September has been a busy month at Abberton.

Well, we got some rain! This week we passed the 1,000 tree mark of the 5,500 we are planting this winter in various hedgerows around the reservoir paths.

We have begun this winter's tree planting! It wasn't the best start. The weather has been extremely dry, and the ground of the area we are working in is particularly stony and hard.

A sortie west this week to Essex Wildlife Trust’s Brookes Reserve – between Braintree and Earls Colne – produced brief views of one of Essex’s scarcer bird species: the marsh tit.