bodenham lake nature reserve

From a young age, the natural world has been a source of creative inspiration and a root to learning. Understanding how different ecosystems interact, network and behave, taught me a lot about how to do all these things as a human.

Bodenham Lake is a nature reserve in the north of Herefordshire, bordering the River Lugg. Managed by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, it is a Designated Site of Local Importance and Special Scientific Interest. The lake is an important overwintering and breeding site for wildfowl and aquatic wildlife in the county. As well as the lake itself, the site offers a variety of habitats including reedbeds, wet woodland, orchards and meadows. More than 170 species of bird have been recorded here, and it is a key breeding site for otters and toads.

So this is where I chose to base myself. July to July. Every week. I visited at different times of day; pre-dawn hours hoping to catch otters, watching the sunrise over the lake or from snow-dusted hills, the full heat of early afternoon, or moonlit pathways and shadowed hedgerows. Each visit was its own, offering so much to think about, write about. I would move through the site with words. At times they came fast, I had to stop and get them down, get them out, let them form themselves into something tangible right then and there. At other times they shifted, drifted in and out. I would jot things down or voice note; they would build over the coming visits or wait patiently until I picked them back up again months down the line. They would be what they would be, and this was all part of the learning process.

And then the birds. Aside from the simple joy of watching them go about their business, or trying to locate an individual from their call somewhere in the foliage, it was the birds’ arrival to the site or shifts in behaviour which marked the passing of my year. Late summer saw juvenile sparrow hawks and herons, cormorants and little egrets in swaths; great crested grebes were busy feeding their chicks in the autumn and tawny owls called across the waters; fieldfares and redwings signaled winter in the orchards while raven pairs spoke their love language and geese ruled over the lake; and then to spring, the first sighting of swallows and a nesting pair of oyster catchers, the constant flurry of movement from hedgerows, trees and skies.

Bodenham Lake Nature Reserve is carefully managed for the future benefit of flora and fauna, with regular support from local volunteer work parties. For more information about the lake, camera trap footage and to support the work of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, visit their website.