April is the month when we check and maintain our furniture and do a little spring cleaning around the reserve, with the odd distraction! First broods of chicks are appearing on the lakes and paths, and our invertebrates are emerging. As a Dragonfly Hotspot for the British Dragonfly Society we eagerly await the first dragons and damsels on the wing, Large red damselflies won the position of first comers this year.

We use a variety of gates around the reserve: stock gates, wooden gates, hand gates and drop gates. The newly constructed drop gate on Coot Lake replaces one that had come to the end of its life. The gap here is an odd size so the advantage in using this type of gate is that we could build it ourselves to the width of the gateway.

We have quite a few rare plants around the reserve, each needing a slightly different strategy to maintain and hopefully increase their population. In April we put up temporary fencing around our patch of maiden pink to protect it from grazing by rabbits who think the flowering spikes are the ultimate sweet treat. Once it has flowered and set seed we will remove this fencing as the grazing pressure is useful later in the year when it stimulates new growth and prevents other species outcompeting it. We have also been propagating this rare plant and plan to plant it out on the reserve to bolster the population.

In preparation for a fencing contractor coming in May we have been looking at areas where work is needed and doing a bit of groundwork, such as putting in a new gate on Thorpe Lake and testing our fence lines (a never-ending job!). This floating gate at Thorpe Lake might look a little strange now, but when the new fence goes in around it, it will blend into the scenery.

The weather continues to throw us the odd surprise, although after the high winds early in the month it's maybe not surprising that we had yet more trees down over the paths! We try to deal with these events as quickly as possible and we thank you for your patience when we've got multiple plates to spin.

As well as the fencing we've got other types of furniture around the reserve, from steps and handrails to benches and hides. As we go through the next few months we'll be giving all of these structures a once over and spruce up so keep an eye out for us around the reserve.