Management work in the winter of 2007-8
Pictures on this page are by volunteer David Cole and Warden, Martin Kerman.
Wetland management
One of the regular winter jobs on the reserve is to cut down the vegetation on the large islands in Lagoon 1 in order to make them more attractive to waders such as Lapwing and Golden Plover. The vegetation could provide cover for predators, so the plovers much prefer open terrain. Before this work can be carried out, the water level in the lagoon needs to drop so, for several days, the plates on the sluice gates are removed and water flows out into the main reservoir.

In the style of Hereward the Wake?... a causeway to the island
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Brown's Island
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(Photos: Lloyd park) |
Weekend workparties and other volunteering
There are many varied opportunities at Rutland Water - please see the Volunteering page of this website for details. Why not come along to a Weekend Work Party?. On the last Sunday every month a group is working somewhere on the Reserve: perhaps coppicing, perhaps hedging, perhaps cutting areas of the reed bed - whatever work needs doing at the time. Please phone Julia on 01572-770651 beforehand and find out exactly where and what the work will be.
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If you click here you will find pictures and explanation of some of this management work carried out during the winter of 2007-8. |
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Creating a new wetland
Over the next three years Anglian Water will be creating vast new wetland areas at the west end of the reservoir. There are more details of why this is being done on the Anglian Water website. The first major construction is of a large new lagoon, west of the existing Lagoons 2 and 3.
The pictures show the preliminary work that took place before the major earth moving began.

There will be a strip of land about 100m wide between Lagoon 3 and the new lagoon. It is important to create an easy flyway to the new lagoon for the wildfowl and so the young oak plantation is being clear-felled and the hedgerow coppiced. All this work has been done by the Reserve's own staff and volunteer team

Much of the wood that has been removed has been turned into chippings which will be left in piles to create good habitat for reptiles.
Warden, Martin Kerman writes:
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Below is hedge, newly and expertly laid by Ray Sykes, defining a walkway leading to the old Plover Hide. The plan is to replace this with a double storey hide looking in both directions over the existing Lagoon 3 and the new big lagoon behind it. The area of blackthorn to the right of the hedge will require coppicing to keep the height down to allow a flyway for wildfowl betweenthe two lagoons.
Before the construction work proper was started, 32 channels like the one below were dug in order to check that there are no significant archaeological remains. When the reservoir was constructed 30 years ago, signs of Roman occupation were found and one of the channels did reveal part of a Roman road with a ring and some tiles. However, no major constructions were located and archaeologists are happy for the excavation work to go ahead.

Raised islands and a Kingfisher bank
Warden, Martin Kerman writes:
The islands on lagoon I have been remodelled and raised in height due to the unusually high water levels last year which caused significant problems for nesting birds, particularly Common Terns. The work has been done to prevent a repeat of this. At the same time a Kingfisher bank was built in front of the visitor centre to encourage, you guessed it, Kingfishers to possibly breed. We also hope they will use the pond as a fishing area which will provide superb views of a striking bird.
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