Egrets and bats

Great White on the Broadwater

Camera shy, couldn't get closer than drystone wall

Wednesday at Sherborne was fairly relaxed probably because of the recent bank holiday but more likely due to the rangers seeking a respite from their increased activities in support of the current wildlife initiative. Mike did invite me to a brief visit to the 'kennels' bat roost where he carried out a minor but important 'carpet fitting' over camera cables. I witnessed the  lesser  horseshoe bats settling into their summer roost and saw the 'approved' camera installation which hopefully will capture some rare footage of bat 'pups' in June. On the return journey to the estate office we saw 2 little egrets and a great white egret on the Broadwater. I managed to get a long range picture of the rarely seen great white egret which proved to be even more sensitive to disturbance than the more common grey herons. The rest of the session was spent with James where I helped to pickup two 5 bar gates from Stow on the Wold, no mean feat but I did learn how to tell a left hand from a right hand gate!.

Also managed to see some of the motion cameras  footage where foxes, badgers, pheasants and deer showed up in numbers and proved less camera shy than might be expected. Looks promising for fitting trackers to the resident badgers and foxes.

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.

Can't tell Stork from Heron!

Tricky access through wood on left, for delivering walling stone

Stork at Sherborne Broadwater

Stork not a Heron!

Back of Monks Farm, rebuilding of  drystone wall

Hot and varied morning at Sherborne on Wednesday, starting with a fire alarm drill at the estate offices before we 'escaped' with both tractors and the 4x4. Mike took the 'new' red tractor with large trailer to Lodge Park to collect a supply of stone. This was for the rebuilding of the dry stone wall at '33' in Sherborne village. The access to the wall was tricky and needed the smaller blue tractor with trailer to deliver the stone supply through a narrow wood trail. Some testing driving of both tractors was needed to even get to the start of the wood trail just up from the Broadwater weir. While Mike and I moved the stone from the large to the small trailer James set about 'strimming' the overgrown trail before we could move it to the work site. As we were discussing with the waller where the first load of stone was to be placed Mike interrupted with news of a rare visitor to the Broadwater.

One of the villagers had spotted a Stork landing/flying in the pasture by the Broadwater. Without too much persuasion and armed with binos, camera {no long lens!} all of us {including 'waller' } headed back to the Broadwater pasture to get a look. It was indeed a Stork and I was volunteered to try and capture it on camera by careful approaching it { couldn't stalk it given I tweaked my back earlier in the week}. An amusing sight I'm sure but I did my best. Although the Stork was the star of the morning we did also see an actual heron, an egret and I saw the mute swans with at least 2 cygnets. All in all a good mornings experience at Sherborne. 

Meanwhile on the 'bigger picture' we now know who replaces Truss heading up DEFRA, Andrea Leadsom  'being a mother' and therefore having a real stake in the future could mean her children might have a countryside environment  left to enjoy?. Sadly Truss gets promotion for doing absolutely nothing {well nearly if we ignore her dismissal of the ban on lead ammunition}. Question is will her replacement Leadsom take any notice of this Martin Harper blog.

Spring surprises!

An American invader 

Nice setting for Chedworth overflow car park

Sherborne allotments close to the 'stone site'

Arrived at Sherborne in good spirits on a warm, sunny Spring day with the hope of an opportunity to finish off the rail fencing at Clarks Close begun last week. A few surprises were the flavour of the day ,  this included the much improved spring weather.  As is often the case the planned work for the day was to be amended to respond to a more urgent task at number 33 in the village. While Mike and Pat made a start on the new task to remove a large amount of stone from the site at 33, I joined James to pay a visit to the Chedworth roman villa to take down a temporary fence setup in the overflow car park. The countryside on the journey to Chedworth is pretty impressive, especially helped by the great weather. As the temporary fence line at Chedworth, set in a meadow leading down to the river Coln, led down to the riverside, James and I took the opportunity to survey the river prior to starting to dismantle the fence. With great aplomb James surprised me by dipping his hand into the water and pulling out a signal crayfish which was quite a handsome {but troublesome invader} beast. It didn't take long to dismantle the fence and tidy up so we were soon back at Sherborne to help in moving the stone. This took 2 tractors, 2 vehicles and 5 men so no mean task. 

