Who lives in a place like this?

First stage: with stakes embedded and facines in place

Completed with 'dog' access, Andy fine tuning

Monday was spent with the Wildlife Trust at Hyde Mill, Nether Swell. Was pleased to get the opportunity, so soon,  to practice the Plant id work carried out with Richard 2 weeks ago.  Initially however the challenge of river bank revetment/restoration work beckoned on the river Dikler near Hyde Mill. This was to be a similar construction approach carried out at Greystones where I helped last year in the creation of the 'facines' a key component of the bank revetment work. Lots of volunteers turned out today for this work plus the additional  task at Slaughter farm to finish off the kingfisher box. Nick, Mandy and Paul volunteered for the Slaughter farm task but more on that later! Leading the day required Will, Richard and John who gave us all a chance at 2 out of the 3 tasks on offer.  Of the volunteers, at Hyde Mill, Will led one team on the 'plant Id' in the adjacent meadow {followed by the Hyde Mill house garden/meadow} whilst I was with the team Richard led, to start the revetment work. Its interesting to know in this case that the bank erosion has been mainly caused by enthusiastic dogs who {with owners} frequently visit this part of the Dikler, as it lies on 'several' main walking routes in this picturesque area of the Cotswolds.  In order that the work is effective in restoring the river bank and erosion isn't moved further down the river a dog access was added to the construction 'blueprint'.  Had a lot of fun honing my sledgehammer skills on the stakes which would secure the facines and managed to avoid injuring anyone especially Richard!. Everyone had a role to play and with waders we all managed to cool off in the cool waters of the Dikler, which had a healthy population of small fish and perch. At lunch time John and the Slaughter farm team joined us with 'Mandy and Paul' looking pretty muddy & wet having misjudged their route in the deep waters of the Windrush where the Kingfisher box was sited.

One last check, Paul showing off his muddy morning exploits

I spent the remainder of the day with the 'plant ID' team, which included Nick, Mandy and Paul, with Will leading whilst John led the remaining volunteers in completing the revetment work.  The owner of Hyde Mill and surrounding estate, Hugh Tollemache, who also is on the Wildlife trust board, has certainly embraced  water meadows conservation {see here if u want ure own meadow}. He has recorded approaching 150 plant species which includes several types of orchid. Needless to say we identified a good deal less on the day but it was certainly a step up in diversity from any meadow I have visited recently.

Our 'host' with a Soay lamb to be reunited with the herd

Bee Orchid in Hyde Mill garden meadow

Pyramid Orchid in Coronation meadow

Scabious, popular with butterflies and moths

New kid on the block

New cygnet looking up to mum

Resident female cleaning up

Started the day at Sherborne expecting to start this seasons work on the bat cave now all resident bats have moved to their summer roosts primarily in the bothy(58) and kennels(175) where the latest count totals a healthy 233. Unfortunately Morris couldn't make it so new plans had to be made. This was however delayed a little due to the visit of a local hornet which caused some disturbance in the estate offices until it decided to leave by the window realising it wasn't wanted.  Eventually Mike and I were able to proceed with the tree guard repair work down from Crookmoor Ash. I drove the 4x4 with trailer and before Mike arrived with the tractor, I managed to disturb a local fox. As we began the repair work a juvenile buzzard flew in and perched on a nearby oak to see what we were up to. The morning flew by, with eagle eye Mike also spotting a sparrow hawk, and then a well earned lunch break was upon us.

As usual spent lunch down by the Broadwater with the the resident swan family looking in good health along with the usual ducks, herons and sheep. Also spotted a kestrel which was pleasing given they seem to be scarcer this year. However a new pair of swans with a single cygnet were on show on the brook up from the weir. They were quite friendly and swam across to greet me and I suspect they were quite a young family possibly related to the resident mute swans downstream.

Continued the tree guard work in the afternoon session with a green woodpecker making a brief appearance and maddie trying her best to make things more interesting by lying down right where we were trying to work. Another rewarding day ticked off and one big positive was the 'biting' flies left us alone. Not so good were the English sports results covering rugby, cricket and football, the less said the better!

Yellow Rattle in a Yorkshire Fog!

Nursery 'tiger'

Starring the new NT strip!

Pulled out all the stops & kit for continuing the tree guard work at Sherborne down from Crookmoor Ash /Moors copse. So on a hot day we completed the new guards protecting the young elms and replaced one of the existing broken guards with its maturing oak {see pic}. Next steps are to replace the rest of the damaged tree guards so more hammering, drilling and sawing to keep me busy. Not sure about the new NT 'postman' branding for our green and pleasant countryside though!

