It’s otter work!

VOLUNTEERS have been working to clear scrub at Southoe Brook to allow visiting otters easy access to Paxton Pits Nature Reserve. The otters often visit the lakes at the nature reserve but need to cut through Southoe Brook on their way from the River Grea

VOLUNTEERS have been working to clear scrub at Southoe Brook to allow visiting otters easy access to Paxton Pits Nature Reserve.

The otters often visit the lakes at the nature reserve but need to cut through Southoe Brook on their way from the River Great Ouse.

To help their journey, Friends of Paxton Pits volunteers have been cutting back the scrub.

Jim Stevenson, senior ranger at the Paxton Pits, said: "This work is vital both for otters and the other wildlife that uses Southoe Brook.

"The open water flanked by sunny banks that the 15 volunteers created provides just the right conditions for spawning fish, an access for eels to get to the lakes, and breeding sites for dragonflies."

The project is part of a campaign called CSV Action Earth, which is supported by Morrison's supermarkets and organised by the national charity Community Service Volunteers.

More than 900 voluntary organisations, businesses and community groups will be undertaking projects across the UK that are of immediate and lasting benefit to the environment.

INFORMATION: Paxton Pits covers 75 hectares of lakes, riverside, meadow, reed beds and woodland. It is managed by Huntingdonshire District Council countryside services and supported by The Friends of Paxton Pits and the community.