Volunteer Newsletter - August 2023

VolunteerNews

The latest news and highlights for the Volunteers of Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust

Finn Miskin-Young

In each issue we will feature a 'Spotlight' on one of our volunteers

In this issue, we look into Finn's journey as a volunteer within the Wildlife Trust

It’s been nearly two years now since I turned up to Cossington Meadows, my local LRWT reserve, standing cluelessly in front of a soon to be coppiced willow about to wield a bow saw for the very first time. Although my sawing prowess may have only marginally improved, ever since this day volunteering with Trust has become an essential part of my life!

For me, one of the most rewarding aspects of working with the LRWT has been the deepened sense of connection to a county I’ve called home for most of my life Having now visited nearly every reserve and volunteered in all months of the year, I’ve been able to appreciate not only the remarkable mosaic of wild places and wildlife that make up Leicestershire and Rutland, but how the LRWT works to both preserve and evolve these things. It’s been especially satisfying to revisit reserves from one year to the next and see the impact our work as volunteers can make even on such a short time scale, whether that be gradually fighting back bracken at Charnwood Lodge or seeing the vegetation makeup of the meadow at Tilton Cutting evolving a year after a session of bracken pulling.

Equally important has been the chance to meet and connect with many of the remarkable people who also enjoy spending their midweeks being assaulted by thorns, rain and biting insects I remember being awestruck by the vast well of knowledge contained within the volunteer collective, and I still come away from nearly every single task day having picked up a new skill or learnt something new! Besides this, it’s also been an absolute pleasure to meet and work with many of the LRWT staff who not only enable our volunteering sessions, but continually inspire with their infectious passion for nature and somehow manage to motivate us all to attend session after session of scrub pulling!

Recently, the Trust also (bravely!) let me loose on the wider public at Timber festival, where I had the opportunity to lead a moth ID session from the luxurious confines of the ‘Moth Hotel’ I loved being able to share my passion for this area of wildlife with such a range of people, and it was brilliant to see curious adults and children alike trying to separate out their species of Yellow Underwing! Engaging with the public on conservation issues is definitely an area I would like to further explore, and this provided an excellent introduction for myself whilst hopefully also sparking an interest in at least a few others.

30 Days Wild

As part of the 30 Days Wild that took place during June, both the team at The Old Mill and in Rutland enjoyed a breakfast outdoors as a way of joining in with the challenge.

It's difficult to say which team might have had the better surroundings for their breakfast, but the Rutland team were able to head down into Cherry Wood and tuck into amazing sausage baps, expertly cooked by Joe Davis. It was not only food that the team were treated to but also a magical ensemble of cuckoos, nightingales, and blackbirds.

Matt Scase - Administrative Assistant

As mentioned in the last volunteer newsletter our new administrative assistant, Matt Scase, has now started and will be supporting Helen Fairhead in her role as Project Lead for Nextdoor Nature.

If you have been to the VTC in the last couple of months you might have met Matt, and it is pretty difficult to miss him, as this is where he will be based.

Matt is very much looking forward to meeting all of the volunteers and will now be around to answer any questions or queries you might have.

Volunteering at The Old Mill

Could you spare some time to help out down at The Old Mill, our office in Leicester?

We are looking for volunteers to help with tasks such as mailing, new membership packs, data entry, and scanning documents Without our amazing volunteers helping out, managing these tasks would be challenging.

If you think you might be able to offer some time please get in contact: volunteering@lrwt.org.uk

VTC Art Meets

Our Art Meet group continue to meet at the Volunteer Training Centre and on the last Friday of the month from 10am until midday.

This is a very casual drop in for anyone who fancies a cuppa and a catch up with other volunteers, whilst bringing along their hobby. This could be anything from knitting, crochet, painting, drawing, model making.

Putting the Fun in Fundraising

As volunteers you already play a vital role in keeping LRWT going, but if you or anyone you know is looking for a different way to help support our work then there are so many fun (or challenging!) ways to help out.

We have recently updated our fundraising pack with lots of new ideas and support, so whether you may be interested in holding a quiz night or bake sale, taking part in a sponsored run or even a 26 mile trek along Hadrian’s Wall, take a look at our fundraising page and find out how to have fun while supporting LRWT!

https://www lrwt org uk/fundraise

Radio Interview

Volunteer and events coordinator Helen Fairhead and visitor centre volunteer Jenny Lunn were recently interviewed by Rutland and Stamford Sound's Rob Persani as part of a recruitment drive to find more volunteers for our visitor centres at Lyndon and Egleton.

