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.