A Good Reed

By Peter Burnett

Volunteer, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

Today is Tuesday, so I would normally not be at home tapping away on a keyboard. Despite the torrential rain expected in the next few hours, I would rather have been out in the reedbeds near Castle Water at Rye Harbour. I would have been cutting and collecting willows which continually threaten to crowd out the reeds there, or helping to manage a bonfire of cut willows, along with a dozen others in a work-party.

Unfortunately, the recent rise in water levels there has meant that the target site is no longer accessible without chest waders, and not really viable for the team of a dozen or so volunteers that would have made up the work-party. You might think we could just deploy to a drier area, but the fact is that preparing for a one-day work-party of hard-working volunteers, usually takes Ranger, David King, and a few helpers at least two days, every week. The site has to be selected and mapped; bridges may need to be built across the deeper ditches; a large area needs to be brush-cut and raked up to provide a safe bonfire site; paths through the brambles need to be cut to reach the site. Above all, it can take a day to cut down enough willows (using a chainsaw) to keep a work-party occupied. Even after several years, I am often amazed how much we are able to collect, drag, cut up and burn in a day...even with the tea and lunch breaks.

A smouldering pile of ashes, and no unburnt willows, is a satisfying reward at the end of the day. Bit by bit we are changing the landscape from clumps of reeds interspersed by lines and thickets of willows, to one vast and impressive reedbed. The work there will never be completely finished, but we’ll certainly give it a damned good try.