Whilst sat in the lovely surroundings of the nature reserve at Lyndon, Jenny talked about the role volunteers play in helping to run the centres whilst Helen spoke about membership as a whole

If you are interested in becoming one of our visitor centre volunteers then please do get in contact: volunteering@lrwt.org.uk

Night at the VTC

At the end of June all the staff at the LRWT were invited to the "Night at the VTC" team building event. This was as a chance for everyone to relax, hang out together, and have a chat over food and drinks.

We enjoyed a BBQ in the woods before heading back to the VTC for a Wii dance off and mini sports day. It was great to see everyone outside of the normal work setting and a big thank you goes to Helen Fairhead for organising this.

Wednesday Gardening Group

The Gardening Group have been really busy keeping the wildlife friendly gardens at the Bird Watching Centre at Egleton in tip top condition. On top of this, the group have also carried out some willow weaving and a local seed gathering project.

Timber Festival

Many hundreds of people joined us for an amazing Timber Festival over the weekend of 7-9 July

Held at Feanedock in the National Forest and organised by Wild Rumpus, Timber attracted over 5000 attendees for an incredible weekend where we were all encouraged to fall under nature's spell! We had a fantastic time engaging with people from all over the country, and ran activities such as a butterfly walk and bug hunt throughout the weekend

On the Friday evening we ran a bat walk, which attracted over 100 people - a record for us! Andy Neilson and Jo Taylor escorted the crowd to some hotspots around the site and spotted some noctules and heard some pipistrelles on the bat detectors as they went round

On Saturday, Wild Rumpus built a fantastic Moth Hotel where wildlife enthusiasts could discover a wide range of moths, from a beautiful elephant hawk moth to a swallow-tailed moth, with our volunteer moth expert Finn. This inspired the younger crowd on the Sunday morning to create their own woodland creature in the festivals workshop!

It was so good to talk to so many people about Nextdoor Nature, Team Wilder, the Osprey Project, our conservation work and our Patron Sir David Attenborough, and we look forward to doing it all again at Timber in 2024!

Fran Payne - Senior Reserves Officer

Farewell

Well, some news from me! After 18 years working for Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust at Rutland Water, I am moving on to pastures new! I am off to Peterborough City Council to work as their Wildlife Officer ensuring wildlife is being considered in their planning applications Then in November of this year Biodiversity Net Gains becomes mandatory for developers so I will be part of a team making sure that land that is developed in the Town and Country Planning Act is made better for wildlife than it was before it was developed. That’s it in a nutshell… lots to learn!

Now to round up all those years without boring you… I first came to Rutland Water as a fresh faced graduate in the October of 2004 volunteering 2 days a week. Then in the March of 2005 Anglian Water took me on as their visitor centre Assistant at AWBC working with Jacky Morrell, and her team of teacher naturalists (Tina, Jenny and Gill) They all encouraged me and were the foundations of my Rutland Water roots. At the same time, the Trust took me on to run the visitor centre at weekends as a joint job with Anglian Water, so for the next 17 months I lived and breathed Rutland Water Nature Reserve! I was on the reserve 7 days a week, either volunteering for the Trust or doing paid education and visitor engagement work for Anglian Water and the Trust. Then in August 2006, Tim Appleton offered me a full time position as Assistant Warden for LRWT on the reserves habitat management team, my dream job all the way through university, and I have grown from there!

In 2011, Joe Davis joined the team as Senior Reserve Officer and I took on the responsibility of the reserve ’ s Dexter cattle and Hebridean sheep, which certainly kept me and many of the habitat volunteers on our toes. It was a challenge at times but with human volunteer help, we moulded our livestock into a manageable bunch of grassland volunteers themselves and they have been key to my role ever since

2017 saw me move from Assistant Reserve Officer to Reserve Officer of grassland habitats, alongside Paul Trevor as the Reserve Officer of woodland habitats, with our side kick Andy Neilson who has since moved on to bigger and better things elsewhere in the Trust. We then had Matt Taylor, followed by Sarah Bedford aka Turnip 2… those who know, know she and I are the formidable (!) Team Turnip. Sarah has also progressed to elsewhere in the Trust and then Tim Sexton (Bug Boy) joined the team and brought the world of insects to a whole new level! Of course, the wonderful, wonderful habitat volunteers have been a huge part of my time here and are so important to the success of the habitat management team.

