Short and sweet

Sherbornes' Mallards skittish

Almost time to leave ...

Bit of a delayed start at Sherborne as Mike had to organise the 'ancient & notable' tree survey which included transporting the 3 volunteers to the survey area near Lodge Park. Today marked the end of this impressive one year survey which covered over 1000 trees across the Sherborne estate.  The challenge for today was to use the new wood processor for the first time which meant transporting it to the nursery, setting it up and getting used to operating it. There's no doubt it requires more co-ordination of both arms and leg to synchronise the various levers for the conveyor belts, splitter, saw and 'log grip'.  Needless to say Mike soon mastered it as did I although not quite as smoothly. At this point we decided adding in the 'log lifter' was something we would leave until next time. We did however get a load delivered before lunch which wasn't bad considering everything.

Whilst I enjoyed the pleasures of the Broadwater with the Mallards, egret and almost grown-up swan family Mike had to rejoin the survey party. 

As we were running late the afternoon session produced 2 more trailer loads of wood, short of our target but it proved a good workout for the new wood processor and with some fine tuning I'm sure the production rate will rise considerably.

No surprises in this Wildlife Trust piece