THE Bude Valley Volunteers were hard at work last week, working alongside the canal on a beautiful sunny day.

However, good weather does work against the group sometimes with many people enjoying the weather either at home or on holiday so only four volunteers turned up to help Gareth Cann, the Wildlife Ranger.

The locks gates above Rodd’s Bridge have to be regularly opened to ensure that all the woodwork remains wet.

If it dries out, the locks can deform and leak, so along with path edging work, the locks were opened.

This wets the woodwork and allows some of the debris that has accumulated upstream to drain away and clears the water.

The work is not arduous, but immensely rewarding making sure everything is neat, tidy and in working order.

Seeing newly bloomed Cuckoo Flowers, watching Swallows hawking along the river catching emergent mayflies and listening to vociferous Sedge Warblers establishing breeding territories is just a wonderful bonus for the volunteers.

The group welcome volunteers and anyone interested can contact Bude Valley Volunteers on [email protected]