Summer constructions

Bridge and water course Temple Ham

Bottom rail still to fit 

Volunteering has become a bit more hit and miss these days and for a variety of reasons. The NT is behaving more oddly than usual {eg. Springwatch, what warped thinking is going on in the Peak district[Grouse shooting, myths]} and the WT opportunities have been less than the norm for me. However health permitting its still worthwhile taking what's on offer as todays session with GWT at Temple Ham proved. Richard led, what was the smallest WT team I've been part of {4}, to an open access pasture just outside of Bourton. Earlier work had already set up the large 'strainers' by the water course and gate which provided access via a small bridge to the 30-40  acre pasture where cattle would soon be grazing. Todays session was to erect a railed fence on the bridge and two sections of barbed wire fence alongside the open water course. The objective was to ensure the cattle would be prevented from causing excessive damage to the water course banks. While Richard led half the team setting up the barbed wire fences I with Andy set up the railed fence on the bridge. The other advantage in this wetland area is the relative ease with which the fence posts can be installed using the metal bar and drival. Always good to see the outcome of honest labour as well as a positive contribution to the protection of this environment for the foreseeable future.

Friendly Admiral!

Did manage to help the Bat trust and Mike/Maurice at the Sherbourne winter Bat roost in July/August. The first session in July surveyed and carried out initial construction in the Bat mine. While Mike and Maurice  did the necessary engineering in the mine I {with new walky talky for H&S use!} carried out some essential path clearing since the vegetation had all but overgrown access down to the mine. In the hot weather I made a friend with a red admiral which clearly was attracted to my honest sweat. We revisited the mine this wednesday where Mike and Maurice carried on the engineering work albeit hampered by 4 male bats which had made an early return to this roost probably hoping for first access to returning females! In fairly damp conditions outside I was engaged in digging out the area around the 'second' entrance to the mines to allow a previously engineered metal frame to fit. The objective was to seal this entrance from unwanted intrusion from a relatively new 'dark' group of people who are seeking to enter mines such as this without permission or regard to damage done to such important bat habitats. Sadly incursions in nearby cave systems have already taken place.

On a more positive note was treated this week, in my local area, to the sight of  a pair of greater spotted woodpeckers, a family of 3 kestrels hunting on the Crickley Hill scarp and a roe deer which had strayed onto the newly cut cricket pitch on Burrows playing field. My dogs ignored the deer clearly still thinking fondly of the Pembrokeshire beaches they visited in July.

On the rails?

Note one  rail 'join' per post for more stable structure

Mike assessing the mornings work at Clarks Close

Got to get some practice with the hammer and drill this week at Sherborne where I helped Mike and James finish off attaching the rails to the poles installed a couple of weeks ago. While Mike and I attached the rails James made a start on replacing the old gate post. I certainly needed the practice since I am a little rusty on this type of construction and as Mike has lots of tree guards to be constructed this season I am going to need to get stronger! Nice and peaceful in this part of the estate and the wildlife obviously enjoying a break since we didn't see any. Still no sign of cygnets on the Broadwater this year hopefully its not too late for their appearance. 

Can't resist a mention of the EU referendum,  the following 2 Blogs [Mark Avery and RSPB] confirm my position.

Fencing with rails?

Hedge plants starting to mature, Sandy Hill Copse in distance

Northfield Copse in distance, fence gone by Clarks Close

It's a long stretch of fencing needed down to Sherborne wall

First fence section poles erected at Clarks Close 

Not a new olympic sport but alternative fencing construction to usual stock fencing. Previous volunteer session had removed old rail fence line along the top section of Clarks Close, it was a significant stretch of fencing to replace so the tractor was a welcome support to the task. Before starting to layout the fence poles I took the opportunity to see how the hedges built in 2013 were doing. Although James and I had a healthy number of fence poles in the trailer it became obvious we had insufficient  to cover the extensive fence line needed. Mike also concluded the old rails wouldn't be good enough to re-use and the old gate posts giving access to Clarks Close would also have to be replaced.  James and I positioned  the posts while Mike using the power of the new tractor pushed the poles into the ground. Given the unseasonable cool weather the limited use of the drival and metal pole for positioning the poles was sufficient to keep me warm. Unfortunately I didn't get to attach the rails to the first section of the fence line but hopefully I may get the chance to have a go next week unless Mike and James get the extra poles and finish the job over the next week. Whatever the outcome Mike has more fencing work planned plus plenty more tree guards so my drilling and hammering skills will come into play over the coming months.