As many of you know, I recently took on the role of Senior Reserve Officer which saw me take on line management of Matt Heaver (Reserve Officer) and Katie Jobbins (Assistant Reserve Officer) who have both been a great pair to lead and to work with. I know they will both continue working with the habitat volunteers to do great work… look after my cows and sheep, guys!

There is also the people who keep the Reserve going from within the Visitor Centres and at the VTC, Laura, Libby, George and Helen who I will miss hugely and although I didn’t get to spend much time with Matt S and Emma, I can see them both fitting in already.

To all the volunteers and the staff who I have worked with in the visitor centres, at Birdfair and on the reserve over the years just thank you! Keep enjoying the reserve, promoting the reserve and gaining happiness from the reserve… it really is a special place.

Oliver Slessor - Contract Bird Ringer

Osprey Ringing

Ospreys continue to flourish at Rutland Water ever since they were first reintroduced here in the late 90s Each year a pair bred on the reserve at Manton Bay On Saturday 24th June 2023 I was lucky enough to have the privilege of ringing the 3 Osprey chicks that had hatched at the Manton Bay nest at Rutland Water.

I was joined by Tim Sexton, Lloyd Park and Katie Jobbins. We took a small boat out towards the nest and it was a quick and easy task, collecting the chicks from the nest before returning them back again

We ringed and processed the birds in the small boat. Here we ringed each chick and took various biometrics. Each bird received a metal BTO ring (left leg) with a unique number. They also were given a coloured darvic ring (right leg) so the birds could be identified in the field The darvic colour rings used on this year ’ s brood are 3H3, 3H4 and 3H5. From using the biometric data we know that two birds are females and one is a male. Female Ospreys are larger than males with a longer wing length.

Hopefully these Ospreys will survive their long migration to Africa and return back to England to breed and the Osprey saga continues

Sand Martin chick ringing at Rutland Water

We have now ringed an incredible 1500 Sand Martin chicks at Rutland Water Nature Reserve this year. Fingers crossed that the new ringing record will be achieved. Sand Martins have done very well this year, partly due to the good weather.

The sand martin nesting banks at lagoon 2 and 5 work well in providing a safe nesting environment for them As Sand Martins are a long distant migrant it will be fascinating to find out where they migrate to.

Over the last couple of months I have been getting my ‘ summer glow-up’ with some late night glow worm surveys at both Rutland Water and at some of the key sites for these amazing beetles across Rutland County – including Barrowden, Ketton Quarry and Burley Wood

Across the UK glow worms have suffered huge declines over the last 20 years. In areas of the south east, studies have shown the decline to be as much as 75%. The limestone grasslands of Leicestershire and Rutland have historically supported a number of populations of glow worms. Most recently in Leicestershire in Gresley Wood (on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border), New Lount Nature Reserve (north-west of Coalville), Bagworth Heath Woods (near Thornton Reservoir), and Stonesby Quarry. Then in Rutland in Essendine, Barrowden, Burley Wood (near Oakham) and Ketton Quarry

The status of glow worms in the two counties is not currently known as there have been few systematic surveys in recent years. However, due to a number of pressures in the wider countryside, including; artificial lighting, agricultural intensification, insecticide use and habitat loss, coupled with a changing climate, the glow worm population is presumed to be declining.

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust believes that everyone deserves to be able to experience the incredible sight of glow worms, lit up within species rich grasslands in their lifetime And that glow worms should be protected in Leicestershire and Rutland for generations to come

As such, a scoping project, involving Martin Dale (a glow worm expert from Nottinghamshire), began in the winter of 2022/23 to investigate the opportunity to introduce or reintroduce glow worms to Rutland Water Nature Reserve. The remnant ancient woodland areas of Hambleton Woods and Armley Woods on the Hambleton Peninsula along with Wedlock Wood on Lax Hill were identified as suitable receiver sites –subject to surveys for any existing glow worm populations there and snail surveys, to ensure there would be ample prey items available to them

In June 2023, as part of 30 Days Wild, a citizen science survey was launched by LRWT to help identify any populations of glow worms across the two counties. It is hoped that the campaign will be the first steps in shedding some light on the current status of the species in Leicestershire and Rutland and raise the profile of these magical creatures.

