Spring arrivals and one farewell

Dense growth over the fence line by Crookmoor Ash

Missed the March bat count but the total count carried out last week was a healthy 174 lesser horseshoes a good deal higher than last years 114. This could be explained by a cold snap deterring the bats from moving to their summer roosts. Joined Mike at Sherborne wednesday where the day started with a visit to the horse 'pastures' which are bordered by Sandy Hill Copse, Moors Copse and Crookmoor Ash.  Accompanied by Ollie we took the Clarks Close route joining the trail through Sandy Hill Copse. It gave Mike a chance to check out this area of the estate for fence & tree damage, as well as observing how the hedges planted a while ago were doing. The hedges by Clarks close/ Sandy Hill were progressing well and it was also good to see a very healthy number of new lambs in the sheep pasture in this area.

Curious locals investigating our presence in their pasture

Was greeted by 4 horses as we entered the first of the pastures and as we stopped to inspect a ~500 year Oak which had fallen Ollie had his first close encounter with these large animals who were curious to see what we were doing. The size of the Oak and its large limbs proved to be too much for us to tackle so we headed on to inspect the 'fence' line boundary by Crookmoor Ash. This fence line certainly needed a good deal of work given vigorous tree growth and fallen branches.  It was certainly going to occupy the whole day in clearance work, with chainsaw and pole saw. Even with the 'help' of Maddie in the afternoon there was plenty left to do for the volunteer group later in the week. By the end of the day we had created some significant brash piles, which the horses seemed to appreciate as an additional food source, and a good proportion of the fence line was cleared to hopefully allow a new fence to be erected.

Snowshill nestling in the Cotswold hillside

This Friday marked an emotional leaving do for Linda, Snowshill Manor head gardener. Also my last visit to Snowshill Manor as a volunteer, all good things come to an end eventually.

Another year ends

decent shape to new hedge at Moors Copse

new hedge line looking good in fading light

Another year of volunteering came to and end this week with an afternoon at Sherborne followed the next day with a morning session at Greystones. The session at Sherborne was particular satisfying with hedge laying at Moors Copse. Attending were Mike and I with Maddie and Ollie along for the ride. Ollie had to be tethered as the hedge laying was next to the road and he didn't like it too much with a little too much whining for a 'special' ranger. Ollie's behaviour aside, the creation of a hedge using the existing hawthorn, field maple and hazel was very satisfying especially since I had the use of the Silki saw and Mike volunteered to work on the road side of the hedge line. Unfortunately the light and complaints from Ollie ended the session too soon leaving completion of this stretch of hedge for the new year. 

The work at Greystones with the Wildlife trust featured some serious shrub clearance over one of the water courses to allow it to be dredged next year to ensure efficient functioning in a flood protection context. A large turnout {~30 volunteers} marked the last session of the year, possibly influenced by a BBQ at Greystones which sadly I missed to ensure Ollie got his mid day feed. 

Overall another rewarding year on the volunteer front albeit with less opportunities due to weather and the arrival of Ollie. Look forward to next year with the possibility of a companion for Ollie and hopefully some more positive signs on the Conservation of nature & our countryside. 

Poetry in motion!

Looking towards South Park from just below Moors Copse

The promise of a hot sunny day at Sherborne on Wednesday was certainly delivered and oddly we were first to deliver a full load of wood to a village customer at a location which was a pleasure to be in.  In the skies above Sherborne swifts and swallows {on a lower sometimes ground hugging flight path} demonstrated their aerial prowess ,  this nicely captured by a  Mark Avery guest blog featuring this 'swift' poem.  Following the unloading of the wood we enjoyed a welcome drink and biscuit kindly provided by a local villager and whilst still admiring the swifts & swallows witnessed the late arrival of 2 red kites and a buzzard. The rest of the day was dedicated to the completion of four more tree guards down from  Moors copse, still plenty left  to do on this task. My nail, staple, sawing ends of rails  and 'wire twisting'  skills are certainly being tested! Had time to see the Broadwater swans and especially their cygnets who after only a week on this planet were being shown how to cope with the weir. Have to confess I didn't realise how buoyant they were. Lots of other youngsters out on the water {coot & mallard chicks but no tufted duck young yet.  As a slight aside on my visit to Slimbridge tuesday observed for the first time kingfishers at the Kingfisher hyde although their young were not quite ready to leave their 'hole in the bank'.

Hare today….

Thursday acting on information from the Barrington gamekeeper was delighted to 'strike gold' on the hare front {no jokes please!}, I gave up counting after 20.  So lots to learn here like : the early bird…, a bigger telephoto is a must and the footpath from Greater Barrington to Tayton provides a good walk & plenty of wildlife opportunities !

Andy & Will under river Eye bridge, 'models' extra!

Alan using his head, Andy & Will bookends

first Dipper box duly deployed

Survey begins, just downstream from the Mink boat

One still living trout needing some first aid!

Beautiful demoiselle female, watch the spider...

