September has seemed like such a long month, but all of a sudden it's October! With the start of autumn comes the start of the autumnal work programe and our shift from grassland work to the woodland work that takes us through the winter. Before we start on the trees, though, we spend September and October working on the reedbeds whilst it's still dry(ish) and the water levels in our lakes are low.

Three years ago we started protecting small areas of the common reed on Teal Lake. This was to protect it from grazing pressure as geese especially love to nibble off the young shoots and slow the colonisation of a reedbed. We enclosed areas where it was struggling to break through, fenced the leading edge of faces and even planted and protected small patches about a metre square. We went out onto Teal Lake in mid-September to assess the results of this work and adjust it as we thought necessary. Imagine our delight when all of the areas appear to be doing very well! The small planted areas have established and are starting to spread so we've created one larger enclosure around several clumps, but the protection of the leading edge has been most successful with the reedbed advancing forwards by six metres! We've brought the protection forward and hopefully we'll have a similar result in a couple of years. Extending the reedbeds enhances our habitats and provides various species with nesting, feeding and growing space, Starlings will use them to roost in during the upcoming murmuration season, rare plants such as nodding bur-marigold (in the header image) get a foothold along the edges, bitterns might be persuaded to nest, and we may even get marsh harriers showing an interest if we can make the area big enough.

We have started the task of cutting the verges around the reserve. We are being selective about which areas we do first as there is a lot of wildlife using the verges as corridors or feeding zones. We've spotted common lizards, bank voles, butterflies (like this comma, below right) and orchids on our travels.

Whisby has some awkward habitats that shift seamlessly into something else, such as Orchid Glade, where a dry meadow becomes a wet meadow before becoming a fen and pond. This is wonderful for wildlife but can make management a bit tricky. In the wet meadow area we use a lighter mowing machine in September when the ground is usually at its firmest; this prevents damage to the soil structure.

Sheep will arrive in this unit by the end of October to nibble all the areas we can't reach, maintaining the right conditions for our wildflowers to flourish. Our fabulous cows have also moved back to their winter grazing area - you might spot them in the Grazing Marsh on Magpie Walk.