The best laid plans...

Bonfire smoke marks work site on River Coln, Bibury Court estate  

River Coln water quality good, lack of plant life though

Another good working site by the Coln

Brash almost cleared by water ditch, tree on far bank on fire!

Planned further revetment work Tuesday on the river Coln on the Bibury Court Estate had to be cancelled at the last moment due to an irrational 'objection' by one of the local managers. The work will go ahead in the future but valuable time will have been lost to the detriment of the environment and to the fishing community. However, John not wishing to waste the volunteer effort available, rapidly reassigned us to clearing the substantial brash piles alongside the water ditch feeding into the river Coln.  Fortuitously the cold but sunny spell of weather suited the work especially since we had a large bonfire going to dispose of the brash. Alan and Del provided extra WT staff effort to bolster the 4 of us volunteers. Additional excitement was provided when an ember from the bonfire started a fire in one of the trees on the far bank of the ditch, but Del with some neat chainsaw work saved the day with the burning branch falling safely into the water ditch.

Bibury quiet, Rack Isle neat and river Coln with trout

Arlington row minus the usual far eastern throng!

James drew the short straw today which meant he entertained me and Ollie for some tidying up at Rack Isle Bibury, its been a while since my last visit. We used Pat's 2 wheel drive pickup so the cut grass/sedge could be loaded in the back for disposal in Sherborne's nursery area. After completing the small clearance task at Bibury, including the usual photo sessions with todays tourists, James decided to pay the Wildlife Trust team a visit to establish some useful contacts. They were still working downstream by the river Coln  on the Bibury Court estate where I was working Tuesday. Richard, John and Del from the WT were there today with 5 volunteers plus 'a man with digger'. It was good to see the brash cleared by and in the water ditch. Again the weather was good so we spent lunch with the WT team by the bridge over the Coln,  not a bad place to enjoy a break! After lunch we left this pleasant spot to visit the roman villa at Chedworth. Here James checked out the overflow car park area to determine whether Mike would need to make a visit with tractor and flail to prevent the bank holiday visitors from getting stuck in the meadow should there be the 'unlikely' chance of inclement weather over the next week.

Worth the wait in a cold draughty hide

Its not been a bad month, especially over the warmer periods, for butterflies {orange tipped, brimstone, red admiral, peacock, tortoise} but the real highlight was in my back garden where the first ever 'blue' {common} made a flying visit. Also 'bagged' my first significant Kingfisher of the year at Slimbridge last week on a cold windy friday.

What a load of Bull?

Some large company for Ewe pen work

Prep for last bit of walling at Ewe pen 'bull' paddock

Clearing wall line, springers observing!

Most of wednesday was spent at Ewe pen where we were to put up a temporary fence to protect the drystone wallers from the paddock residents. Start was slightly delayed while we sorted out the trailers as the rangers James and Michelle needed one for work at Bibury and we needed one for Ewe pen and wood deliveries. The first job however was a wood delivery to Windrush where we received a warm welcome which included refreshments. The next job was to travel up to Ewe pen to construct a fence and prepare the area for the drystone wallers who were to repair the damaged wall over the weekend. I noticed after we had started on the new fence line that the gate at the bottom of the paddock was wide open which was a little unnerving as the resident bulls had access to the work area.  This wasn't a great position to be in especially since Mike was sporting the new bright red NT colours. We completed the fence work late afternoon and then had to rush over to Windrush for another wood delivery. Another warm welcome greeted us with yet more gratefully received refreshments which included some delicious fruit cake. Maddie and Ollie didn't miss out as the customer provided them with some dog treats, her spaniel Benson quite happy to share.

Missed out on the April bat count which took place on Tuesday. It turned out to be a new record for Sherborne with 249 lesser horseshoes. Some good points in Mark Avery's anniversary blog.

