Berrylands residents are worried about how Berrylands Nature Reserve will be maintained after lockdown forced volunteers to stop working at the site.
A local group of volunteers had been giving up their time to maintain the nature reserve since the end of the first lockdown as the site had become overgrown.
After the second lockdown was announced in late October, the volunteer group tweeted @BerrylandsNR: “As a result of upcoming changes to Covid-19 restrictions our planned volunteer events this month will no longer be going ahead, and further events postponed for the time being. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to get back in the not too distant future. Hope everyone keeps well.”
Berryland resident Angus Finn is concerned that the site could become increasingly overgrown again due to the volunteer group no longer being able to maintain the nature reserve because of the second lockdown.
Finn noticed how overgrown the site became during the first national lockdown.
Finn said: “Around two-three months in, the site started to get very much so overgrown.
“It was really good to see in the run-up to this next lockdown a bunch of volunteers coming down here, sorting this place out, cutting back the brambles, cutting back the grass. Just making sure the place was nice, neat and tidy and it has made a really big improvement.”
Finn is uncertain as to how the volunteers’ previous efforts will be maintained over the second lockdown.
He said: “I’m quite concerned with this next lockdown…this might limit that or might completely stop that and it might bring back this nature reserve to how it was during lockdown.”
Berrylands local residents hope that by December 2 the volunteers may be able to return to maintaining Berrylands Nature Reserve.
