Autumn clearance

Top of Ragged copse, self portrait?

Wednesday was spent with Mike at Sherborne, carrying out various clearance tasks. The first was at the 'Bat cave' where the vegetation, mainly Comfrey, had completely hidden the path. An aggressive use of the brush cutter soon uncovered the path down to the mine and revealed the steps. Had to replace/secure some of the stakes supporting the steps and all was ready for a visit by the Springwatch team on thursday. We then moved onto the top section of Ragged Copse where some path and fence line shrub clearance was carried out, continuing the work started earlier in the week. Not a bad mornings work especially since at the start of morning Mike had suffered 'a battering' in a fall in the estate yard.

Hyde Mill residence, we were downstream of this

Today was spent with the GWT at Hyde mill alongside an overgrown stretch of the river Dickler. John led the volunteer team which was divided into teams one checking previous work on this stretch of river and the team I was in was removing stands of willow providing shading detrimental to the growth of sedge grass etc. an important food source for water voles. Given limited available space to dispose of the large amounts of willow it was fortunate John had a trailer to collect the brash in and the nearby Meadow farm yard provided the area to unload  the material.

River work

Young welcoming party at Meadow farm

The WT team being introduced to the days task

Start of the river section 'narrowing'

Spent today with the WT on the river Dikler, downstream from Hyde mill and close to Meadow farm. Richard & John were leading and as well as the usual volunteers we were joined by Defra & NE representatives, all amounting to over 20 people. Before starting on a variety of 'river tasks' we were fortunate to see a kingfisher fly by obviously a little put off from its quiet fishing by such a large body of human invaders.

I with one group of 'workers' were directed to carry out the usual 'shade' clearance to help improve our favourite water vole's habitat. In this instance there were a number of mature trees which were to be left to provide some shading to ensure the brown trout were not too disadvantaged. The other work was to deal with sections of the Dikler which had become too wide and to start work to reduce the width by forming an artificial river bank where the original bank would have been. This was done using stakes weaving in suitable vegetation/fascines to form a barrier behind which the new river bank would establish itself. Sadly I didn't get the opportunity to use one of the 4 seriously large sledge hammers for setting the stakes securely in place. I had fond memories of similar work which addressed bank erosion at Hyde mill, amazingly 2 years ago!.

A little bit of everything

Some tricky chain sawing of fallen willow 

River Dickler, close to Rissington Bridge

Scrub clearing over water course which runs out of lake

Wednesday morning was spent at Sherborne with both Mike and James. James was on chainsaw,  I was on wood processor loading the cord wood {plus occasional axe splitting} and Mike was operating the wood processor. Should have been quite straight forward to build up the stocks of wood for the depleted wood supplies but not so. The main difficulty in achieving maximum efficiency was the quality of the cord wood we were using i.e. relatively small in diameter and not straight! This meant much more work for all of us and by the end of the morning we had only achieved one trailer load albeit an  extra large one. The only good news was we hadn't wasted any wood and the remaining cord wood pile for the next session looked to be much better 'quality'. Highlight of the morning, apart from my moans about the wood, was that a sparrow hawk which was hidden on the ground near where we were working flew right in front of us, clearly fed up with the noise we were making.

Today I made a comeback with the Wildlife Trust out at Greystones where a sizeable team led by Will and Richard were to carry out brush clearing close to the river Dickler near to Rissington Bridge on the outskirts of Bourton on the Water. The water course coming out of one of the gravel lakes, adjacent to Greystones reserve, which ran into the Dicker needed some serious scrub clearing. Once completed {more than one session would be needed} this would provide a better habitat for water voles connecting the gravel lakes and Dickler. Previous work in the past in this area already showed encouraging signs of water vole and hopefully this current work would improve on this and make sustaining it much easier. Although I only had a short time on brush clearing my 'sawing' skills proved not to be too rusty and the two fires for burning the large amounts of scrub were well fed.

Fun at the Mill

Rissington Mill, on the river Dikler

Phase 1 of bank clearance, team well earned break

Bonfire working well

Mandy up the tree, John in deep water

Dikler bank cleared, bonfire roaring away

potential future work downstream!

Joined another large Wildlife trust team led by Will and John at Rissington Mill on Wednesday, not Sherborne as usual since Mike was on a course (you never stop learning in the countryside). Another good location, by the river Dikler and on land which surrounds the Rissington Mill, the mill  sadly no longer in operation.

