Summer constructions

Bridge and water course Temple Ham

Bottom rail still to fit 

Volunteering has become a bit more hit and miss these days and for a variety of reasons. The NT is behaving more oddly than usual {eg. Springwatch, what warped thinking is going on in the Peak district[Grouse shooting, myths]} and the WT opportunities have been less than the norm for me. However health permitting its still worthwhile taking what's on offer as todays session with GWT at Temple Ham proved. Richard led, what was the smallest WT team I've been part of {4}, to an open access pasture just outside of Bourton. Earlier work had already set up the large 'strainers' by the water course and gate which provided access via a small bridge to the 30-40  acre pasture where cattle would soon be grazing. Todays session was to erect a railed fence on the bridge and two sections of barbed wire fence alongside the open water course. The objective was to ensure the cattle would be prevented from causing excessive damage to the water course banks. While Richard led half the team setting up the barbed wire fences I with Andy set up the railed fence on the bridge. The other advantage in this wetland area is the relative ease with which the fence posts can be installed using the metal bar and drival. Always good to see the outcome of honest labour as well as a positive contribution to the protection of this environment for the foreseeable future.

Friendly Admiral!

Did manage to help the Bat trust and Mike/Maurice at the Sherbourne winter Bat roost in July/August. The first session in July surveyed and carried out initial construction in the Bat mine. While Mike and Maurice  did the necessary engineering in the mine I {with new walky talky for H&S use!} carried out some essential path clearing since the vegetation had all but overgrown access down to the mine. In the hot weather I made a friend with a red admiral which clearly was attracted to my honest sweat. We revisited the mine this wednesday where Mike and Maurice carried on the engineering work albeit hampered by 4 male bats which had made an early return to this roost probably hoping for first access to returning females! In fairly damp conditions outside I was engaged in digging out the area around the 'second' entrance to the mines to allow a previously engineered metal frame to fit. The objective was to seal this entrance from unwanted intrusion from a relatively new 'dark' group of people who are seeking to enter mines such as this without permission or regard to damage done to such important bat habitats. Sadly incursions in nearby cave systems have already taken place.

On a more positive note was treated this week, in my local area, to the sight of  a pair of greater spotted woodpeckers, a family of 3 kestrels hunting on the Crickley Hill scarp and a roe deer which had strayed onto the newly cut cricket pitch on Burrows playing field. My dogs ignored the deer clearly still thinking fondly of the Pembrokeshire beaches they visited in July.

A meaningful agenda

Bat cave compound, bit of a jungle 

A little busy of late so a brief summary of July thus far. Started this years renovation work in the Sherborne bat winter roost aka 'the bat cave'. Morris directing on this with Mike as support engineer and me on security duty. On reaching the entry to the 'compound' ( in which is located the bat cave) with heavy bags of building clamps we were faced with a wall of vegetation. So it was a good job Mike had the brush cutter although it was a tough going to find the path through. It proved to be a hot and sticky session for me outside but good progress made in cooler conditions inside on construction.

Young oak, minus tree guard

This week was to be a continuation of construction in the bat cave but sadly Morris was sick so it was back on tree guard construction. So fully tooled up we set off with tractor and 4x4 with trailer to the previous site below Crookmoor Ash. Was glad I was following Mike in the tractor as he discovered some soft wet ground which I probably would have got stuck in. Turned out that there was an underground leak in a mains water pipe in the pasture we were working in. The old tree guards we were replacing today were pretty badly damaged but fortunately the oak trees they were meant to protect were in good condition. On the Broadwater today the swan family were all in good health ,although the adult male was absent on a visit above the weir, a pair of small egrets were on show along with the usual herons. On my return to the estate offices I also came across a large grass snake, not sure who was more surprised.

Martin Harper with an environment agenda of worth.

'The boys are back in town'

Adonis at Calstone Down, one of many!

It's good to see that this year is still providing mainly good news from a nature perspective {badgers in west , moths and ladybirds aside}. Fruit trees are certainly going to out perform last years poor yield and butterflies are still going strong. A late visit to NT Cherhill and Calstone Downs plus Avebury Windmill Hill provided some impressive butterfly sightings. Especially pleased to see Clouded Yellows, Brown Walls and Adonis Blues.

Bit of a good news, bad news today at Sherborne. Good news was TP had finally delivered the supplies for the bat cave, Simon was part of todays team and the weather was still great. Bad news was our Dark Knight couldn't make it, the 'late' supplies were not complete and we had some early returning lesser horseshoes in the bat cave! As ever a few problems don't deter this countryside team and we decided to get the most out of the day as we could. A very hot morning saw us move some substantial supplies of Acro props, poles and clamps to the bat cave. We very carefully began to move a portion of the supplies into the cave. Mike ensured this was done so the early returning bats were avoided by using alternate routes through this underground winter roost.

Lunchtime chat, Sherborne  Brook

Was pleased to see lunchtime so as to cool down and paid my usual visit to Sherborne brook. Swan family were on their lunch break so didn't pay me much heed, only a single heron and buzzard showed up plus the usual mallards plus 1 white duck. Difficult to believe we are in September already and still enjoying such great weather. Rest of the day was spent completing the transfer of supplies into the bat cave and all done without disturbing the bats. No construction today was possible without impacting the bats and it looks like further work will have to wait until next year, subject to another bat survey on 18th September.