The final surprise of the day was the fact that another pair of mute swans were nesting in the upper part of the Broadwater above the weir with the resident pair nesting down by the boat house in their usual location. Should be interesting how this works out and how many cygnets we get this year. 

Seven up!

Some of this years cygnets on the Broadwater

Dad leading the family of 7

Last week was spent with the Wildlife trust on some good old Himalayan Balsam bashing on the river Coln at Whittington court, Andoversford and Owdeswell court. Last years efforts had proved effective in these locations apart from some isolated clumps. At the end of the session though we discovered at Owdeswell court a significant area of the invasive plant which would have to be dealt with in a later session.

Hottest day of the year for me at Sherborne wednesday and my first contact with this years Broadwater swan family.  The afternoon was spent on an unusual task of ditch creation, fortunately with Mike using the digger attachment to the tractor. James and I had the job of soil removal using the 4x4 + tipping trailer to deposit the one and half ton loads in a secluded area near Northfield barns.  Managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the Broadwater on one of the 'runs' to try and catch a glimpse of the resident mute swans. Fortunately the swan family were down at the Broadwater weir with seven healthy cygnets being guided by their parents {increase from 3 last year}.

More good news on the wildlife front at Sherborne with a Red kite pair rearing 3 young which should soon be fledging. Also in the Cleeve reserve area plenty of 'blues' to be seen along with some 'Duke of Burgandies' plus a rare sighting for me of a cuckoo!

A Dark Knight army!

Large turnout for the March bat count

A bit of an 'upside down' day at Sherborne with the March Bat count taking place in the afternoon. The morning was spent in the nursery splitting wood with 2 full loads delivered to local Sherborne customers. Its amazing how the remaining 'seasoned' wood stock is lasting but hopefully the demand should be tailing off now spring is upon us.

Lunchtime by the Broadwater provided some interesting changes: with the resident mute swans having built their usual nest by the boathouse, the new pair of mute swans  establishing their nest on an island above the weir, a pair of red-crested Pochard and a little Egret. All the usual suspects on the water were also present with a single Red Kite flying low over the Broadwater and 3 Buzzards flying high over the woods up from the brook. Also spotted at Sherborne by a local resident was a female hen harrier, I will of course be attempting to spot it myself.

The afternoon began with a bat count in the village roosts:  the Cellar 17, bothy 1 and the Kennels 8 lesser horseshoes. We met Morris up at the bat cave accompanied by a number of students and consultants. In addition Anna one of the new Sherborne volunteers joined Mike and Maddie to complete the bat enthusiasts. So it was quite a group looking forward to exploring the winter roost for the first time. The count for the cave proved very disappointing with only 88 lesser horseshoes giving a grand total of 114 well below last month and the 183 last March. The much warmer weather than last year  and a possible undiscovered summer roost may account for the drop, here's hoping its not something more serious.

On a totally different note I quite liked this piece from the Wildlife Trust providing good examples of youngsters adventures in nature, in this case more is even better. A final word about this years budget from Martin Harper, his blog unfortunately and unsurprisingly revealing no positive news for the environment.

High tension by the Dikler !

View over Lodge Park, river Leach levels down

see below to identify the only man to tackle 2 monkeys!

No sign of Morris for the January count this wednesday at Sherborne { Dark knight still in Oz?} but we still went ahead supported by Simon on safety and Mike and I carrying out the count. Temperature near the entrance was 11C but further in the cave it averaged 8C and definitely had a damper feel in the cave due to our fairly wet weather over the last few months. The final count for the 'bat cave' was 158 , 0 for the Kennels and Bothy and 12 in the nursery cellar giving a grand total of 170 lesser horseshoes, a healthy total for the time of year plus an increase since December 2013 and January 2013 counts.  A bonus near the Kennels summer roost was my first sighting of a Bullfinch for quite some time!

