A mixed bag in 'scorchio' feeling temperatures

Almost warm enough for Sherborne House swimming pool

Started the day early at Sherborne, with Ollie in tow, for the February bat count. Morris had another mission so he only had time for the count at the 'bat cave'. I was on safety with Ollie on security whilst Mike & Morris carried out the count at the bat cave. Temperatures both inside and outside the bat cave were higher than expected for this time of year {9C-11C }. The final count was 162 lesser horseshoes in the bat cave, 0 in the kennels, 1 in the bothy and 11 in the cellar giving a grand total of 174 appreciably higher than last years count of 153. 

Crocus enjoying the sun in the Pleasure grounds

Where's Ollie?

With blue skies and in the sun the temperatures feeling very warm I spent the lunch time walking Ollie in the Pleasure Grounds. The display of spring flowers was still looking good with daffodils beginning to flower. There was a distinct change from the previous week with only one dog walker seen during my circuit of the grounds and this allowed Ollie sole access to the 'play area' and woods which he took full advantage of

Contribution to the wood store!

Always time for play 

The afternoon began by loading wood from the wood store in the nursery and this proved more challenging than normal as both Maddie & Ollie decide that it would be fun to chase up and down the wood pile whilst we tried to load the trailer. The remainder of the afternoon was spent in checking the array of 'toys'/equipment & documentation [brush cutters, pole saws, chainsaws, mowers, tractors....] in readiness for the H&S check on Friday. As ever the 2 Springers proved as helpful as ever in the warm springlike weather outside but all building on Ollie's experience as a volunteer ranger.

An 'exuberance' of springers?

Guarding the wood piles

2 cheeky youngsters

playing near the Pleasure grounds ice house

fighting off a hungry Ollie and interested Pepper

Glorious weather at Sherborne today and a second introduction of Ollie to Pepper another energetic, young english springer. It was a day spent at the nursery where the Sherborne wood service was needed to complete pressing orders of wood supplies. Although Ollie and Pepper were happy with each other there were clear boundary rules set by Pepper on her den & toys at the estate offices so Ollie was to escort Mike and I to the nursery in the back of the 4x4.

Lunchtime was spent at the Pleasure grounds where Pepper happily showed Ollie around the woods at speed  whilst we enjoyed the good display of spring flowers {snowdrops, crocus, aconites} and ensured the dogs didn't interact too much with the 'half term' visitors. 

The afternoon was spent producing more wood and delivering loads to a nearby village and locally to Sherborne. Ollie had company in the afternoon with Mike's springer Maddie who as the adult managed to remain in her own world largely ignoring Ollie's attempts to play. The good news was Maddie accepted Ollie in the back of 4x4 with good grace. It will be interesting to see how the relationships develop between all the springers over the coming weeks. 

Slightly disturbed by the strange actions of the Forestry commission and Woodland Trust over this woodland in Northants, I have to hope this was an anomaly if not what other areas of woodland have or may suffer  in the future with similar development initiatives. Good news is a good outcome achieved in this case no thanks to FC, Woodland Trust or certain staff of the Northants district council.