The grass 'is' greener on the other side!

Littleworth wood viewed from Snowshill Manor

Sadly no NT work experiences this week, and for as yet an undetermined period, as I appear to have damaged a tendon connected to my right knee (this to be confirmed by the Dr today).  I may have made this unexpected injury worse by working at Snowshill Manor on Sunday but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Sunday did however provide two new experiences. One was working with the Coventry garden volunteers which was rewarding and the second involved some animal husbandry. This involved escorting a rogue goat off the premises and back to its mate on an adjoining property. Helped by Katie we scrambled down the shelter belt, crossed a small stream, gently pulling the goat with us, and then lifted the goat over the boundary fence back into its field. There was no doubt the grass in its field was inferior to ours so no surprise that it had, via an as yet undetermined route , decided to pay Snowshill Manor a visit!

In the ongoing 'bee' saga and 'neonics' I thought this NT blog {NT Pressoffice} provides a good perspective, especially why is the temporary ban only 2 years when this particular pesticide lingers around for ~4 years. Slightly odd connection with the Chelsea flower show but this NT blog reminds us of the ongoing threat to our trees.

The Blues: British or Spanish

Lynches wood, British blues

Orchid, Littleworth wood

While Mike is enjoying the Irish sun I took the opportunity to seek out this seasons bluebells. Usually the best time for seeing the bluebells is much earlier in April plus this year, having seen the invasion of Spanish Bluebells which includes my garden, I was curious to see how the British Bluebell was faring in the NT woodlands. I chose Dovers Hill,  Lynches wood,  followed by Littleworth wood as I was confident my best chance of a good showing would be at these locations. I may get some stick from Mike but I wasn't sure of the best spots at Sherborne.

Amazingly I was greeted by sunny skies at Dovers Hill and was certainly not disappointed by the display of British bluebells in Lynches wood. It was also good to see the Sweet Chestnut trees which feature strongly in this woodland and alongside one of the paths, form an impressive avenue. So a good start to the day and I was in good heart as I headed for Stanton village where I would use the footpath from the Mount at Stanton {good pub} to head up the hill towards Littleworth wood. Again the British bluebells were on display but not quite the numbers at Lynches wood. To make up for this there were a good number of orchids on show and it was also good to see that another 'compartment' for conservation had been erected since I last worked here. So enjoyed another woodland walk and couldn't resist having  quick look at Snowshill even though I will be working there this Sunday. I grudgingly returned to Stanton where I forced myself to take some refreshment at the Mount which was a pretty good way of ending a satisfying day.

Snowshill, from Littleworth

Liked this guest blog concerning the NT and I can certainly relate to the countryside conservation observations. So has the NT got the balance wrong between recreation over conservation,  its current strategy has meant less resources for conservation. This doesn't mean there is an absence of conservation. I personally have enjoyed and observed the past work of the NT Rangers in: woodland management , hedge building, planting, water meadow restoration tasks {sometimes in partnership with the Wildlife Trust}. There's just not enough done and doubts about sustaining the good work carried out mount.

Resistance, hopefully isn't futile

Moor's Copse looking towards Sherborne village

Last years planted hedge, Northfield Copse on the horizon

Later start today, but fair weather contrary to expectation after a hot bank holiday and one of my favourite tasks to look forward to! This was especially true since we were to spend the whole day planting Elm trees which were of a strain which is hopefully resistant to Dutch Elm disease. Part of the work was selecting the best sites for planting the Elms. This included locations in some of the hedges planted over the last 1- 10 years and open pastures near to dead or dying trees ensuring the landscape retains its impressive looks. The location of each of the trees planted was recorded along with the 'root stock' so in the future it will reveal how well the particular Elm strains have fared.

There were 6 sites visited during the day and the first was a hedge line {~5 years old} on the northern borders of the estate close to Northfield Copse but on the Leasow Furlong side of the road. We next crossed over the road and planted the next Elms in the hedge built last year which has Northfield Copse at one end and Clark's Close at the other. Next was new hedge 2 and then a hedge line backing onto a paddock {with 2 friendly young horses} which was adjacent to Crookmoor Ash. On route we passed along the edge of Sandy Hill Copse with view of Sandy hill farm and the North West boundary of the estate. Quite a bit of scrambling for me over the Hedge fence lines some with barb wire and plenty of maturing thorny Hedge to restrict my comfort zone as I dug the holes to receive the Elm trees. 

The afternoon offered a change in approach where the locations were 2 fields used for sheep pasture the first down from Crookmoor Ash/Clark's  Close and the second next door and down from Moor's Copse with some splendid living Oaks and some dead ones providing good habitat for insects and lambs!.  Only had time to plant the Elms with tree protectors, in strategically chosen locations, the tree guards needed to defend against livestock would be the next task when Mike returns from holiday. Twenty splendid Elms were planted today a worthy effort and an enjoyable experience in some of the best scenery provided by the Sherborne estate . 

Scorchio!

Whiskered bat with water crystals attached!

Lesser Horseshoes, no flash allowed

 A day to savour and for once our weathermen got a prediction right, with sunny cloudless skies dominating. Morris beat me to Sherborne, fresh from his Barcelona break, and with Mike we headed up to the bat cave for the delayed April bat count. As ever my predictions on numbers were wide of the mark but none of us expected the overall numbers found at the bat roosts we survey at Sherborne. So the bat cave winter roost still had 126 lesser horseshoes plus 1 whiskered, the Kennels had an impressive 45 lesser horseshoes, the bothy still 0 but the Cellars in the nursery a magnificent 40 lesser horseshoes : A grand total of 212 a new record for Sherborne. In the Cellar summer roost there was even evidence of mating so we may have some little bats flying around soon, so all in all excellent news for our bat population. For once the temperature inside the bat cave was cooler than outside which was quite pleasant given the increasingly warming weather outside. Another bonus during the morning was that the excellent weather brought out several butterflies {peacocks, cabbage white, brimstone and a large turquoise } and not to be outdone the birds got into the act with swallows, house martins, raven, buzzards, tits and linnets amongst others enjoying the day.

Unfortunately had to 'earn my keep', so in the hottest part of the year so far,  the afternoon had me splitting wood in the nursery followed by a rapid trip up to Lodge Park for the first mowing of the lawns for the coming bank holiday, Mike operating from the Kubota. Not much life discovered in the Lodge pond yet but hopefully the warmer weather will soon remedy this with more of what we saw last year to come.

Ended the day with a quick visit to the newly planted hedges at Sandy Hill and Clarks Close and was pleased to see some 800+ hedge plants all in place and protected from the local wildlife to enable 2 healthy hedges to develop over the next few years.

Hedge 2, with Sandy Hill at one end

Hedge1, alongside Sandy Hill with Clarks close in the distance