TEN years have now passed since I started writing the Nature Notes column.
It is amazing just how swiftly time can seem to go by. At moments like this, I believe it is good to stop for a moment of reflection to see how, and if, things have changed.
In 1995 things out on the reserves were very different. For starters, the district council had far fewer nature reserves.
Back then, the district council was looking after the reserves of Redstone Marsh in Stourport, and had, the previous year, purchased and declared Habberley Valley a local nature reserve.
The big news of 1995 was that a third reserve was going to be declared - Spennells Valley.
Since then the number of nature reserves managed by Wyre Forest District Council has more than doubled with the addition of Burlish Top, Puxton Marsh, the Rifle Range, Blake Marsh, Hurcott Pools and Wood, Vicarage Farm Heath and Half Crown Wood.
It is not just the areas of land that have changed but the way they are looked after has also altered. Back then most of the work on these reserves was done by hand, or should I say hands, as the help of volunteers was essential to the maintenance of these reserves.
Of particular note has to be the help from the pupils of Bewdley High School and the Stourport Pupil Referral Unit. Both of these groups still work with us today but their efforts are now supplemented with the aid of forestry tractors, chainsaws and our more unusual herd of four-legged volunteers - the cattle from the Grazing Animals Project.
All this extra input of effort has had some real rewards in terms of wildlife.
Redstone Marsh, described in the 1989 Ecological Report as a reserve drowned in Himalayan balsam, is now full of wild flowers. Burlish and Rifle Range, both swamped in scrub, are now thriving while Heathlands and Puxton, once covered in dense scrub, is now an orchid-rich wetland.
When working with nature you will always get a few odd surprises, like finding wildlife you would never expect to see, turning up on the reserves for the first time.
Among the most memorable finds over the last 10 years have been the rare earth star fungi at Habberley Valley, orchids at Blake Marsh, water rails at Redstone, nightingales at Burlish Top and hobbies nesting at Habberley and hunting over the heaths.
I can still recall the sense of awe I had when I encountered the first buzzard I had ever seen in the Wyre Forest District, circling low over the fields of Habberley Valley.
I visited the site every day following that and I can remember the way I marvelled at the shrill call as this graceful bird soared overhead. These days not seeing or hearing a buzzard is far more odd.
Times may have passed but I feel it has not passed for the worse from the point of view of our wildlife.
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