Bats stop play!

Healthy 'confident' Cygnet on the Broadwater

Unfortunately this didn't save our T20 team against Sri Lanka and today at Sherborne the 25 lesser horseshoe bats in the bat cave prevented the construction work planned from going ahead. We started the morning with Morris by first visiting the Bothy and Cellar at the Sherborne nursery to do a bat count.  The work done in the Bothy is still providing  dividends as 22 bats were enjoying this summer roost but the cellar only contained 1. We didn't disturb the Kennels since the last visit showed a large count of active bats in this favourite roost and the predictions were there were probably even more. After facing the extreme growth of vegetation, comfry in particular, at the bat cave and transporting more equipment prior to the survey which revealed the presence of bats, we beat a strategic retreat. The construction in the winter roost bat cave was duly rescheduled for July when even the laziest bats should have moved to their summer roosts.

The 'Thoughtful' cygnet

On another hot day enjoyed a relaxing lunch break down by the Broadwater. Lots of tufted duck pairs (but no young as yet}  and 3 herons enjoying the fishing. Sadly only 3 cygnets on show with our resident swans extra defensive after losing one more of this seasons offspring. It does illustrate what a feat it was that last years 9 offspring all survived.

My animal audience at Ewe Pen

Given the bank holiday and a wet forecast Mike persuaded me it was best to take advantage of the dry spell today to carry out some extreme mowing plus strimming of village verges and the grassy areas around Ewe Pen and the lodges. Hopefully the neater looking Sherborne area will be appreciated for this holiday period. Certainly a change from tree guard work and although hot work it was made easier in the dry when compared with last times wet conditions.

Revealing nature and economy blog by Martin Harper,  can/should we really put a 'value' on nature although its the only language Osbourne will respond to?

Poetry in motion!

Looking towards South Park from just below Moors Copse

The promise of a hot sunny day at Sherborne on Wednesday was certainly delivered and oddly we were first to deliver a full load of wood to a village customer at a location which was a pleasure to be in.  In the skies above Sherborne swifts and swallows {on a lower sometimes ground hugging flight path} demonstrated their aerial prowess ,  this nicely captured by a  Mark Avery guest blog featuring this 'swift' poem.  Following the unloading of the wood we enjoyed a welcome drink and biscuit kindly provided by a local villager and whilst still admiring the swifts & swallows witnessed the late arrival of 2 red kites and a buzzard. The rest of the day was dedicated to the completion of four more tree guards down from  Moors copse, still plenty left  to do on this task. My nail, staple, sawing ends of rails  and 'wire twisting'  skills are certainly being tested! Had time to see the Broadwater swans and especially their cygnets who after only a week on this planet were being shown how to cope with the weir. Have to confess I didn't realise how buoyant they were. Lots of other youngsters out on the water {coot & mallard chicks but no tufted duck young yet.  As a slight aside on my visit to Slimbridge tuesday observed for the first time kingfishers at the Kingfisher hyde although their young were not quite ready to leave their 'hole in the bank'.

Hare today….

Thursday acting on information from the Barrington gamekeeper was delighted to 'strike gold' on the hare front {no jokes please!}, I gave up counting after 20.  So lots to learn here like : the early bird…, a bigger telephoto is a must and the footpath from Greater Barrington to Tayton provides a good walk & plenty of wildlife opportunities !

Andy & Will under river Eye bridge, 'models' extra!

Alan using his head, Andy & Will bookends

first Dipper box duly deployed

Survey begins, just downstream from the Mink boat

One still living trout needing some first aid!

Beautiful demoiselle female, watch the spider...

Today saw a return to Greystones with the Wildlife Trust to deploy the Dipper boxes constructed last week and to also carry out a water vole survey along the reserves river Eye stretch and also a part of the river Windrush close to Bourton. I joined Will's team for the river Eye location leaving Richard to lead the team on the Windrush location ( we've still to learn how Richard's team fared in the deeper waters of the Windrush).  Have to say was unsure how: the Dipper boxes were to be fixed to the underside of the bridge,  our team of 5 would be used , the water vole survey would be carried out. The good news was the weather was great, we would be in the water for most of the work in the hottest day of the year and even better we all had waders albeit slightly leaky. The pictures give an indication of the work involved but not how much we all enjoyed the day on a slightly different to the norm outing. Several things deserve a special mention not listed in any  preferential order. Andy & Will showed their flexibility fixing the boxes under the bridge without getting too wet, Alan majored on drilling, spotting a kingfisher, a water vole and impressive water vole feeding & toilet areas, we all walked in the river Eye from the Greystones boundary nearest the farm all the way to the main bridge for the water vole survey without mishap. The day ended all too quickly with the Dipper boxes safely installed and the survey with very encouraging findings,  completed.

Five inch nails!

No rails, wire netting loosely fixed

Completed tree guard 

Not an alternative to the band 'nine inch nails' but signalling a return to the tree guards partially constructed last year to protect the new elm saplings from the local sheep. Todays task was to be dedicated to completing the construction of as many tree guards as possible and suitably armed with tools, rails and wire fencing we headed over to Moors Copse via Sandy Hill Copse to the work site. Before we reached the work site however the gate by Sandy Hill Copse required some repair to its 'catch'. This was duly carried out plus it also allowed me time to see how the hedges we planted last year in this area were doing and they seem to be coming on nicely.

So why the fascination with nails, well I have been waiting nearly a year to use the new 5 inch nails and at last that wait is now over. The good news was that the young elm trees are progressing well so the temporary tree guards did their job. Further good news was Mike had bought two new wire twisters which were a great success protecting my delicate fingers! and also we had the use of the 'Silky' saw for cutting off the excess wood on the rails. So the morning was spent getting my muscle memory back for some serious hammering of nails and staples. By the end of the morning we had got two tree guards with the top rails fixed and the bottom wire fencing suitably tensioned. The afternoon, with little help from Maddie, saw three more tree guards partially fixed plus a fourth completed. So more work still to do but a satisfying days construction although my arm/wrist may feel a little sore tomorrow from some major hammering. True to form Mike observed that 6 of the older tree guards in this area would need to be replaced having suffered 'tractor' or storm damage over the years. Also to add to the task list would be the removal of a sizeable ash tree which had fallen over boundary fencing. No letting up then in the workload for the Sherborne estate , just as well Mike's assistant is now on board.

Mum showing off 3 of 4 offspring

Given the weather forecast for the immediate future looked dire had to take advantage of fridays unexpected dry spell by dropping into Sherborne. Hence this late addition to this week's blog. Was rewarded by my first view of this years Cygnets {born after my wednesday visit}, not as many as last years 9 but the 4 still a good sight on the Broadwater. Proved to be a good day for birds with a siskin, number of goldfinch, willow warbler, lapwings, red kite, buzzards, cormorant and heron.  The lapwing were clearly unhappy to have me walking anywhere near their nests, with their cries even more pleading than Maddie's. Bumped into the Barrington estate's gamekeeper & wife who exposed my lack of knowledge in the abundance of wildlife in this area. This included information on water rails, grey shrike, grey partridge, hares, otters, owls, bittern, snipe and a 'white chaffinch' and some of the plans/management techniques he employs on the estate. Interesting to hear of a plan to create a 'snipe bog' habitat along the Windrush.

Lapwing telling me to go away!