Today saw a return to Greystones with the Wildlife Trust to deploy the Dipper boxes constructed last week and to also carry out a water vole survey along the reserves river Eye stretch and also a part of the river Windrush close to Bourton. I joined Will's team for the river Eye location leaving Richard to lead the team on the Windrush location ( we've still to learn how Richard's team fared in the deeper waters of the Windrush).  Have to say was unsure how: the Dipper boxes were to be fixed to the underside of the bridge,  our team of 5 would be used , the water vole survey would be carried out. The good news was the weather was great, we would be in the water for most of the work in the hottest day of the year and even better we all had waders albeit slightly leaky. The pictures give an indication of the work involved but not how much we all enjoyed the day on a slightly different to the norm outing. Several things deserve a special mention not listed in any  preferential order. Andy & Will showed their flexibility fixing the boxes under the bridge without getting too wet, Alan majored on drilling, spotting a kingfisher, a water vole and impressive water vole feeding & toilet areas, we all walked in the river Eye from the Greystones boundary nearest the farm all the way to the main bridge for the water vole survey without mishap. The day ended all too quickly with the Dipper boxes safely installed and the survey with very encouraging findings,  completed.

Five inch nails!

No rails, wire netting loosely fixed

Completed tree guard 

Not an alternative to the band 'nine inch nails' but signalling a return to the tree guards partially constructed last year to protect the new elm saplings from the local sheep. Todays task was to be dedicated to completing the construction of as many tree guards as possible and suitably armed with tools, rails and wire fencing we headed over to Moors Copse via Sandy Hill Copse to the work site. Before we reached the work site however the gate by Sandy Hill Copse required some repair to its 'catch'. This was duly carried out plus it also allowed me time to see how the hedges we planted last year in this area were doing and they seem to be coming on nicely.

So why the fascination with nails, well I have been waiting nearly a year to use the new 5 inch nails and at last that wait is now over. The good news was that the young elm trees are progressing well so the temporary tree guards did their job. Further good news was Mike had bought two new wire twisters which were a great success protecting my delicate fingers! and also we had the use of the 'Silky' saw for cutting off the excess wood on the rails. So the morning was spent getting my muscle memory back for some serious hammering of nails and staples. By the end of the morning we had got two tree guards with the top rails fixed and the bottom wire fencing suitably tensioned. The afternoon, with little help from Maddie, saw three more tree guards partially fixed plus a fourth completed. So more work still to do but a satisfying days construction although my arm/wrist may feel a little sore tomorrow from some major hammering. True to form Mike observed that 6 of the older tree guards in this area would need to be replaced having suffered 'tractor' or storm damage over the years. Also to add to the task list would be the removal of a sizeable ash tree which had fallen over boundary fencing. No letting up then in the workload for the Sherborne estate , just as well Mike's assistant is now on board.

Mum showing off 3 of 4 offspring

Given the weather forecast for the immediate future looked dire had to take advantage of fridays unexpected dry spell by dropping into Sherborne. Hence this late addition to this week's blog. Was rewarded by my first view of this years Cygnets {born after my wednesday visit}, not as many as last years 9 but the 4 still a good sight on the Broadwater. Proved to be a good day for birds with a siskin, number of goldfinch, willow warbler, lapwings, red kite, buzzards, cormorant and heron.  The lapwing were clearly unhappy to have me walking anywhere near their nests, with their cries even more pleading than Maddie's. Bumped into the Barrington estate's gamekeeper & wife who exposed my lack of knowledge in the abundance of wildlife in this area. This included information on water rails, grey shrike, grey partridge, hares, otters, owls, bittern, snipe and a 'white chaffinch' and some of the plans/management techniques he employs on the estate. Interesting to hear of a plan to create a 'snipe bog' habitat along the Windrush.

Lapwing telling me to go away!

Resistance, hopefully isn't futile

Moor's Copse looking towards Sherborne village

Last years planted hedge, Northfield Copse on the horizon

Later start today, but fair weather contrary to expectation after a hot bank holiday and one of my favourite tasks to look forward to! This was especially true since we were to spend the whole day planting Elm trees which were of a strain which is hopefully resistant to Dutch Elm disease. Part of the work was selecting the best sites for planting the Elms. This included locations in some of the hedges planted over the last 1- 10 years and open pastures near to dead or dying trees ensuring the landscape retains its impressive looks. The location of each of the trees planted was recorded along with the 'root stock' so in the future it will reveal how well the particular Elm strains have fared.

There were 6 sites visited during the day and the first was a hedge line {~5 years old} on the northern borders of the estate close to Northfield Copse but on the Leasow Furlong side of the road. We next crossed over the road and planted the next Elms in the hedge built last year which has Northfield Copse at one end and Clark's Close at the other. Next was new hedge 2 and then a hedge line backing onto a paddock {with 2 friendly young horses} which was adjacent to Crookmoor Ash. On route we passed along the edge of Sandy Hill Copse with view of Sandy hill farm and the North West boundary of the estate. Quite a bit of scrambling for me over the Hedge fence lines some with barb wire and plenty of maturing thorny Hedge to restrict my comfort zone as I dug the holes to receive the Elm trees. 

The afternoon offered a change in approach where the locations were 2 fields used for sheep pasture the first down from Crookmoor Ash/Clark's  Close and the second next door and down from Moor's Copse with some splendid living Oaks and some dead ones providing good habitat for insects and lambs!.  Only had time to plant the Elms with tree protectors, in strategically chosen locations, the tree guards needed to defend against livestock would be the next task when Mike returns from holiday. Twenty splendid Elms were planted today a worthy effort and an enjoyable experience in some of the best scenery provided by the Sherborne estate .