Today we all put on waders and got into cold muddy water.

I shovelled silt into an ingenious floating bucket system: the bucket had holes in the bottom to let the water out but it seemed to keep most of the mud in. It was possible to scoop to a depth most of the length of the shovel. Then I towed the silt bucket to the shore (much easier than carrying it) to empty it.

I also completed the coppicing of the Willow in the background of the photo. It was a stout stump, very dry and hard, and it was quite a task with a small Silkie saw, but better than using a blunt bowsaw!

Meanwhile, the others set about cutting the encroaching Reeds and pulling out a fair number of their long white rhizomes that spread out in the mud.  We tried to spare the floating pondweeds, starwort and water mint.

A group of Great Tits made a din mobbing a Magpie; and a little later, several Jays spent a while screeching while a pair of Magpies chattered back.