11/08/16 - Aviva return

Following two visits earlier in the year which included helping to construct a boardwalk at Skipwith Common NNR and more recently building nest boxes at the NNR base, staff from Aviva returned once again as part of their corporate volunteering time. 16 members from the York branch spent a day at Thornton Ellers helping us to continue with the hay cut – whilst the sun shone! The fen vegetation was cut around the Alder Carr woodland and raked into valuable habitat piles, whilst some of the team also helped clear the wood of the invasive Himalayan Balsam, which will help the natural ground flora to recover and flourish.

It was hard work trying to keep up with cutting enough vegetation for all the busy ‘rakers’ who did a fantastic job. We were amazed with how much the team managed to achieve during the day, whilst the NNR team also fitted in a bird ringing demonstration which included two young Treecreepers. Many thanks to the team for their efforts throughout the day and special thanks to local birder, Duncan Bye, for arranging the volunteering time from Aviva.

Earlier in the week our team of volunteers had also been hard at work at the Ellers, strimming balsam and helping out with the annual hay cut in the meadow. Each year we cut this area using our allen scythe and then rake it by hand as the ground is too soft and delicate for larger machinery to travel over. By cutting and removing the vegetation it helps the site maintain the diversity of flowers and grasses, which once again will be used as a green seed source for the grassland restoration project at Leven Carrs – more to follow on this soon. Many thanks to the team for all their efforts on the day.