Beggarboys is a small nature reserve, formerly a fishing lake, with willow carr, sedge and reed beds. On one side is a bund which has become overgrown with trees, shrubs and bramble. Our task was to continue opening up the bund (with the added aim of preventing large roots eventually leading to leaks) by clearing small trees and scrub – the landowner was going to treat stumps to stop regrowth. Five of us turned up for the task and managed to clear quite a bit of material from the bund, which was put on the far side away from the lake. It was a grey day with bouts of rain, light snow and quite windy.

Since our last visit in November the water levels had increased significantly which was a good sign that the bund was holding OK.