Lunchtime, on yet another mild winters day, was down by the Broadwater. 2 pairs of Tufted duck, usual coot and a moorhen were on show above the weir but the mute swan family spotted last week had moved on. Downstream were significant numbers of wigeon with another pair of tufted duck, the 'sherborne' pair of swans and the usual mallards preferring the area near the boat house. The afternoon session was spent in Larkethill wood, adjacent to Lodge Park where contractors had felled selected trees, mainly ash too near to the roadside boundary. The task was to generate cordwood to be stacked and placed in the tractor trailer Mike had towed with his tractor to this location. I drove the 4x4 with Simon to aid in the operation which proved fairly tricky given the density of remaining trees. By close of play the tractor trailer was filled and a number of cord wood piles left for future retrieval to the nursery. Another bonus for me was  spotting a small flock of long tailed tits in the hedgerow across the road from the wood.

Attended first session this year with the Wildlife Trust at Greystones with two interesting tasks on offer;
The first to be led by Will on cutting stakes & hazel heatherings on green lane for the hedge laying at Sherborne in March,
and the second led by Richard on stock fencing by the river Dikler, with the added bonus that the strainers and posts were already in place.

Barn owl house and end of fence line far right 

Completed stock fencing by the River Dikler

I opted for the fencing, [need the practice], and set off with the team over wet ground with the barbed wire, stock wire and a fine selection of tools.  Its not often I get the chance to either see in use or operate the Monkey strainer, 'Myti' strainer {for barbed wire in this case}, Farmers Boy, metal bar, wire cutters, hammer, lots of staples not to mention the all important Gripples! It was also interesting to see a slightly different technique {to that I have used before} employed to construct the stock fence with an innovative use of the metal bar and 2 Monkey strainers for the top and bottom stock fencing 'strain' wires. Given the posts were all set up the key job was to ensure the correct application of tension to the fencing wires so I gained some more valuable insights into the dark art of fencing and reluctantly have to bow to Richards skills/knowledge in this area. Before we even reached our work site it was great to see a snipe, buzzard and 2 red kite and having reached our destination a red spotted woodpecker could be heard in a nearby tree {a bit greedy I know but it was a shame the barn owl didn't make an appearance given its 'home' was right by the work area}. After a minor hiccup with the length of stock fence available for the longer run of the three fence sections required {allowing for the bend in the fence line tracking the river bank and needing the Gripples to join up the 2 short fence sections} the team was divided up for the various tasks. After bedding in infrequent {if ever} used skills, with Richard's expert guidance, we completed the task and to the standard required. Given the nature of the work {tools and materials} plus the proximity to the swift flowing river and 'mini' lake on the pasture side it was amazing there were no unfortunate incidents. This could be put down to our expertise, good risk management & leadership or luck, probably all, you decide. So with great weather we ended the day on a high and rejoined the team working on stakes & heatherings who were equally well satisfied with their days session.

Couple of interesting blogs from Martin Harper the first on lobbying {still a worry} and lest we forget Natural England {if only its purpose could be fulfilled!}

In absentia...

They think its all over…..

So with an advertised stormy day ahead I set off on what is my last official ranger day for 2013. The day was rescheduled to avoid the worst of the weather with a December bat count, requested by Morris who is currently roasting away on holiday in Australia, to be carried out in the anticipated wet afternoon. Luckily our Dark Knight Morris is not a cricket fan and unlike some of us will not be hugely saddened by England's capitulation in the Ashes series!.