If you don’t mind a late night, I am looking for some volunteers to help survey some of the remaining areas of the Reserve over the coming weeks

Tim Sexton - Senior Species and Recording Officer

Joe Davis - Head of Reserve Management

A quick update from me

What an exciting time I have had! I have had a big birthday, just reached a half century in cricketing terms. It’s been a knock so far!

To add to this I have also been getting to know many of our Reserves. As I am now the Head of Nature Reserves, it’s been fabulous to get to know more of the Trusts sites

I have been blown away by breadth and variety of our sites. I have enjoyed seas of Orchids, flocks of crossbills, clouds of damselflies and stunning woodland ride flora. These sites are enhanced by the work that you all put in, we should all be very proud

What is great that we also have new opportunities. We will be looking to make our Reserves bigger, better and joined up. We will also be inspiring more people and showing them our incredible wildlife. So thank you for your time and dedication.

Juliette Colaço - Assistant Reserve Officer

Hello, I’m Juliette Colaço and I recently joined the LRWT as Assistant Reserves Officer on the East reserves.

I joined at the perfect time to see the meadows in all their glory - swathes of wildflowers, teaming with invertebrates and bird song filling the air

I will be working on a range of sites in the East of the counties such as Merry’s Meadow, Ketton Quarry and Launde Wood.

I look forward to meeting and working alongside you on our wonderful reserves.

Chris Hill - Reserve Officer

This month with the volunteers I have been fencing with the volunteers and building a viewing screen that overlooks Lower Moor scrape (where the 2 Black-winged stilts were seen recently). We were fencing in Hobley Meadows where we have some problems with youths getting in from the village and causing trouble around the reserve. Although it hasn’t prevented them getting in, it will be a deterrent.

The viewing screen needed to be enlarged because in the winter when the leaves fall off the bushes, people can be easily seen by the birds By erecting wings to the screen will give the birds more privacy, reducing disturbance

Also this month the Tuesday volunteers have been cutting back overhanging vegetation on the footpaths at Cossington Meadows. Brambles can very quickly grow over footpaths and eventually make access around the reserve quite difficult.

We have also been filling in pot-holes, wheel ruts and big holes with 6F2 (recycled hardcore) to make driving up and down the main track at Cossington easier and less bumpy

Also, dogs have been swimming in Moor Pool where the bittern has been living. Therefore myself and a volunteer erected a fence to prevent access.

Finally, at Loughborough Big Meadow we have been pulling ragwort to enable hay making to proceed. Some of the volunteers went off and collected seed from great burnet and pepper saxifrage before the tractor arrives to begin the annual cut of the meadow The seed will be dried and scattered on a wildflower area at Cossington Meadows

The grassland survey season is coming to a close for us here in the Charnwood Forest! With the help of our 16 lovely volunteers we have been able to collect botanical data from 39 different sites. So far we have recorded around 170 different species, ranging from grasses and sedges to flowers and scrub

This grassland project is part of a larger Charnwood Forest Landscape Partnership Project, in which we aim to restore grassland biodiversity while encouraging people to engage with and record the nature around them These grassland surveys show the effects our management has had since we began in 2021, as well as helping inform future management decisions.

We’re so happy our volunteers have been building confidence with their identification skills, and we ’ re super excited to get going with the next stage of work beginning this month- scything!

Matt Heaver - Reserve Officer

By the time you read this, I will have been in post at Rutland Water Nature Reserve as Reserve Officer for just over a year and what a year it has been! I have been hugely impressed by the welcome I have received by both staff and especially volunteers.

It was a bit of a baptism of fire as I was soon thrown into the island cutting on the lagoons and the woodland coppicing and regeneration work on the reserve A huge thank you to all the volunteers who have helped with this Your knowledge of previous working practices and your experience and enthusiasm have been a real help in finding my feet.

