Mia and I joined the regular volunteers and some new faces at Dacres Wood Nature Reserve on Saturday to help John with one of our messiest tasks of the year - pulling the overgrown reeds from the pond! Suited up in waders and industrial looking gloves, we got stuck in (quite literally - the soil was very clay-like!) tugging the reeds from the roots, getting covered in algae in the process. Mia even found a newt along the way, which she rehomed on the other side of the reserve. Before and after photos in the pictures - not bad for an hour’s work!