I arrived for my second day at Snipe Dales full of anticipation, wondering how it would be different to my last visit just over a month ago. Unlike in July, when I turned up to Snipe Dales I was not just greeted by James, but also one of his regular volunteers, Andy. I was instantly amazed by Andy’s commitment and knowledge of the site, which he has been volunteering at once a week for over 6 years. It was clear how much James appreciated his help and there was a real sense of camaraderie between them. It’s a pleasant reminder of how important the volunteers and the work they do is for Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, no matter where or how often someone chooses to help out.

After hearing the list of jobs for the day, we set out to the first task: to cut down a dead cherry tree. The tree, which I believe had some kind of fungal disease, was very close to the path, and with the roots also dead, a strong wind could manage to completely topple it.  Usually felling is carried out in the winter but because of the risk to safety it needed to be carried out now. James noted that in several directions there was something we would need to avoid, such as a relatively new bench one side and an oak tree on the other. It also didn’t help that the path was on a steep incline and the direction the tree was naturally leaning wasn’t ideal. This meant getting the right cut was crucial, and as I discovered on the day, there are plenty of complex cuts that all have quite a quirky name – the one James used was known as a ‘pie’ cut (probably best to YouTube it than have me give a confusing explanation of what that involves).

In no time at all the tree was down (and nothing or no one was harmed in the process) making it a very successful start to the day. However, the site was already starting to get busy and this meant we needed to get the tree out of the path asap and all of the branches cleared away. Just as I was ready to break a sweat and move the heavy tree stem myself, James got in his tractor and cleared the whole way in well under 5 minutes. He explained to me that they tried to keep the parts of the tree as large as possible when cutting them as the bigger they are, the better they are at protecting and homing fungi and invertebrates, especially against extreme weather such as frost. So even in the first job of the day, there was yet again the example of multiple benefits from a single task – dangerous tree down, some of the trunk cut into discs for Gibraltar Point’s insects and homes and shelter made for the wildlife at Snipe Dales too.

We carried on with some of the usual tasks of checking over the livestock at various places of the reserve. This month we were treating the cattle with fly repellent which needs to be applied once every 4 weeks. The purpose was to make the cows more comfortable which then encourages them to be more adventurous and graze more of the area. They were so grateful, they followed us all the way to the gate, clearly not wanting us to leave…

I asked James if the recent amount of excessive rain had been affecting the site which he replied that it definitely had. Access has been limited which you wouldn’t necessarily expect in August, meaning you would have to park further away and make your way to some of the places on foot. This adds significant time throughout the day to each job, making it feel like a race against time to get everything done. Also because of the rain, lots of grass has been growing so they need to cut the paths more regularly. There are 6 and a half miles of paths in Snipe Dales so not only is this incredibly time consuming, but James doesn’t want to do it too much because of the carbon emissions. Once again, it is about striking a balance.

After a morning packed full of jobs taking us all over the site, we squeezed in some lunch sat on a log somewhere deep into Snipe Dales. There were plenty of people around enjoying a connection to nature and it was nice to see how many came up to us and had a conversation about the reserve. After lunch, Andy and I made our way to Furze Hill (a nature reserve neighbouring Snipe Dales) whilst James continued with other jobs – there were plenty of them! It was great to have some time to chat with Andy why he helps out and see how well he can get on with certain things even without James there at every moment. He truly has an admirable passion for wildlife which drives him to help preserve it.

As I realise there was a lot that happened to pack into just one blog, I will wrap up with our last job of the day – a flooded path at the edge of Snipe Dales, near to Furze Hill. This was probably one of the biggest consequences of the rain we have had over the last few months. A pipe that was used to drain the water down the hill under the path had been blocked, meaning the water had nowhere to run except onto the path. This was obviously not ideal on one of the most popular walking routes the site has, so it was our job to unblock the pipe. As I was dressed more appropriately for communications than I was for jumping in the mud and digging out a path for the water to run, I watched safely from dry land as they pulled out lots of roots that had gotten into the pipe and prevented the water from flowing through. With the pipe unblocked, the path should have hopefully be drained by the following day. James did mention whilst we were there that it was an unusual thing to be doing in August, usually something you would expect to do in November/ December time. It will be interesting to see as the year goes on how much is different from usual, and how James reacts to manage it.

It is also worth mentioning I escaped toilet duty again this month – we will have to see if September is third time unlucky!