This blog from Martin Harper confirms a number of things: EU is a positive {albeit slow} force for the environment/wildlife, DEFRA {Truss} are pretty useless, Shooting fraternity {with their super figure head Botham} may start to worry their sorry minority of privileged, arrogant members could face a bigger threat from 'us' than they ever considered and Mark Avery's dogged persistence is edging the environmental position slowly forwards. Not bad since this Government supported by the press {owners/editors with shooting bias} continue to provide a powerful negative force concerning issues impacting our Natural environment.

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.

Fencing in the sun, only the brambles draw blood!

Some old friends in the middle paddock, Sandy Hill copse in background

Down in lower paddock all posts in place, alongside Crookmoor Ash 

Nice straight post line, extra support for middle strainer

Hottest day of the year, so obviously a good time to start erecting the new fence at Sherborne, down by Crookmoor Ash,  a continuation of the fence clearing work in March.  I & Ollie joined James in the 4x4 and trailer loaded with 40+ posts, wire and tools. Mike drove the tractor which provided essential help in clearing cordwood, brash, flattening the fence ground with flail and driving the fence posts securely into the ground. There was however plenty for James and I to do in putting in place the middle strainer and tampering in one of the end strainers. While I positioned the posts James finished off some of the remaining fence clearing by felling an ash and sycamore which would prove a risk to the new fence in the future. The day passed all too quickly and by the end all posts were in place and the ground cleared of brash and cordwood.  It would need another session to erect the stock fencing and complete the work for the lower paddock. All that remains! is to continue the fencing work for the middle paddock, noting the dense shrub shown in the pics above to remove first. Then the fence boundary by Sandy Hill copse in the upper paddock awaits, so no shortage of work in this small piece of the Sherborne estate.

Lastly, is it time for me to go completely green!, some useful manifesto refs.

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

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!}

Starter for 2014

River Leach,  Lodge park

Weather was behaving itself for my first session back at Sherborne and Mike was certainly happy to be able to get outside to tackle an ever growing task list which has built up over the xmas break and been obstructed by the stormy weather. The good news was that only a couple of Sherborne's trees suffered storm damage and the bad news was quite a few of the ancient drystone walls out in the estate needed attention. Not quite as extensive as the wall by the estate offices last year but todays task at Larkethill wood required an immediate response. The drystone wall {1700s} on the wood boundary had collapsed in 4 different places and we were to erect temporary fencing to allow the tenant farmer to use the adjacent pasture for his sheep. Fence posts, wire fencing, metal bar , drival and the understated farmers boy all essential to tackle the work. Of course Mike added in some boundary wall clearing, as the large beech trees & hawthorn were obstructing access to parts of the wall, so making drystone wall repair easier in the future. No easing into the work following a long xmas break then and by lunch I was suitably warmed up. Was granted a little respite as we wandered down the pasture to the river Leach and followed it back through Larkethill wood across to the boundary of Lodge park. Not surprisingly in the Lodge Park valley the river Leach had overflowed its banks. Luckily on the pasture side, even with trailer attached to the Ford Ranger, we managed to get in and out without too much fuss given the extent of rainfall over the last few months.

Vigorous water flow through weir bridge

Lunch was spent down by the Broadwater where water levels were high, the usual bird activity {swans, heron, buzzard, red kite, wigeon, mallard, coots..} on show plus a pair of tufted ducks.  Started the afternoon by removing 2 xmas trees from Sherborne house {for later depositing in Larkehill wood},   clearing a manhole cover and then a small wood delivery in the village. We finished the day back in Larkethill wood to complete the fencing and wall clearing. There was some risk in this since we had taken the wood trail down through Larkethill wood and the rain started to fall towards the late afternoon.  Fortunately Mike's driving in these conditions was up to the task but not before we had spent a worrying few minutes struggling up a tricky ridge on the track back up towards the road. So a good start to 2014 and plenty to look forward to especially if the winter remains as mild {not wet} as we have experienced so far.