Some serious grassland analysis

Thursday was spent with the Wildlife Trust at Winyard's farm initially tackling removal of Himalyan Balsam. The volunteer team was lead by Richard who also squeezed in a couple of educational sessions on assessment of the grassland environment in this area. In the session I was part of we tackled one of the two grassland fields, the one on a slope. It proved more interesting than I thought and there were more plant/grass species present once we began to look more closely. They included clover, speedwell, vetch, sorrel, mouse ears, hogweed, orchids, yorkshire fog and the 'special' parasitic yellow rattle. Lots of new information to absorb, for me especially, delivered in fine style by Richard revealing the relationship  between plant diversity and fertility i.e. diversity increases the less fertile the ground. If a particular plant or grass dominates then ability for other plants to thrive decreases and so this is where Yellow Rattle reveals its true colours. Because of its parasitic nature towards grasses the dominant grass plant is controlled allowing other plant species to grow. Management of these grasslands and the application of topping, grazing play a key role in how rich in diversity the grassland is. Of course the geology and type of soil {alkaline, rock, water, terrain etc} provide constraints along with the farming techniques applied {or not} to the land.  Out of all this gradings such as SSSI are derived and hopefully application of appropriate land management to sustain or create important grassland beneficial for wildlife and hopefully landowners. The results of the survey of the upper grassland field which had a flatter terrain provided some differences in the plants present which demonstrates the impact of what appear to be small 'environment' differences can have on the diversity. Overall though both areas scored  around 5/10 which doesn't mean its not important but it doesn't get into the category {SSSI, County level..} which makes it a high priority when competition for resources are tight.  On the Balsam front the days effort certainly can claim a high proportion of existing Himalayan Balsam has been removed from this area which will protect further spread down the River Eye which is quite close to this local springs environment.

More on a related topic curtesy Mark Avery.

Reflections

Sherborne Hare about to be surprised by me

Mike in Scotland but I still managed a visit to both Sherborne and the Barrington estate with some interesting Hare encounters although the Sherborne badgers were unwilling to put in an appearance for me.

Brassey looking healthy

Brassey mire together with explorer Will

View from the top, shame about the fencing!

Lots of Banded Demoiselle

Good numbers of orchids

Beautiful Demoiselle in even bigger numbers

Friday was spent with the Wildlife Trust on a 'selective' tour of some of the riverside areas worked by volunteers and contractors this year in support of the living landscape programme.  It was an opportunity for reflection on the programme of work carried out this year, in particular, on the riverside environments covering the rivers Windrush, Eye and Dickler {including the Sherborne brook}. Connectivity is a key theme throughout the work and its importance can't be stressed enough. Also a strength of this work has been the collaboration between various organisations {including Cotswold rivers, Wildlife Trust, National Trust, Fishing clubs, Landowners} ably co-ordinated by Wildlife Trust & 'underpinned' by volunteer power. Essential though is achieving the right environment outcomes and sustaining them. So the shrub and invasive plant clearing , river/water management using deflectors, hurdles/faggots to return river width to original boundaries, gravelling to return rivers to natural depths after historic dredging operations,  all need to make a positive difference. The signs look good with for example increasing wildlife numbers {eg.  water voles, otters , fish, birds} , healthy plant life, gradual control over invasive species. Enough of the theory, the day was also about enjoying the fantastic Cotswold environments especially with paddling through the cool water where possible on what proved to be a very hot summers day. Where better to start the tour than Brassey and led by Will & John, with a healthy number of us volunteers, the tour began.  Lots of 'environmental' clearing, removal of invasive plant species and erection of fencing to protect river Windrush banks are all making the right kind of difference. Great area to be in not just for us but a number of heron we accidentally disturbed.

John, testing a deflector on Slaughter farm Windrush

Slaughter farm, good example of  'managing' river course

Slaughter farm Windrush, good work benefits all

Second port of call was at Slaughter Farm by the Windrush where excellent work shrub clearing alongside the Windrush and the 'Oxbow lake' area plus implementation  of deflectors, hurdles for bank reshaping, dipper & kingfisher boxes has been effectively carried out.

Sherborne water meadows, much improved cattle water hole

Final stopping point was at the Sherborne water meadows where its been a busy year on water management and this too was clearly evident with previously dried out water channels with healthy water levels and the river Windrush flows looking healthier with the addition of the 2000 tons of gravel. As a bonus we discovered that one of the owl boxes in the 'tin' barn was occupied by a barn owl. Overall an enjoyable day with John in fine form as 'information' officer with Will in a more relaxed role armed with camera. Only downside on the day were the biting flies, I'm still scratching! and the long hot climb back out of the water meadows.

How many more opportunities can be missed too help support our fragile environment before its too late, lots of responses to Defra's £11B handout to farmers with no 'green' strings attached. Wildlife Trust response pretty representative.

A few surprises mostly good!

Little and large

A leap of faith

Some of the better surprises of the past 2 weeks, with a lull in NT and Wildlife Trust activities, included a brief encounter with an adventurous fox cub on one of the single track lanes near Snowshill plus an enjoyable view of a female greater spotted woodpecker in hawthorn trees early morning on Cleeve Common. This followed by a male greater spotted woodpecker at Snowshill,  kingfishers at Slimbridge, and Peregrines including chicks in the nest at Symonds Yat together with brief sighting of a kingfisher on the Wye {plus unconfirmed distant Goshawk sighting mixed in with buzzards and a raven}.

A brief visit to Sherborne this week confirmed the health of the 3 Broadwater cygnets ignorant of the buzzard overhead being mobbed by rooks. On the way to the water meadows the sheep were being sheared, quite timely in the rising June temperatures. Down by the Windrush  Goldfinches, female Bullfinch, long tailed tits plus a blue flash of yet another Kingfisher which was surveying one of the water ditches feeding into the Windrush. The red kites were also enjoying the weather until they strayed into one of the Lapwing nesting areas which resulted in a pair of lapwing showing their aggressive behaviour in defence of their nest.

Not so good was some surprise & unwelcome visitors to my house late over the bank holiday who fortunately failed in their attempted burglary but resulted in me becoming part of the crime statistics. The type of 'wildlife' I don't like!

Meanwhile back to 'driven' grouse shooting and its impact on wildlife {especially hen harriers}.