Thursday 30 July - OK

Quiet, just a few visitors including three jolly ladies from the Netherlands. More litter than usual for a Thursday, but nothing nasty. Main issue is the split gate post on the Rugby Club entrance bridge. Reporting to Sam directly.

July 29th

All peaceful. A party of walkers enjoying a tour and one or two Grannies out with small people  setting out on adventures. Fished a plastic bottle out of the pond- couldn't reach the can! Quite a number of dragonflies.

Plenty of butterflies and a family of Reed Warblers busy at work.

monday 27th July staff check

Paths getting a little tight overhead. Will get those cleared soon.

Sluice which feeds pond has been altered with less water feeding the system. Back up boards hidden and in place. 

Very quiet on site really.

Thanks all for your reports 🙏 

Sam

Quiet

 Very little bird song. No swans but could see where they had been. Did a little bramble  snipping en route. Its growing like crazy. A few runners and walkers with a couple of "thank yous" for the litter picking. Some one has artistically chalken Fenella's bench.

Sunday 26th July

Busy today with lots of walkers, one runner.

Someone has emptied an entire box of tissues across the reserve and Charlotte and I cleared them up.

The fence to NML is still up but not the sign.  

Lots of berries, which I think are early but looking back at past blogs, not really.

Saturday 25th July

​checked on the swans and cygnets . They are still taking up the entire path near the rec bridge aha but all seem to be ok, I temporarily blocked off the path and asked people to go the long way round because too many people were barging past and interfering with the swans, a child on a bike almost ran one over. No issues other than swan related shenanigans.

The no swimming sign at the top of the loop however ,has gone as was reported the other day. Quite busy but no swimming issues or groups being a pain. 

Thursday 23rd - Injured Cygnet? and other issues.

There seems to be an injured Cygnet on the path up to the bridge into the recreation ground, the mother is guarding and not letting people pass by. The male and other cygnets are up by the bridge on the reserve side. 

The no swimming, no entry sign has gone missing at the top of the reserve. 

Someone has thrown the piece of wood that was on the broken bench into the pond.

One young lad fishing, moved him on.

A little litter, cleared up. 

Other all good! 

Sunday 19th July

​Pretty busy day, but all ok. No issues to report. I have done some strimming near the boardwalk to try and get rid of some of the thistle, luckily no complaints about the noise. Signs still up which is a bonus ! 

Cooler

 Nice to see the mower's been round. All clean and quiet apart from sounds of tidying up from Foodies. Fewer regulars

I sometimes wonder if we could open the sluice by the dipping stream. Durngate water levels are still steady so may be enough to wet the reed bed

Sunday 19th July

Fairly quiet but then access from North Walls is limited.  I can hear the food festival a mile away in my back garden.  A few cigarette butts by the bridge so I assume the reserve is being used as the smoking room.  Spoke to a couple of swimmers

Guelder Rose berries ripening

Saturday 18th July

​Very quiet today, swans and cygnets causing a bit of people traffic by laying out on the path and hissing at people walking past. Very warm day but no swimmers in the wrong place . The sign and fence at the top of the loop are both still up and the brash pile is too ! No new rope swings either. Food festival music quite loud . Some litter in the glade, mainly alcohol cans, has now been cleaned up. 

Friday 17th July

​Paths have now been cut, along with the glade. Hopefully this makes it easier for people to walk round. Food festival this weekend, hopefully making it not as busy. 

Thursday 16th - Broken gate latch

The gate latch on the gate into the reserve from the recreation ground is missing. 

Otherwise all good, no litter, two polite runners and a handful of other visitors. 

The recreation ground is mainly fenced off for the foodie festival, you have to a big detour to get to and from the car park if you go that way. 

Wednesday 15th July Busy in rugby fields

 A busy few days coming up - the circus is in town at the rugby club and a food festival on the rugby ground at the reserve bridge entrance. Usual heras railings all round at the latter.

The back of the interpretation boards could do with some chalk for recording sightings rather than scratching.

Good work improving access - hope the elderly couple with a gentleman in a wheelchair come back for a second visit.

Very quiet on the reserve - just met one man at the pond who had walked up from Shawford and like me was glad of the breeze!  We agreed the pond is in need of water! Retrieved a deflated balloon from the centre of a bed of nettles - luckily had my hiking pole!!

work party 14th July

Hi all,

Some litter cleared from site.

Most paths cut.

Corner support in place for ministream but see the other corner needs a repair too.

Cleared around mini stream for better visitor access.

Pond reed encroachment cleared. Drying up, will see if we can get wetter.

Lots of happy people on site.

Good day :)

Sam

Earlier start

 Nice and cool. Met and chatted with some regulars. Snipped some overgrowing brambles and roses. Dealt with this before the boardwalk. The tree by Swift's has a neighbouring willow that was dropping branches as I passed. Maybe a quick survey would be apt. This one on the boardwalk is getting lower.  Next to no litter. 

