Spring arrivals and one farewell

Dense growth over the fence line by Crookmoor Ash

Missed the March bat count but the total count carried out last week was a healthy 174 lesser horseshoes a good deal higher than last years 114. This could be explained by a cold snap deterring the bats from moving to their summer roosts. Joined Mike at Sherborne wednesday where the day started with a visit to the horse 'pastures' which are bordered by Sandy Hill Copse, Moors Copse and Crookmoor Ash.  Accompanied by Ollie we took the Clarks Close route joining the trail through Sandy Hill Copse. It gave Mike a chance to check out this area of the estate for fence & tree damage, as well as observing how the hedges planted a while ago were doing. The hedges by Clarks close/ Sandy Hill were progressing well and it was also good to see a very healthy number of new lambs in the sheep pasture in this area.

Curious locals investigating our presence in their pasture

Was greeted by 4 horses as we entered the first of the pastures and as we stopped to inspect a ~500 year Oak which had fallen Ollie had his first close encounter with these large animals who were curious to see what we were doing. The size of the Oak and its large limbs proved to be too much for us to tackle so we headed on to inspect the 'fence' line boundary by Crookmoor Ash. This fence line certainly needed a good deal of work given vigorous tree growth and fallen branches.  It was certainly going to occupy the whole day in clearance work, with chainsaw and pole saw. Even with the 'help' of Maddie in the afternoon there was plenty left to do for the volunteer group later in the week. By the end of the day we had created some significant brash piles, which the horses seemed to appreciate as an additional food source, and a good proportion of the fence line was cleared to hopefully allow a new fence to be erected.

Snowshill nestling in the Cotswold hillside

This Friday marked an emotional leaving do for Linda, Snowshill Manor head gardener. Also my last visit to Snowshill Manor as a volunteer, all good things come to an end eventually.

Hedging our bets 'Pleachers odds on' & 'Heathering a long shot'

In the beginning unruly shrub this side of old Sherborne brook

Other side of brook, RSPB scrape, 6 red kites appeared Thursday

To escape the frenzy of the Cheltenham Gold cup I spent most of this week, starting on a gorgeous sunny 'Ruby' Tuesday, with the Wildlife Trust in the Sherborne water meadows adjacent to the RSPB scrapes & up from Birch copse.  The work focussed on the  art of formal hedge laying  illustrated clearly by the following ref1 , ref2. My previous 'hedge' experiences have been with Mike {NT} and involve hedge planting and 'freestyle' hedge laying. Will, John and Richard led the first session with Richard acting as chief instructor.

'Before' state from RSPB scrape side, Birches copse downstream

Richard demonstrating angle cut and 45 degree bend

Before building the hedge along one side of the old Sherborne brook we had to first cut the existing willow, hawthorn shrubs back to the stock fence. The objective was to lay the new hedge along the pasture boundary and brook leaving the RSPB scrapes side open, promoting healthy growth of the new hedge and leaving a beneficial environment for water voles. It proved to be a rewarding experience albeit with some painful moments given the hawthorn barbs! To add to the experience on Tuesday a barn owl provided an exciting aside down by the Windrush, along with 2 healthy flocks of lapwings,  a buzzard and heron. Wednesday and Thursday offered up buzzards, hares, red kites, bullfinch, woodpecker, more lapwings and herons with white egret on the Broadwater along with the usual water fowl.

Support stakes in place, pleachers woven in-between and leaning upstream

View downstream, habitat water vole & bird friendly 

After state view, hedge taking shape

Clearance by impressive bonfire , still plenty left to do downstream

Over half of the hedge was completed onThursday aside from the 'heathering'. The remaining section would be completed probably next season but John, with chainsaw, completed some useful cutting back of the willow to the stock fence. Heathering would be carried out when material is available at a date to be set hopefully in the not too distant future. Needless to say the site was left in a tidy state and hopefully Mike will be suitably impressed when he returns from leave next week.

An early Spring Dip!

Will  close to an icy plunge

                                                        Exposed Water vole burrow in river bank

                                                             River Eye banks cleared

Tuesday was my first 2015 session with the Wildlife Trust at a sunny Greystones featuring a walk in the river Eye, fortunately in waders. The task was to cut back new growth of Willow along the banks of the Eye plus remove some substantial branches which spanned the river. This was a continuation of work done in previous years and would help promote the right kind of environment for the growing water vole population. The session was lead by Will and Richard with an unusually low number of volunteers {3 of us} to carry out the shrub clearance. Some care was required as the river levels were still high which meant there were stretches where the depth was too high even in waders. Fortunately no unplanned incidents took place and the work progressed well in the welcome sunny spring weather which attracted a fine looking buzzard flying low on the hunt for field voles or similar.

Kennels in Lodge Park's coach house grounds

Today at Sherborne,  on another fine spring day, the day was spent at Lodge Park and in particular in the coach house grounds.  The day was dominated by the felling of a number of squirrel damaged beech trees and the subsequent clearing of the associated brash. The usable wood was blocked by Mike and stored in the nearby outbuildings. Whilst the power tools were in use Ollie and Maddie were conveniently placed in the old kennels. They weren't too pleased with the imprisonment and on release made best use of their freedom which included hindering me as I built up a sizeable brash pile in the adjacent woodland. A busy day and part of the task to tidy up Lodge Park ready for its opening later this month.