Away from the gold cup, a little bit of everything

Sherborne village in the mist, from 'upper' brook bridge

Lodge Park farm buildings,  view from Larkethill wood

Fresh and misty weather dominated the early morning at Sherborne but at least I had escaped the congestion that the Cheltenham festival brings to my local area. A good start to the days proceeding at the nursery as a red kite provided a very low fly by in order to pierce what was a thick blanket of fog. Mike had to fit in a meeting reviewing the Sherborne estate's conservation performance indicators [CPIs] which also included other NT estate/properties. So Simon & I were charged with splitting a number of Ash 'cords' {blocked by Mike} for a new customer order for Windrush and also to measure the cubic metres it took to fill the trailer. Its not often we get the chance to split nicely blocked Ash and it was a pleasure filling the trailer with 'hand crafted' uniformly shaped Ash wedges, the customer hopefully appreciating what a special trailer load he was getting.

Lunchtime, with slowly improving visibility, was spent by the Broadwater on the section above the weir. It looks like we have an additional pair of mute swans settled on this part of the river with our resident pair happy enough with the waters below the weir. Also on show were lots of especially wigeon, coot, mallards plus half a dozen tufted ducks,  a pair of canada geese plus two roe deer. A bonus awaited on my return to the estate offices as I enjoyed a good view of a greater spotted woodpecker in the large cyprus tree, followed by another low flying red kite. 

A departure from normal activities was offered by Mike for the afternoon as he 'kindly' invited me to enjoy the completion of the CPIs for the Sherborne part of the review meeting. This included progress on objectives associated with features like Archaeology and historic background (e.g. iron age Windrush hill fort , long barrow at Lodge Park),  Arable land (habitats and species), Parklands and designed landscapes , Woodland and Trees (e.g. ancient & veteran trees, managed woodland, tree disease monitoring), Views and iconic settings (photographic records of landscapes). Missed the Water( habitat and species- local rivers & water meadows). All enlightening & food for thought for me!

Fortunately Mike & I were able to leave the meeting mid afternoon and in excellent weather re-visited Larkethill wood to continue thinning (and haloing where needed!). An excellent way of completing another storm free day at Sherborne.

Interesting Martin Harper blog on the sort of strategic planning (25+ years) and ideally cooperation needed for effectively protecting our natural environment, plus to Frack or not to Frack.