Sunday 12th July

​Glad to report a fairly quiet day. No swimmers in the wrong place when I was there ! Not really any litter and everyone being respectful. Not many visitors today though . I have put up new signs around the place so fingers crossed they stay up. 

Sunday 12th July

A few walkers.

Fence still up.  Charlotte putting up new signs.

Ripening blackberries and Rowan tree in full fruit.  Mad!

Saturday 11th July

 Winnall south surprisingly quiet today, no new rope swing and the repaired fence is still standing! New signs going up tomorrow and hopefully the swimming group of teenagers stay away. No new damage and no issues today so all in all pretty good. 

Saturday 11th July

This box of syringes found empty behind the Durngate boards. Lots of packets of wipes etc, no needles found. Most litter under the spreading willow at the top curve. Attempts at firelighting- lots of pieces of burnt newspaper mostly - near the mosaic by the veteran willow. I'm a

way for the next two Saturdays. . 

Thursday 9th - Swimmer

Super hot, a number of visitors. 

One adult male swimmer at the northern end by the entrance to no man's land on the public side. Said he didn't realise. Maybe put a 'No Swimming'  sign on the fence there. 

No litter which was nice.

Otherwise all good. 

Wednesday 8th July - A bit of strimming needed

 Met an elderly couple - the lady pushing a gentleman in a wheelchair. It was their first visit and were finding the path a bit narrow in places. Needs cutting back in places. They just about managed to overcome the fallen tree obstacle over the path by Park Avenue - hopefully it will be dealt with soon.

Very quiet otherwise - too early for swimmers perhaps!?

 7 July 2026 

Large group of teenagers swimming by the entrance to the restricted area of the Moor at around 1330 hours. 

abnormally late (7pm)

 quiet round but more socialising than I normally see, no surprise. 2 lads on bikes, as I was alone I didn't challenge. Met a nice couple with a dog. They politely departed but claimed thy hadn't seen a sign -really??? Given there are 2 at Durngate and one is large.
A little girl with her dad spotted a toad, which was too fast for my phone camera.

Met a nice lady who was very knowledgeable about water things. (It was once her business). Fascinated by our recent history.

Sadly this broken tree at Swift's Lake bridge. It seems stable but will need to go. I managed to walk under it.

Sunday 5th July

​​Another warm day but no issues with swimmers today luckily. The rope swing that was at the top of the loop has now been taken down but there is some rope left behind because I couldn’t get it all. I have repaired the top part of the fence, the no swimming sign has vanished so will need a new one for that fence. 

Lots of visitors today but all being respectful, that I saw. Thank you Lynne for making sure I didn’t fall in the river when getting the rope swing down aha ! 

Sunday 5th July

Several walkers and a couple of runners, one polite.

Charlotte carrying out the Sisyphean task of repairing the NML fence.  Helped her cut the rope swing down.    The no entry/no swimming sign has been taken down again.  May need one of Adrian's robust frames.  I think a pile of manure may be a deterrent.

Ref signs: I noted the order on signs at the entrances.  Perhaps "no swimming" and "no dogs" should be nearer the top?

Friday 3rd of July

​Appologies for the odd order of these last two posts . Had a group come and sit in the glade, definitely doing drugs but after I made my presence known they moved to durngate bench. Very busy day, lots of people wanting to chat about the damselflies which was lovely. Getting round to fixing the broken fence this weekend too ! 

Saturday 4th July

​Very busy today, also very warm. Swimmers in the wrong place responded politely and moved which was a nice surprise. I spoke to the homeless man, not causing any issues, no drugs or alcohol, just decided Winnall was a good place for a sleep. No major issues today, some litter in places that were cleaned up, but relatively uneventful. 

Saturday 4th July

Not quite the litter tsunami of last Saturday, but old carpet used for sleeping out at the Durngate bench - sorry I had to roll it up and leave by the bin - plus drug paraphernalia.  A rough sleeper near the River Park bridge was stirring under his blanket, but did not respond to my cheery Good Morning. No signs of drinking around him, so I hope he'll wake up and move on. Trinity was closed or I would have asked them.

Thursday 2 July - all OK

Quiet, a few folks around - nursery school group in the thicket at top of SPM. One bloke scooting his bike, didn’t stop. Minimal litter.

There’s a lot of creeping thistle near the pond.

A few spots!

Damselflies extremely busy along the reed edges. Numerous male Broad bodied chasers at the pond and a spectacular display from two Emperor dragonflies. Sedge warblers quiet apart from one whi had a great deal to say. Spotted numerous Peacock butterflies and some Skippers. Tree Creepers busy near the bridge to the park and was eyeballed and inspected by a furtive Cetti!