reg Tipping and his team plus some of the regular users of the reserve. The reed bed attracts Water Rail, Reed Bunting and good numbers of Reed Warblers in the spring and summer and in recent months a Cetti’s Warbler has also been in residence.
Alan Peters, Volunteer Warden