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.