Another mild November day for some classic river bank clearance to benefit the water vole mainly but it also improves the look of the riverside environment. This task continued the good work of last year in this location yet the new growth in the meantime still provided plenty more to do. With the Dikler water level high,  running fast and the overgrowing shrub {blackthorn & willow} uncomfortably far from the bank the risks of an 'early bath' were high. This time Mandy disappointed but did come close especially when climbing an overhanging willow to trim it back. The good news was an impressive bonfire was built to dispose of the lighter brash and debris {larger wood pieces were carefully placed in the nearby hedge line}. The bonfire provided plenty of heat for drying after any unplanned dips into the river but extra care over the flying embers was needed especially for me without hair or a hat!. Although the team of workers was large the long stretch of river bank being worked ensured sufficient space for all plus plenty to do. The first break in work provide the bonus of some tasty cakes baked by one of the volunteers. I left early again but the positive impact on the river bank was already clear to see, so another rewarding experience ticked off.

Martin Harper's latest blog illustrates the current spate of attacks on the 'conservation communities' a soft target for the mainly well to do hunting & shooting communities with too much time, too much money and little rational/factual argument. No one supporting conservation pretends everything is perfect but on too few resources, small numbers of lowly paid professionals and a healthy set of volunteers its been doing pretty well to stave of disaster in our natural world. I don't see the government or anyone else stepping forward to help conservation although I highly commend those small minority of farmers & gamekeepers who more than hold their own.

Who lives in a place like this?

First stage: with stakes embedded and facines in place

Completed with 'dog' access, Andy fine tuning

Monday was spent with the Wildlife Trust at Hyde Mill, Nether Swell. Was pleased to get the opportunity, so soon,  to practice the Plant id work carried out with Richard 2 weeks ago.  Initially however the challenge of river bank revetment/restoration work beckoned on the river Dikler near Hyde Mill. This was to be a similar construction approach carried out at Greystones where I helped last year in the creation of the 'facines' a key component of the bank revetment work. Lots of volunteers turned out today for this work plus the additional  task at Slaughter farm to finish off the kingfisher box. Nick, Mandy and Paul volunteered for the Slaughter farm task but more on that later! Leading the day required Will, Richard and John who gave us all a chance at 2 out of the 3 tasks on offer.  Of the volunteers, at Hyde Mill, Will led one team on the 'plant Id' in the adjacent meadow {followed by the Hyde Mill house garden/meadow} whilst I was with the team Richard led, to start the revetment work. Its interesting to know in this case that the bank erosion has been mainly caused by enthusiastic dogs who {with owners} frequently visit this part of the Dikler, as it lies on 'several' main walking routes in this picturesque area of the Cotswolds.  In order that the work is effective in restoring the river bank and erosion isn't moved further down the river a dog access was added to the construction 'blueprint'.  Had a lot of fun honing my sledgehammer skills on the stakes which would secure the facines and managed to avoid injuring anyone especially Richard!. Everyone had a role to play and with waders we all managed to cool off in the cool waters of the Dikler, which had a healthy population of small fish and perch. At lunch time John and the Slaughter farm team joined us with 'Mandy and Paul' looking pretty muddy & wet having misjudged their route in the deep waters of the Windrush where the Kingfisher box was sited.

One last check, Paul showing off his muddy morning exploits

I spent the remainder of the day with the 'plant ID' team, which included Nick, Mandy and Paul, with Will leading whilst John led the remaining volunteers in completing the revetment work.  The owner of Hyde Mill and surrounding estate, Hugh Tollemache, who also is on the Wildlife trust board, has certainly embraced  water meadows conservation {see here if u want ure own meadow}. He has recorded approaching 150 plant species which includes several types of orchid. Needless to say we identified a good deal less on the day but it was certainly a step up in diversity from any meadow I have visited recently.

Our 'host' with a Soay lamb to be reunited with the herd

Bee Orchid in Hyde Mill garden meadow

Pyramid Orchid in Coronation meadow

Scabious, popular with butterflies and moths

A Century up and almost a washout

Wildlife Trust team approaching river Dikler worksite

Tranquil setting just outside Upper Swell

Impressive riverside clearance by end of day

It wasn't looking good this week, especially for my 100th blog on countryside volunteer experiences, as both NT and WT sessions were cancelled. However the Wildlife Trust rapidly rescheduled for today and we didn't miss out on a very rare sunny winter day. Will {in spite of ill health}  and John led the team to Upper Swell {fortunately not as flooded as the name suggests} to carry out some clearance by a very full, fast flowing river Dikler. The usual shrub/tree clearance, to remove shade, was the order of the day  but with the added 'pleasure' of rampant brambles a real favourite of mine! We were treated to a raven seeing off a buzzard at the first break and it was hard to believe how pleasant the weather was with our youngest team member down to his tee shirt. What a fine spot, with a parkland estate further downstream and a characterful old bridge as our 'break spot' where we could  'bask' in the warm sun! Needless to say we did get stuck into the work and by close of play had made an excellent start of clearing this stretch of river.

