A walk in the park...

Looking towards Sally Copse, Lodge Park

Bridge over the River Leach, Larket hill wood in background

2 friendly common blues in the 'meadow', front of 'grandstand'

It was to be a relaxing but interesting sunny morning at Sherborne on Wednesday.  It began with a bit of mowing at Ewe Pen where the young calves were looking good in the Bull paddock. Since Mike had arranged  to meet up with some AONB volunteers mid morning the mowing would have to be completed later. We met them at the rear of the Lodge parkland just off the Eastington road where Mike was take them on a pre- tour of Lodge Park. He guided us through this part of the surviving Bridgeman designed parkland {1726} working our way down to the river Leach at the Sally Copse end of the river valley. . As we walked through the empty pasture down to the river Leach there were good view of the avenues of lime trees {replacing the dead elms} which are slowly maturing plus of course the ancient oaks and beech dotted over the deer park leading to the Lodge Grandstand. . We were fortunate to see a brown hare crossing one of the stone bridges. We crossed over the same bridge and followed the river valley floor towards Larkethill copse appreciating this 'private' part of the landscape. After a short walk up the road outside Lodge Park, where 2-3 yellow hammers put in an appearance, we eventually ended up at the front of the Lodge Grandstand.  Nowadays it  looks over a meadow but was previously the mile long deer run where John Dutton lost a good deal of money gambling on the outcome of the deer coursing. It still surprises all that Dutton would establish the Bridgeman designed landscape at the rear of the Grandstand which is not the best vantage point to take in the views. We completed the tour by walking across the pasture adjacent to the Lodge copse back towards the river Leach. On the way we passed the Lodge 'long barrow' several thousand years old an interesting feature to complete this enjoyable informative tour.

What a load of Bull?

Some large company for Ewe pen work

Prep for last bit of walling at Ewe pen 'bull' paddock

Clearing wall line, springers observing!

Most of wednesday was spent at Ewe pen where we were to put up a temporary fence to protect the drystone wallers from the paddock residents. Start was slightly delayed while we sorted out the trailers as the rangers James and Michelle needed one for work at Bibury and we needed one for Ewe pen and wood deliveries. The first job however was a wood delivery to Windrush where we received a warm welcome which included refreshments. The next job was to travel up to Ewe pen to construct a fence and prepare the area for the drystone wallers who were to repair the damaged wall over the weekend. I noticed after we had started on the new fence line that the gate at the bottom of the paddock was wide open which was a little unnerving as the resident bulls had access to the work area.  This wasn't a great position to be in especially since Mike was sporting the new bright red NT colours. We completed the fence work late afternoon and then had to rush over to Windrush for another wood delivery. Another warm welcome greeted us with yet more gratefully received refreshments which included some delicious fruit cake. Maddie and Ollie didn't miss out as the customer provided them with some dog treats, her spaniel Benson quite happy to share.

Missed out on the April bat count which took place on Tuesday. It turned out to be a new record for Sherborne with 249 lesser horseshoes. Some good points in Mark Avery's anniversary blog.

Posch but no Becks!

Interesting colour scheme, but new wood processor is here!

Early start today at Sherborne and an interesting one with a formal introduction to a solidly engineered Austrian wood processor with log lifter!. Introduction was by a Scot {who is a No to breaking away} and we soon got to know how to operate the 'beast' with its extra 'nobs', its going to be a great addition to Sherborne's boys toys. We are certainly going to need it with orders for wood already mounting.

Lunchtime was different today with everyone off to a leaving do which meant I had the place to myself except for Pepper. Good news was I was able to take Pepper for a long walk through the Pleasure Grounds. Enjoyed the experience with such a young Springer but its made me think twice about taking on two springers at the same time.

Temporary fencing up by Ewe Pen Barn

The afternoon was a little intense with the erection of a temporary barbed wire fence around the next site for more dry stone wall repairs by the Cotswold wardens. This was up by the Ewe Pen paddock which usually has at least 2 large bulls but fortunately they were not there today. No doubt the 'wallers' will appreciate the fence we put up when the bulls return! Following this task we needed to carry out some brush cutting both sides of the existing wall to further assist the 'wallers'. As if is this wasn't enough there were some larger shrubs to remove which needed my expertise with the 'Silki' given their size. A long warm day but as always very satisfying.

Something to keep a careful eye on, EU birds and habitats Directive

Bats stop play!

Healthy 'confident' Cygnet on the Broadwater

Unfortunately this didn't save our T20 team against Sri Lanka and today at Sherborne the 25 lesser horseshoe bats in the bat cave prevented the construction work planned from going ahead. We started the morning with Morris by first visiting the Bothy and Cellar at the Sherborne nursery to do a bat count.  The work done in the Bothy is still providing  dividends as 22 bats were enjoying this summer roost but the cellar only contained 1. We didn't disturb the Kennels since the last visit showed a large count of active bats in this favourite roost and the predictions were there were probably even more. After facing the extreme growth of vegetation, comfry in particular, at the bat cave and transporting more equipment prior to the survey which revealed the presence of bats, we beat a strategic retreat. The construction in the winter roost bat cave was duly rescheduled for July when even the laziest bats should have moved to their summer roosts.

The 'Thoughtful' cygnet

On another hot day enjoyed a relaxing lunch break down by the Broadwater. Lots of tufted duck pairs (but no young as yet}  and 3 herons enjoying the fishing. Sadly only 3 cygnets on show with our resident swans extra defensive after losing one more of this seasons offspring. It does illustrate what a feat it was that last years 9 offspring all survived.

My animal audience at Ewe Pen

Given the bank holiday and a wet forecast Mike persuaded me it was best to take advantage of the dry spell today to carry out some extreme mowing plus strimming of village verges and the grassy areas around Ewe Pen and the lodges. Hopefully the neater looking Sherborne area will be appreciated for this holiday period. Certainly a change from tree guard work and although hot work it was made easier in the dry when compared with last times wet conditions.

Revealing nature and economy blog by Martin Harper,  can/should we really put a 'value' on nature although its the only language Osbourne will respond to?