Woodland work slows down a bit during the summer months I spent a long, hot day with volunteers moving around our felled timber ready for extraction recently and allowing new trees to be planted in Cherry wood to increase species diversity. Some of the logs were massive but our perseverance (and having a tractor to help) paid off! I am currently beginning some Woodland Habitat Condition Assessments to provide a baseline survey of our woodlands going forward so we can see if our management work is paying off

Orchid bonanza

This year seems to have been a particularly successful one for orchids on our grassland reserves. The displays of green winged orchids at Merry’s Meadows and pyramidal orchids at Stonesby Quarry really are something to behold Volunteers have been key in the story of these wildflowers, whether it be physically counting the number of orchids at Merry’s or clearing scrub at Stonesby over the winter; your assistance has been vital.

A large group of volunteers gathered to count the orchids on a hot day in mid-May at Merry’s, continuing a survey that has been conducted for more than three decades. As a rough marker of the health and biodiversity of a site, the orchid count is a quick snapshot of how the reserve is doing. We could see before we started that everyone would need to be concentrating hard - the first meadow was a sea of purple but nothing prepared us for the final figure: 19,160 orchids were counted across the site! When compared to 2019’s total of 11,362 we have clearly seen a dramatic increase in numbers In addition to the green winged orchids, Merry’s Meadow has been breathtakingly beautiful with an array of wildflowers, including six more species of orchid recorded there this year.

Into Leicestershire, and at Stonesby Quarry we have another hot spot for orchids. In the first compartment known as Bescaby Close, a lot of work was carried out over the winter continuing to remove scrub and prevent succession in the limestone grassland area; the pyramidal orchids on display there this year are phenomenal There is simply nothing that can replicate the sensation of standing in one of our wildflower meadows on a sunny day Being surrounded by the colours, sights and sounds of thousands upon thousands of wildflowers and their associated pollinators is worth the journey every time. No amount of photos can substitute being there in person and I hope you all get chance to go out and see the fruits of your labours on our reserves this summer!

Sarah Bedford - Senior Reserves Officer East

Fee Worton - Community Organiser

Nextdoor Nature has been working with county botanist, volunteer and member Russell Parry and his colleague Lindsay-Anne Heald who have in mind a plant recording project called StreetWild. Together we organised and delivered an urban botany walk across Leicester city This was in partnership with Leicester City Council as part of their Walk Leicester festival during the month of May

Both Russell and Lindsay-Anne have a passion for the diverse plant life that thrives across the urban environment; in the cracks of the pavement, on the roundabouts, in the verges and the brickwork and structures that form our city. After an absolutely fascinating walk through Abbey Park with them I was struck by their passion to share their knowledge to inform people of the importance that the plant diversity plays in contributing to the health of our environment for people and nature. Together we ’ re all trying to change the narrative that wild plants (which we really must stop calling 'weeds') ‘should be sprayed’ and ‘ grass should be mown neat and tidy’ These ways of thinking are outdated and there is a need to educate everyone around the beauty and importance of the unsung plant heroes that exist, often overlooked, but in plain sight of us all.

It was an absolute scorcher, tickets were sold out and there was plenty of plant life to see! The walk started on Thurcaston Road and finished at Belgrave Cemetery. The walk highlighted common plants that you would likely see elsewhere across the paths you take on a daily basis within the city. Russell and Lindsay-Anne pointed out plants and their distinctive features and shared some history and fun facts Plants such as Shepherd’s Purse with its distinctive heart shaped seed pods and Herb Robert with its leaf tips shaped like tiny Taj Mahal roofs were looked at in detail and awe.

As an artist, Lindsay-Anne created an ID chart for the walk with her own artwork. A paper copy was handed out to each participant. A QR code took people directly to a website of the same information, and it hosted links to NatureSpot, iRecord and other national databases where participants could log their sightings there and then. A more comprehensive record of City plant diversity will help give a broader picture of the important role they play for nature and people

We’ve got our thinking caps on as to how we can engage a wider population to help support the recording of plants across the city.

If you would like to know more about Nextdoor Nature please do contact Fee Worton, Nextdoor Nature Community Organiser fworton@lrwt.org.uk

Katie Jobbins - Assistant Reserve Officer

As many of you know, at RWNR we run public badger watches during the summer months most years. Due to a large ash tree limb overhanging the old badger hide, the hide had to be moved to a new location An artificial sett was constructed by our volunteers in front of the hide, and we began frequently baiting the area with peanuts to try and persuade local badgers to spend some time in front of the hide. The peanuts were disappearing, but by using camera traps we knew they were only visiting after midnight each day, so the badger watches had to be postponed.