Not so long ago the weather patterns provided us with 'too dry' winters but this year seems to be making up for lost ground! The seemingly constant wave {no pun intended} of storms blew away this weeks wednesday session at Sherborne. Fortunately I did manage a visit to Sherborne on Monday where, in the main, the water levels in the water meadows were higher than I've seen them, almost a waders only zone. Some wet socks and trousers testify to this especially down by the old Sherborne brook where lots of gulls, buzzards and a few remaining lapwing were on show. I also spotted 2 pairs of heron, pair cormorant, a flock of small waders {still to ID but plover is favourite} and 3 red kite in the pasture/lake overlooked from the 'hyde'. Most enjoyable sight was that of my second bullfinch of the year in the hedgerow on the boundary of Picardy followed by 3 fallow deer deeper in the wood. Not so good was some additional tree damage especially the fall of one of the trees into the Broadwater, an interesting removal challenge for Mike.

While on the topical subject of floods another sensible blog from Martin Harper.

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!}

Building Bridges!

John thinking hard about how to plug the hole in the bridge

Out with the Wildlife Trust thursday with the weather looking particularly good. Nearly made my first visit to the Slinket on the river Dikler but other factors intervened. Instead I volunteered to go with John back to Snipe Moss to carry out some fencing work on the bridge which spans the river Dikler and used to support a railway line. While we spent todays session on this work two teams of volunteers headed for the Slinket to carry out the main work of the day.

Its all about the ponies!

The work at Snipe Moss was more of an owner engagement exercise so that the current relationship with the landowner remained healthy so that future work the Wildlife Trust needed to do on the river Dikler would hopefully not be obstructed. The aim was to make as safe as possible the bridge area for grazing of the Shetland ponies. In view of the 'run down' nature of the area this was not going to be easy.  However with the mighty metal bar, drival , posts and wooden rails we set to. In spite of the tricky terrain we had the fencing up by lunchtime and even solved some potential dangers on the bridge edge by moving previously felled wood to fill the gaps. One tricky problem had to remain unresolved however, concerning a dangerous hole on the bridge itself, badgers and natural erosion being the cause. To end the day we put up some more fencing to fill a gap in the fencing line along the Dikler and just to the side of the bridge. Hopefully the days efforts will prove worthwhile and be appreciated by the landowner.

Fallen ash in South Park, Sherborne house in the background

Bit of mixed bag at Sherborne today, with contrast in weather conditions and some varied tasks. Started off with more 'bridge building' at South Park, by the pond, tending to a fallen ash tree. This was to help out one of the tenant farmers and hopefully keep him onside with regards 'high level scheme' work in the future. Good view of Sherborne House from this wet spot and Mike was relieved the weather was dry as getting a loaded trailer out of this area if the weather was wet would prove difficult. In the pleasant weather we soon had the trailer filled leaving some hefty cord wood to be picked up by the tractor later.   At this point Mike got a phone call from Lodge Park holiday cottages where our services were called on to move a new cooker into place before the new visitors arrived.  We set off directly from South Park to the Lodge gate cottage and successfully escaped the wet pasture just as the heavy rain hit. This made moving the cooker in the wet more difficult but nothing we couldn't manage. Little did we know we would back at the end of the day, in the rain, removing the old cooker!  The afternoon,  fortunately with less heavy rain, was spent on the A40 side of West Belt clearing the area adjacent to the dry stone wall. This involved me doing the 'brush cutting' and Mike on pole saw removing overhanging branches. So quite a varied, productive day but I was pleased to get home and get into to some dry warm clothes!

Update on CAP by Martin Harper.

Work on the wild side?

Wiltshire and Gloucestershire WT united

Joined the Wildlife Trust team today at Snipe Moss on a stretch of the River Dikler for some more habitat clearance work. Will and Richard led the team which was bolstered by 2 members of the Wiltshire Wildlife trust based at the Lagoons near Swindon. Also helping the days work were some new saws and loppers which were to prove important as there was quite dense shrub alongside the river bank which needed to be cut back to create more light aiding new ground vegetation growth. Waders were to prove essential as the Dikler water levels had risen significantly of late with the recent rains and the water flow was brisk.

Far bank of the Dikler much clearer

Richard with new saw, Will in support 

Hawthorn ready to fall, Wiltshire team ready to clear brash

To add to the challenge were some 'prickly' hawthorn and a fence line making access to the shrubs challenging. However with the effort split between water and the river bank we managed to complete the clearance by early afternoon and before any rain had the chance to fall.

For those old enough,  another music legend Lou Reed gone, hope the title of this blog not too cheesy.