Alas, some of our trees which were due for winter maintenance couldn't make it through the recent storms, and have come crashing down on our boundary fence into the gardens next-door.

My pleas for assistance to local arborist's went largely unanswered - such is the quantity of work currently required, plus the fact that access onto the reserve is limited to footways or plant machinery.

Thankfully Treelink did finally come to our aid, and have now removed and made safe all those trees crossing the boundary line, and they will reattend over the winter for a much larger-scale works program to reduce numerous other trees which are damaged or in an unstable condition.

This has come about through several years of restricted access where, due to the herons' nesting, we only had an annual 6-week window of opportunity to get machinery onsite and out again, without disturbing nesting and/or young birds growing up on the safety of this reserve; Many of the doves/pigeons would nest through until late October, with the young then taking a further 4-5 weeks to fledge and disperse. The herons would lay their eggs each January, with them usually hatching around Easter each year - so access was very restricted.

With the herons now having relocated to Queens Park and the Ravens moved-in, nesting seasons have a longer break between so there is a greater opportunity for works. I know where each pair of owls are nesting, so although those young can hatch out from Christmas Day onwards, we can ensure their own homes remain undisturbed.

Nigel