Will's first ditch!

view over Sherborne and Broadwater

Hidden in the pasture a yellow cow-pat toadstool?

Varied session at Sherborne wednesday with James, which began on the pasture across the Broadwater and next to the repaired wall adjacent to the road to Northfield barn.  We were scavenging for Cotswold stone, leftover from previous wall repairs, which was to be used for repairing some of the damaged walls in Sherborne village, this time by one of the new drystone wall contractors. After collecting sufficient stone to satisfy the 'waller' James suggested we pay a visit to the Windrush where he had positioned a motion detection camera. This was close to a spot on the river bank where it appeared an otter had been entering /exiting the river. On the way there we spotted an adult red kite, a  female fallow deer but weren't lucky enough to see the juvenile peregrine seen recently in the vicinity. A quick browse  of the camera photos unfortunately revealed no interesting activity so James re-positioned the camera for another attempt to capture the elusive otter.

Nicely maturing hedge running alongside scrape down by the Birches

After checking the motion detection camera for sign of otters a minor detour was made to check out the hedge built by the WT team which looked pretty healthy considering it was built just over  year ago!

Some thick scrub to cut back in the rain, Greystones

Getting stuck in, there is a water course ditch there somewhere

The water course revealed, happy days water voles

Team by the bridge, sunny but next ditch beckons!

Its been a while, February this year, but spent this morning at Greystones with the WT.  Will and John from WT led a team of 8 volunteers down to one of the water courses {ditches} in the meadows at Greystones for some shrub clearance. As it happens it was a return to Will's first ditch shrub clearance experience with the WT leading a team of volunteers.  This was 7 years ago hence the impressive growth that needed attention on this stretch and as it transpired adjacent ditches in this area. As ever it all about the water voles and ensuring they have the appropriate unshaded 'water ways' to enjoy as they thrive in the water meadows at Greystones.

The? shared vision of farming and  the countryside.