Recently we noticed that at least two badgers were regularly visiting the area during the early evening, so badger watches are now back on! Over the last few weeks we have been able to see what we think is a mother and two cubs forage for peanuts under rocks and logs, which is an amazing sight to see after so many months of hoping they’ll turn up The dates for badger watches over the coming months will be made available soon on the website so keep your eyes peeled if you ’ re interested!

Tuesday

As fencing season has come to an end we have entered the pulling season. Himalayan Balsam being one of our enemies at Narborough Bog. Our Tuesday team have done a fair few balsam bashing sessions to try to reduce the spread of this invasive species into the reed bed. Although it wasn’t as easy as it sounds as we had to push our way through swathes of nettles in which the balsam was growing amongst, our legs, arms and face were tingling for days after!

We’ve also completed some track maintenance at Cossington Meadows, shovelling and raking gravel out in the heat wave earned us a good tea break in the woodland watching Emperor dragonflies patrol a near by pond

Wednesday

After completing a huge section of new fencing at Launde Park Wood the Wednesday team moved onto Bracken control at Charnwood Lodge Post drivers, Hammers and Pliers have been swapped for slashers and our trusty hands as we continually pull and slash the bracken back allowing the Bilberry plants to flourish. This is a task we carry out each year controlling the spread of the bracken across the reserve and it definitely makes a difference to the growth year on year

Thursday

been rewarding to see the meadows come to on our East reserves on Thursdays. The hlight of this quarter has definitely been the en Winged Orchid count we carried out at rry ’ s Meadow. Over 18,000 Orchids were nted over the day which is the highest number e records began there in 1988. We’ve also been oving ragwort from Cribbs Meadow which has n abundant with Ringlet and Meadow brown terflies. day

Sunday team have helped to finish off the w fence line at Launde Park Wood and have hed balsam at Narborough Bog.

Katie Goddard - Trainee Reserve Officer

The Visitor Centre at Lyndon has had a few challenges over the last few weeks – the computer mainframe went down which meant we had no means to operate as normal – the issue was quickly fixed and the BT engineers that attended found that a squirrel had nibbled through cabling!

The biblical rain that we had caused problems too – with no storm drains on the hill leading towards the Visitor Centre the water gushed through the carpark and into the building – even though we pre-empted the coming storms with gutter and drain clearance it did not stop the ensuing flood Thanks to the Habitat Team we now have a flood barrier that attaches to the front door and fingers crossed we will have no more issues!

The cattle that graze in the field near to Shallow-Water Hide decided to escape a couple of times again –but thanks to Fran Payne and Matt Heaver are now more settled into their pasture thanks to additional fencing being erected – no more visits to Waderscrape Hide for them! See attached pic

Thanks to Anglian Water for installing new signage on Lyndon Hill warning cyclists to take extra care –the number of accidents and incidents has certainly eased. Thanks too to the volunteer – who did not want to be named – who fixed the plumbing in the Gents toilets - a huge relief to get that fixed!

We’ve re-designed and installed new signage around Lyndon, working with Graffwerks from Leicester –the old signs needed updating and have now been freshened up – we hope you like them.

We have also a new temporary member of staff - Emma Hobbs has joined the Lyndon team and will be working with us on a part-time basis for the remainder of the season – Emma has been volunteering in Waderscrape and in the Visitor Centre over the past 12 months - she will be an enormous help as the centre becomes even busier over the summer months.

Highlights on the Reserve at Lyndon are of course the ospreys, with all three chicks now fledging visitors can enjoy lots of flying from the youngsters – it certainly keeps the volunteers at Waderscrape on their toes trying to track all five birds!

The Osprey Volunteers are, as always, being praised by the visiting public for the warm welcome that they receive in the hide and their extraordinary knowledge about the birds, it’s not easy to monitor ospreys and engage with the public for up to four hours – but their enthusiasm is infectious and the public are always delighted after their visit there.

