An active and remarkable weekend in April made more progress on the jobs big and small than has been seen in recent years with Covid restrictions. Participants started arriving early on the Friday and more came on Saturday so that a total of 15 were able to help tackle the seemingly mammoth list that appeared on the planning boards. The weekend was planned around the first AGM of the charity (ably chaired by Katharine and introduced by Phil now one of our Honorary Presidents and who also enjoyed the weekend catching up and assisting) on Saturday afternoon with some resighting on Saturday morning.
However, we also completed a multitude of equipment and house maintenance tasks. We had a good start as Mark had been doing more planting and garden work and it was good to see the side fence finished and hedging whips starting to sprout.
To give a flavour of the 24 house and 28 equipment tasks carried out here are just a few:
House – install more LED lamps, seal new vinyl flooring, weed garden, seal Velux windows, put up Swift boxes, check taps and free off, mortar around the manhole covers, add to privacy paint on annex window, first aid kit check.
Equipment– Trailer checks, colour ring audit, check droppers and cables, check cannon nets, rewind mist-netting guys, wash keeping cages and carpets, light stick checks.
With the whole team busy we didn’t need to carry on into the evening so that there was R&R time and, on the whole, we had good weather which made sure we could do most things outside. I am delighted to say that virtually all the tasks that Ryan, Nigel and myself had programmed were completed or at least progressed.
The weekend was testament to the teamwork needed to run WWRG as the house and equipment require regular and consistent management just to stand still. Future weekends are planned, and everyone would be welcome, even if you are not regular fieldworkers. Please lookout for opportunities in the newsletters.
Many thanks to those who worked so hard, it does give us the confidence that we can look after the base and that catching can be maximised during the Autumn passage.
Thanks to Tim Turner for writing this report.