Medway and Coastal Wetlands Volunteers - December Update

• The Protected Area Wardens have relaunched the Wilder Coast volunteer scheme and are looking to extend it to the Swale Area coastal sites.  

• The Environment Agency have begun repair work on two sections of Oare Marshes sea wall where there is a risk of breach from the sea.  

• Work continues at Oare to return large areas of the Western side back to grazing marsh after it has been allowed to develop into reedbed. Grazing has again proved successful and is followed up by volunteer cutting and clearing remaining areas. 

As the season changes, volunteers finish cutting footpaths and repairing fences before starting scrub cutting. For sites like Peters Pit and Holborough Marsh, most of the scrub cutting needs completing before the sites become too wet. At Peters Pit, we have mainly been focused around the ponds, cutting reed, reed mace and encroaching scrub, making sure the ponds stay in good condition for great crested newts. At Holborough, scrub along the ditches have been cut, to prevent them becoming too shaded for water voles. We were visited by a couple of stonechats, inspecting the hard work of the team. 

A section of the wader scrape at Holborough was also cut, to allow better views from the screen of any waders or ducks using the wet grassland. Although at first, getting to the island in the middle proved difficult, as it was a little bit too deep for wellies, through determination and the construction of a bridge using old fence posts and the reed that had just been cut, the volunteers were able to get across and rake up the cuttings and move them to the fire.  

At Wouldham Common, the roaming Wednesday group cut an area known as “Beekeepers”, cutting the scrub, and allowing space for chalk grassland flowers such as wild thyme and bird’s foot trefoil space to grow. I’m sure the Thursday team are grateful for the Wednesdays on leaving some raking for them to finish off. As well as cutting Beekeepers, the main track at Wouldham and sections of the rides were also cut. This creates glades for butterflies and moths and the dead hedged material provides corridors for small mammals to protect them from predators as they move around.  

I would like to thank both the Wednesday team and the Thursday team for their hard work and dedication, and to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.