Over recent weeks we have all been delighted to see a resurgence of watervoles in the channels in front of the hide – these mammals have caused a great deal of interest as they swim across to collect grasses and reeds There have been lots of sightings of Hobbies too as well as Sedge Warblers, Reed Buntings, Little Egrets, Kingfishers and of course the otters – these mammals cause huge excitement when they’ve been spotted.

The meadows are full of life with huge numbers of butterflies – including Marbled Whites. Damselflies are in abundance along with the dragonflies – Darters, Broad-bodied Chasers and Banded Demoiselles too.

Laura Brady - Engagement Manager - Lyndon

It's been busy here at Egleton with the warm days we've had lately, not just with birdwatchers but also cyclists, ramblers and families. Lots of them discovering the nature reserve for the first time either by accident or passing through The sound of the cuckoo around the reserve has been delightful, sightings of the greater spotted Woodpecker, Terns, Avocets and Water rail, and as ever watching our osprey chicks thrive is a privilege.

On a deeper note, it's important we remember that all are welcome here on the nature reserve, even if sometimes it's not necessarily where they planned to be, with the way our planet is changing we need more than ever to ignite a passion for nature, particularly in the younger generations.

Would you like to volunteer?

Do you have a passion for nature and enjoy encouraging that in others?

If so, we'd love to meet you For more information please contact hfairhead@lrwt.org.uk

Hollie Marston - Visitor Services Assistant - Egleton

Helen Fairhead - Volunteer & Events Coordinator/ Project Lead (Nextdoor Nature-Team Wilder)

Hi everyone

I hope you have enjoyed reading through this ‘bumper’ summer issue. A huge thanks to Matt Scase for producing it and if you would like a printed version, please do let us know Matt works alongside me at our offices in Rutland, supporting our volunteers and on our Nextdoor Nature and Team Wilder project. Matt has really hit the ground running in his new role and hopefully you will get to meet him over the coming months.

Our Team Wilder work is now really starting to take shape with thanks to the great team we have in place to deliver this. Fee Worton, our Community Organiser, has made some fantastic progress in building relationships and developing our work around Nextdoor Nature, with particular focus around the Belgrave area of Leicester. If you would like to support our work in this area as a volunteer, then please do get in touch with us for more details

Email fworton@lrwt.org.uk or drop me a line.

We have recently produced a very informative booklet called ‘Team Wilder’ and it explains exactly what this way of working is all about and how you can get involved. You will probably find that you are already working in this way, through inspiring and enabling others to support nature’s recovery so you are already part of ‘Team Wilder’! If you would like a copy of this booklet, please ask your staff contact. We have some available at our Head Office, Visitor Centres and at the Volunteer Training Centre in Rutland.

In the past few months we have attended three public events, Riverside Festival in Leicester, Timber Festival in The National Forest and a Belgrave Neighbourhood Fete in Leicester, where we have engaged with hundreds of people, handed out leaflets, talked to people about our work and what we do and how they can support us. We are always on the lookout for any support at our public facing events so if this is something that appeals to you, please let me know and we will add you to the list for event volunteers.

As you know we have recently gone through a restructure and my role now falls within engagement My line manager is now Laura Brady who most of you will know as ‘Laura from Lyndon’. Laura is heading up a team to do more engagement work and one of the areas we will be focusing on is our volunteer supporter journey. With a full contingency of staff and a new structure we can now focus on the priorities, one of which is how we can best support you and ensure that you have the very best experience with us

Our new volunteer handbook is now complete (emoji cheer!) and the next step is to now create our volunteer online hub which is a webpage full of information for you to access including backdated issues of our newsletter This will be up and running soon and the handbook will be sent out to coincide with this

We will also be sending out a very short survey to all of our volunteers for feedback at the end of this summer. It will be no more than 5 questions and we would like you to use this opportunity to tell us exactly how much you are enjoying your experience with us and what we can do to change this if necessary

Thank you to everyone who has confirmed their attendance at our next Cuppa Cake & Catch Up on 4th August which is now fully booked. We will be a little thin on the ground regarding speakers due to it being within the holiday season but there will be five speakers, a little bit of fun in between and not forgetting the cake the cuppa and the catchup and on this occasion, even a short walk on the reserve afterwards with Tim Sexton, Senior Species & Recording Officer.

Thank you, as always, for your support. We hope that you are continuing to enjoy your time with us and that you are having a great summer

Helen hfairhead@lrwt.org.uk