The show goes on, despite shoddy supplier

Mum on guard whilst cygnets relax by the boat house

No delivery of the vital supplies by TP again and once more Mike had to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat with the help of Pat who kindly offered up some substitute material from his building store. Also included were some materials to allow me the chance of improving the construction of the 'bat cave' steps. So once more Morris, Mike and myself set to gathering together essential supplies & then loading the trailer prior to driving to the bat cave. Before setting off we had an interesting dialogue with a research student from Bristol University who was part of a team studying the impact on bat populations in the UK of increased artificial light within bat habitats {increased security lighting, more building lights, cars..}. It seems there is evidence suggesting that bats were having to travel ever further to avoid our artificial lights when hunting. As well as using up vital energy it also seems, as a consequence,  to reduce the time spent in nurturing their young. The researcher was with Mike's help looking at our local Bat status.  Current stats UK wide still show declining bat populations, the good news for Gloucestershire is that Bats seem to be doing better here. In particular the lesser horseshoe bat is under threat so Sherborne's success  wrt to lesser horseshoe bat is even more important. Not that we needed any more incentive to continue the work on their winter roost at the bat cave but it is nice to know it could be even more significant in the grand scheme of things.

I was relieved to escape to the relative cool of Sherborne brook at lunchtime as the morning was pretty hard going in the heat. The swan family were relaxing down by the boat house and all 3 herons were out and about with the juvenile favouring the safety of the large old oaks. No red kites today but one juvenile buzzard also perched at the top of an oak. I enjoyed a relaxing walk through the Pleasure Grounds on the way back to the bat cave and also the surprise of a couple of dog walkers as I pointed out the large metal bat hanging from the trees.

The afternoon soon passed by. Mike and Morris having done some good construction inside the bat cave and I had completed the critical improvements on the steps outside {'rises' now added to the top steps!}. No more materials left to continue without more supplies! and the next opportunity to proceed with the work is mid September, bat permitting.

Down by the Windrush in background, Water Meadows water management

Useful to note the progress on the major water management Project on the Windrush in the Water Meadows area. Sadly the water pump[s] won't operate given the lack of elevation in the water meadows but there is a plan B to use a solar powered pump so all is not lost. Most of the prep work is done so the contractors should be able to resume and complete the work quickly. However we will also be able to use the original pump{s} from the Northfield Barn, given its elevation,  to further improve water management . Add to this the work the Wildlife Trust will be doing on the Sherborne Brook again in the Water Meadows area and altogether this work when completed represents a Major step forward in conservation in the Sherborne estate.

Happy families

Sherborne's cygnets growing up fast

Red veined darter, dragonfly on Sherborne Brook

Not a great start to the day as the Bat Cave supplies hadn't been delivered by TP. However Morris and Mike agreed we had enough kit to do a useful days work, so off we went. While Mike and Morris set too inside the cave I was consigned to safety duty outside. Essential but not the most exciting task but at least it was nice weather and this week I wasn't savaged by the flies.

Lunchtime came round soon enough and I set off to see what was afoot at Sherborne Brook. The swan family were situated up by the bridge/weir and enjoying a grooming session in the sun. The Cygnets are growing up fast and starting to flex their wings ready for their first attempts at flying! As well as butterflies {including tortoiseshell} I spotted an unusual dragonfly all nice to see towards the end of summer. Even better the Red Kite family {parents & 3 juveniles} plus the usual lone Red kite came to 'play' flying over the pastures alongside the Sherborne Brook. Quite a sight especially when 2 of the Herons joined in, albeit briefly {must sort out a bigger telephoto !}.

The afternoon got a bit more interesting since Maddie joined the team, and I joined Morris inside the cave to do some serious scaffolding. Mike was on safety duty, with Maddie, plus  'cutting' wood,poles with axe grinder and chainsaw. So in spite of the absence of missing supplies a satisfying and worthwhile amount of work in the Bat cave was achieved. Only downer to the day occurred on the way home when I caught up with the first day's play in the last Ashes test match.

Working in a coal mine....?

Finally 'captured' fritillaries, Cirencester park though!

Deep in thought for next stage of construction, our Dark Knight

Early start at Sherborne today, I even had time for a quick visit to Sherborne Brook where I was treated to the splendid sight of a kingfisher sitting on  a white post on the far bank of the brook. We had a fair size team working today with Mike-lead Ranger, Morris- Dark Knight, Richard and I as volunteers. A good job to since much work was needed for the planned bat cave construction work. The morning was spent by Richard and myself reconstructing the steps down to the cave entrance whilst Mike & Morris operated inside on early construction work.  Not all was plain sailing as outside we were plagued with flies and inside Morris uncovered some hazardous material which fortunately was safely dealt with.

Spent lunchtime down by the Sherborne Brook where I was pleased to see the Swan family, all 11, still looking healthy. Also present were 3 herons, 2 perched in the standing dead trees, one of them looked to be a juvenile! Bumped into some German tourists where we were treated by a close fly by of a red kite. Walked back to the Bat cave, for the afternoon work session, via the Pleasure Grounds and was happy to see the play area, constructed last year, busy with children and their mums/guardians.

My afternoon assignment was working underground with Morris {as his apprentice} while Mike initially with chainsaw fashioned timber blocks for positioning between Acrow props and the ceiling faults. Richard remained outside on safety duty and helping move materials from the outside to the cave entrance. With Morris directing location of Acrow props and using a spirit level to ensure correct positioning I was on 'tightening', nailing and moving the props to correct position using a lump hammer duties. Mike meanwhile after sourcing the timber blocks started to fix the strengthening poles between appropriate Acrow props. With the available  material we had managed to set up over 6 more Acrow props deep in the cave system. Lots more to do since the extensive shopping list compiled during the survey last week has yet to be procured. At least we have made a good start to the planned work and we will be getting stuck in again next week. As last year the work will need to stop some time in September since the bats will be returning to this winter roost in this month.