So with one or two hiccups we began the day with 2 wood deliveries, the second being more memorable given the provision of a nice cup of tea & a tasty cake. We then shot up to the West Belt for a continuation of thinning together with a bit of hedge laying with the aim of avoiding the worst of the weather. Fortunately the weather was kind and even better the trees 'behaved'  themselves with only a few requiring a little gentle persuasion from the tree lever. So despite limited time available we were still pretty productive and  completed the woodland management work in this section of the West Belt. Lunchtime was soon upon us and my luck held weatherwise so I paid a quick visit to the Broadwater. Good to see a pair of swans, a pair of canada geese, 1 heron and the usual array of ducks. 

The afternoon with the weather worsening began at the bat cave and joined by Pat, who kindly acted as safety man,  Mike and {promoted} me were to carry out the bat count inside. The temperature, both inside and out, was pretty mild for December at ~10 degrees. I was grateful to stand in for Morris, since while we were inside the dry cave,  Pat was suffering in the wet outside. The final counts for 2013 were 151 {6 ringed} lesser horseshoe bats in the cave, 0 for the kennels & bothy, 7 in the nursery cellar giving a grand total of 158 which was slightly less than the November count.

Couldn't quite finish the year without a timely comment on biodiversity {state of Nature} & the NGO's , neatly supplied from Mark Avery. I have to admit to being puzzled by the NT position, its resistance to collaborating with 'like' NGOs on the big issues and the fact I haven't found any comment {finally spotted 20 Dec, better late than never} from it on the impending decision on CAP funding eg. Martin Harper blog, blog2. Sad news just in on CAP funding distribution, although the Wildlife Trust announcement tries to put it in a positive light.

As seen on TV!

Clear view across ditch, lots more shrub waiting on right!

Out with the Wildlife Trust Monday, at Greystones, the last session for me of the year. The task was shrub clearance of one of the ditches,  again to make the area more attractive for water voles. Two surprises awaited the volunteer team; the first was how dense the shrubs were and my sawing skills were tested to the limit, the second was the presence of BBC West who were interviewing Tom on the Greystones nature reserve, Will on volunteers and John on water voles. Filming took place of the reserve plus work going on during the day at Greystones, including our little shrub clearing exploits. No I didn't star or more to the point talk the BBC crew into the ground!

Magnificent oak down by the Broadwater

Lots of good stuff on the Sherborne estate regards birds but first task of the day was giving Pat a hand in the morning clearing a water channel running alongside Tight Lane which starts at the Sherborne school. For the afternoon,  following a stay of execution on the return of the Wood processor,  Mike had set up a final {really!} wood production session. Before commencing we duly delivered this years xmas tree to Sherborne House and mighty fine it looks to! As in last weeks session we finished the days work in the dark,  our wood stocks now cleared but the wood store full {alongside both trailers with loaded wood}.

On the bird front I spent last Saturday afternoon down in the water meadows where I was treated to great views of Buzzards, over 16 Red Kites many roosting in the 'poplar stands' alongside the Windrush. In addition there were a pair of cormorants, mute swans, a heron, 3 fieldfares, marsh/willow tits and goldfinches. This was complemented by todays lunchtime down by the Broadwater with lots of wigeon, mallards, coots, canada geese, {1 with orange collar}, 1 greylag, heron, pair swans, red kite, buzzard, raven and to make my day a kingfisher. The kingfisher was fishing down by the Broadwater weir and for over 10 minutes I watched it finally catching its lunch. The only downside was I didn't have my telephoto but took a couple pictures anyway with my wide-angle zoom. Yes it is possible to see the kingfisher in my snaps but an opportunity missed for a quality image!

Woodstock ?

Its all about the wood, music would be good too

Weather almost tropical compared with yesterday, and yet another surprise start at Sherborne. This involved the delivery of a Christmas tree, courtesy of the Commons, to Northleach Church. Was impressed by the 13th century church at Northleach and even better by a chance sighting of a kingfisher on a 'tributary' of the river Leach just outside the church grounds. However the main task of the day was to be in the nursery generating as much wood as possible before, sadly, the wood processor is returned to Ebworth. So the rest of the morning was spent filling the tractor trailer which was then duly unloaded into a pretty full wood store. This is just as well since the seasoned cord wood supplies are rapidly disappearing.