Major works on the Coln, Williamstrip

Approach to the work site by the river Coln marked by the 2  trees

Trees cleared and stones laid on far bank of Coln, Williamstrip

The aim for the day, Revetment example on Sherborne brook

Monday was spent with the Wildlife Trust on river bank revetment work similar to Hyde Mill {river Dikler}, Greystones {river Eye}, and Sherborne {Sherborne brook}, but on a much larger scale. The location was on the Williamstrip estate on the river Coln. Over the years cattle and sheep have caused  a significant erosion of the river bank of the Coln and damaged the wildlife habitat for especially our old friend the water vole. This particular piece of work was scheduled over 2 weeks, involving a large number of WT volunteers, WT staff {including help from the Stroud 'arm'} and effort from the EA. Prior to this large endeavour work had already removed some riverside trees and laid large stones in the river to mark what was the original bank. As well as the revetment work some 'kick sampling' was to be carried out to reveal the state of the insect/waterlife which was believed to be at a low level inspite of reasonable quality water. The good news was there were signs that water voles were in the area even before the planned habitat improvements.

2 lines of posts positioned riverside of stones,  fascines in-between 

Other end B of revetment, inner post line established

Revetment end A, base layer fascines in place 

Fascines interlocked, all action along the river

Williamstrip our green and pleasant land!

All is tranquil on the river, all action upstream though

So lots of volunteers and WT staff, equipment {including my favourite sledgehammers}, posts, fascines and biscuits. Although wellingtons allowed some work to be done from the bank, waders were the order of the day and lots of effort banging in the posts/stakes which would provide the framework to support the 2 layers of fascines which would enable the new river bank to form along its original course. The key tips for forming a temporary bank were to keep the 2 lines of posts close enough together to secure the fascines properly and secondly to ensure the fascines were suitably interlocked for stability. With the weather set fair for the day and the days to follow its looking good for achieving the ambitious objectives of this particular project.

Fencing in the sun, only the brambles draw blood!

Some old friends in the middle paddock, Sandy Hill copse in background

Down in lower paddock all posts in place, alongside Crookmoor Ash 

Nice straight post line, extra support for middle strainer

Hottest day of the year, so obviously a good time to start erecting the new fence at Sherborne, down by Crookmoor Ash,  a continuation of the fence clearing work in March.  I & Ollie joined James in the 4x4 and trailer loaded with 40+ posts, wire and tools. Mike drove the tractor which provided essential help in clearing cordwood, brash, flattening the fence ground with flail and driving the fence posts securely into the ground. There was however plenty for James and I to do in putting in place the middle strainer and tampering in one of the end strainers. While I positioned the posts James finished off some of the remaining fence clearing by felling an ash and sycamore which would prove a risk to the new fence in the future. The day passed all too quickly and by the end all posts were in place and the ground cleared of brash and cordwood.  It would need another session to erect the stock fencing and complete the work for the lower paddock. All that remains! is to continue the fencing work for the middle paddock, noting the dense shrub shown in the pics above to remove first. Then the fence boundary by Sandy Hill copse in the upper paddock awaits, so no shortage of work in this small piece of the Sherborne estate.

Lastly, is it time for me to go completely green!, some useful manifesto refs.

A Heathering we will go!

Heathering weaved & twisted to secure top of hedge

Richard with chainsaw applying finishing touches

From RSPB scrapes side, work  remaining at Birch Copse end

Finished hedge with a couple of heatherings to spare

On a misty tuesday morning set off to Sherborne water meadows to meet up with the Wildlife Trust to resume the hedging work started in March. It being Easter it was a small {6} volunteer team lead by Richard who arrived with the essential 'heatherings' {hazel bundles},  his expertise and instruction graphics. Initially confidence wasn't high in becoming competent at heathering but with suitable prompting by Richard, and getting on with it, a respectable outcome was achieved. Weaving the hazel between the stakes and twisting the hazel stakes around each other eventually achieved the desired effect of holding the hedge firmly in place. It certainly made it clear that the previous positioning of the stakes and construction of the pleachers can make it easier or harder for the heathering to follow! Hopefully when the remainder of the hedge is layed next season the lessons learnt will stand us all in good stead.

A good blog by Martin Harper illustrating the difficulty in having meaningful discussions on Conservation with people who won't accept rational argument when profit or privilege is at stake. In this case this concerns brood management, DEFRA  and sadly involves a conservation organisation which has lost the plot {bit like Botham}. Revealing piece by Wildlife Trust on the state of rivers inspite of stirling efforts by volunteers//trusts over recent years.