Another Marshian Landing

It’s that time in Luna’s cycle when Marshians have to visit the soft wet Earth.

What’s that, up there in the sky?

We all looked on apprehensively

The first Marshian appeared

Then in the distance, more!

Soon they were popping up everywhere

The purpose of this interplanetary tomfoolery was to cut and trample the marsh.

It’s the fifth time this winter we’ve done it, first with three people, then 5, then 18, now once a month there’s a mass invasion of Marshian stompers.

We’re trying to create more and more muddy marshy habitat for wading birds, which have made Reading famous in the bird world in the past.

This is what the stompers achieved

We know how to do it now. Over recent years we’ve tried different things and some days we poured sweat into the marshes and achieved very little.

We really didn’t want to resort to machines, and we couldn’t just let them go and become overwhelmed with tall vegetation.

This is a very traditional and effective way of managing the marsh.

We’ve tried scythes before but we (I!) had poor kit and poorer technique. Experts and quality combined made an enormous difference.

We’ll be back in February for some more stomping if you’re up for it.