Lunch was down by the Broadwater where 2 mute swans {no cygnet}, wigeon, mallards, canada geese , 1 Greylag and 1 tufted duck were on show.

The afternoon included 2 wood deliveries and ended in the dark with another trailer load, destined for the wood store.  So a really productive day with our 'woodstock[s]' in good shape before the christmas holiday demands. As to repeating the 69 iconic festival, I don't think Lodge Park is ready for something that large so happy to settle for the 'peace' and birds of Sherborne!

Final count 2013

Cheltenham avenue, near Bat cave

The morning was to prove damp at Sherborne, but fortunately we were to carry out the last bat count of the year so we were under cover most of the time. Morris was on good form, possibly because he's soon off on a 6 week Australian adventure, and much historic information was imparted on quarries in the local area plus their bat populations. The temperatures recorded in the bat cave were fairly high and the bats certainly took advantage with a large grouping to be found at a 12 degree hot spot. So in the bat cave were 142 lesser horseshoes, 0 in the kennels, 0 in the bothy and 19 in the nursery cellar giving a total of 161. This was slightly down on the last count of 175 but apparently this is normal as some males disperse to other roosts in search of females, so we are expecting at the next planned survey, a higher count in January 2014.

Spent a dry and sunny lunch with a leisurely walk through the Pleasure Grounds on my way to the Cheltenham Avenue to witness the end of the Autumnal colours in the beech and larch. On the way back I had a quick look over the Broadwater where to my surprise was a new swan family with one cygnet {a little late in the season}. They were in the company of significant numbers of canada geese and various ducks.

The afternoon was spent in the nursery with the wood processor, generating and delivering 2 trailer loads for local customers. Bad light and further rain showers prevented further wood processing work so next week will be a concentrated effort to increase our wood supplies as much as possible {we'll probably finish off the remaining seasoned wood left} before the wood processor returns to Ebworth. Clearly we'll need the weather to cooperate so hopefully the expected winter snow will hold off a little longer.

Just in case there was any doubt regards this Governments record on 'being green', Mark Avery's 'nature check' blog reminds us in detail how badly they are doing against their own targets.

The Tree whisperer ?

The Broadwater

First real signs of winter with a frosty start this morning but ideal working conditions on a mainly sunny day. A relaxing start with a wood delivery for Simon, a fellow volunteer, and providing excellent hospitality. This was followed by a trip to the West Belt for a continuation of thinning. It was to prove a  difficult session and one of those days where our patience was certainly tested. The trees to be felled seemed to resist the simple task of just falling to the ground. So rolling, levering using both tree levers, use of the wedge, levering the trunk backwards and 'super cuts' with the chainsaw were all brought into play to bring the trees to ground. I think even Mike was surprised by so much resistance to our efforts and I'm sure a few quiet words were also employed at one stage. It was certainly not boring and at least the last tree to be felled before lunch actually fell to the floor with no additional help.

Spent lunchtime by the Broadwater [part of Sherborne brook close to the village] where the canada geese, mallards, moor hens, coots, wigeon, teal and a friendly wren were all on show. Interesting news from Mike was that 7 mute swans visited the Broadwater earlier this week, a good chance they were 7 of the 9 cygnets that were born here and encouraged to leave by their parents!

The afternoon was spent back in the West Belt but this time on some hedge laying. True to todays form this proved challenging, as the shrubs/trees to be bent into the new hedge were on the large size, entangled with each other and also leaning in the wrong direction. Progress was therefore not as impressive as the hedge laying last week but despite one or two setbacks we did finish the day with a reasonable stretch completed.

The Windrush, water levels high by water meadows

The first short eared owl in the water meadows this season was reported by Andy L {NCOS} so must find time to pay a visit to see if it has been joined by more of these winter visitors.