RANGER jobs are competitively sought after, as a recent advertisement proved with over 100 applications for one vacancy.

While working this Easter Bank Holiday I began to wonder why.

It can be quite a thankless job at times. You can spend the best part of a day working on a project, only to return the next day to find it smashed to bits, or to discover a burnt-out car has appeared on one of the best invertebrate habitats.

Then there is the never-ending tide of litter and the products of fly tipping which seem to materialise constantly on the reserves.

Depressing? Well, after a few days dealing with these sorts of problems I was certainly getting there, until I visited Spennells Valley nature reserve.

I have spent much time in the past working on this reserve, managing the trees, trying to eradicate the Himalayan balsam and trying to increase the biodiversity of the marsh areas.

On this particular visit I walked from the car park down the semi-boardwalk track and along the banks of the Hoo brook.

A few bluebells were open, but the main bloom was still a week away. Everything looked green and full of life though.

Suddenly I caught sight of a pair of jays flitting from tree to tree and as I watched my eye caught a pair of tree creepers running up and down a tree trunk.

A few seconds later I picked out a greater spotted woodpecker. Despite being surrounded by housing, this reserve was full of life.

I walked on further and to my great pleasure saw that the numbers of marsh marigolds in the wood had risen dramatically and were looking magnificent.

There was also a distinct lack of Himalayan balsam seedlings.

I hopped over the fence into the marsh and things were starting to look good. Unfortunately I disturbed a snipe, but it was good to know that this increasingly threatened wetland bird has moved into Spennells. However, the balsam was doing too well.

I feel that we will have to tweak the cattle grazing a little, in an attempt to try to reduce this pest of a plant here.

Walking through the marsh had resulted in wet feet, but feeling uplifted by the wildlife I was encountering I popped across the road and into the second marsh area.

In previous years I had been a little concerned about this site, as it had not responded to the grazing management as well as the area near the football pitches. On this visit though, things were looking superb.

Large areas were covered in diverse marshland vegetation which simply was not there when I first started this project.

Despite my slightly squelchy footwear I had been totally uplifted by my visit to Spennells and I spent the rest of the day tackling whatever came my way, with a smile on my face and a spring in my step.