A new start...

Ollie & Toby still battling on

The end of December 2017 and beginning of 2018 has been a little fraught {sad news regards Toby, a nasty fall and the demise of my relationship with the NT}. This has impacted my volunteer activities and I am just trying to adjust to the changing circumstances. However today I was pleased to assist Maurice and Mike in the February bat count. In cold and wet conditions the lesser horseshoe count was 174 bat cave, 0 kennels, 1 bothy and 4 cellars giving a total 179 {156 last years count} .  As always it was interesting to hear from Maurice on his increased activities in the Cotswolds on bat populations and historic & future bat developments.

I  will never be able to understand why anyone would want to kill wildlife for fun {indirectly or otherwise} and for this reason cannot accept the NT decision to allow this to happen in the Peak district. I have lived with the NT soft stance on a number of conservation issues but sadly I am now unwilling to continue with my NT volunteering& membership. So I am hoping to develop a different conservation volunteering role {outside NT} in 2018 alongside continuing my WT volunteering work.

Further to this the hunting and shooting community {Moorland association, Countryside Alliance etc} continue to provide a rich source of material which illustrates their disregard for scientific facts, support for illegal activities, their continued lies and their arrogant belief they know what's best for our countryside {ably supported by DEFRA and NE}.  On the slightly more positive side, some challenges to the  new image of  DEFRA Gove is trying to develop {NE shooting their boss in the foot!}, a further reminder on the cost to the environment of driven grouse shooting {DEFRA still not responding}. I am reminded of a recent Theresa May interview where she admits to supporting our traditional fun sports e.g. fox hunting et al. In order to rescue her tenuous position she backs down from a new vote on fox hunting but imagine how her government {outside the EU}, with a big majority, would manage our countryside. It doesn't bear thinking about.

The great Marcel Hirscher, 2018 Olympics

Always happier to end on a good note, was really pleased to see Marcel Hirscher win his first gold. BBC to note this skier is one of the best there has ever been, ref their coverage 2017 of a near miss  to a skier from a drone {no mention that it was Marcel!}.

Special delivery for Bibury's Rack Isle!

Dense vegetation on Rack Isle, Arlington Row end

Delivery of 9 new visitors for Rack Isle

Last sight of Belted Galloways as they disappeared into the dense vegetation

Ted in the dog house?

Another hot day at Sherborne today or as it turned out at Bibury's Rack Isle. With Mike and the 4x4 'sick' I joined James in Pat's Ford Ranger as we set off for Bibury. Today delivery of 9 Belted Galloways was due at Rack Isle for their 'holiday' from the Ebworth estate, an annual occurrence for the year old cattle stock. They normally stay on the Isle for 6-8 weeks where they manage to chew their way through the dense vegetation before returning to Ebworth.  Before the cattle were due to arrive James and I carried out some minor work on the electric fence James & Rob had erected earlier. At the same time a quick survey of the fence line and water trough {with manual pump to extract water from the adjacent river Coln} was carried out. As a bonus we found a slow worm under one of the corrugated sheets previously laid down as an attractive place for such reptiles. As usual Bibury was busy with the usual tourists and some of them were curious as to what we were doing. The 'lucky ones' were at hand when the delivery trailer arrived and provided some unexpected entertainment for them as the 9 Belted Galloways were introduced to their new but temporary home.  Within a few minutes all 9 had disappeared into the dense vegetation and I realised keeping a check on them during their visit was going to be no easy task!

Over 110,000 signatures for  'banning driven grouse shooting' reached and a good article in the guardian placing the 'shooting and hunting' communities communications in a more realistic context. So not all the media/press is led by the elitists who love the sport of killing animals whilst also harming the natural environment.

On a more bright note aren't we having a ball in Rio, makes you proud to be British although its a shame we soon won't be part of the EU.