Hate to end on a sour note but my favourite 'environmentalist' has started 2014 with a bang. I thought 2013 was pretty bad for this Government's attack on our fragile environment with HS2, Fracking,  Neonicotinoids , Badger culls and… but Owen Patterson's latest suggestion concerning ancient woodland beggars belief!. Mark Avery blog captures the sorry affair but not sure about{although understand} the RSPB 'yes if' stance. Can we expect this government to look beyond the 'yes' to the essential qualifiers, I don't think so! Of course if the vast majority of todays society  places little or no value on its natural environment { through ignorance or plain greed} then the choice our future generation face on this subject will be taken out of their hands.

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.

Bits and bobs

Not the 'black sheep' causing problems at Clarks Close

Mike's on holiday next week {as am I} so lots of urgent stuff around Sherborne to do before he takes a well earned break. The morning was spent ensuring Sherborne would be left 'looking good' as mowing and strimming dominated another hot day. Interesting bit of news from Mike on the walkers gate, where those young adventurous sheep were clearly unhappy to be thwarted by Mike's changes, so they seem to have broken one of the wooden support posts to assist their continued escape {another job to add to the list}. Highlight of the morning was experienced at Northfields barn where a red kite carried out a low flying manoeuvre almost within touching distance of us as we were sitting in the 4x4. During the lunch break I carried out my normal stroll down by Sherborne brook. The usual suspects were all their and the swan family still at full complement.

4 BBC's flying around Lodge Park pond

The original plan for the afternoon was to carry on with tree guard construction with the new 5" nails, however a priority call came in for essential work at Lodge Park. So off we went, accompanied by Maddie, strimmers, mowers and assorted tools. As we hadn't been to the Lodge for a while we paused by the Lodge pond where we were treated to a flying display by Broad bodied Chasers and also pleased to see some Newts swimming around in the ponds murky depths. Whilst Mike did some extensive strimming I was given the job of taking down half of the stock fencing at the North end of Lodge Park to allow for extra parking in the adjacent farmers field  for upcoming summer Events {the fence would be re-erected at the end of season} . More mowing followed then a survey of the 'meadow' area which fronts the Lodge Grandstand. Over 200 pyramid orchids were found , lots of 5 spot Burnets, meadow browns and ringlets. Happily only a handful of Ragwort were found and duly removed for later burning. The day was unfortunately extended a little as Maddie went AWOL so a search ensued where she was finally discovered 'stuck' in one of the Gate House gardens. A good spot by Mike on the way back to Sherborne as we witnessed a stoat casually strolling through an opening in a nearby hedgerow. A busy day and I was glad to get back home up until I learnt about our woeful batting display in the first Ashes Test match at Trent Bridge in my home town.

'Hedging' my bets or monkeying around?

Hedge 1, Sandy Hill copse

The Monkey strainer,  Hedge 2

Who says sheep can't count! click image to see

Tough goal set by Mike today to complete the construction of Hedge 2 and surpass the efforts of last week on Hedge 1. I was worried especially as Hedge 2 was longer in length and there were more environmental challenges to face. True Mike had made an early start in preparing the ground, setting up the high tensile wire and pounding in the first 5 posts. Add to this we had the tractor on duty so perhaps  we had a fighting chance.  Helped by good ground conditions,  using the metal bar and Drival we had fixed into the ground the first row of posts by lunch, a great start.

Spent lunch time on a wander around Sherborne village and the fields around Sherborne Brook . Good news was the sight of so many healthy spring lambs especially since many sheep farmers {especially those without adequate shelters}, have suffered tragic losses due to the extended cold & snowy conditions this year.

The afternoon began with an assessment of the existing fence line which stretched between Sandy Hill copse and Clarks Close. This was to provide the other side of the Hedge 2 rectangle but needed the addition of some new posts to replace the less stable existing ones. The good news was Mike used the tractor with bucket to drive the posts into the ground but the bad news was some of them were located in the middle of the existing stretchers of blackthorn hedge which needed to be 'pruned' back {painful!}. The next step was to return to the newly constructed post line and use the mighty Monkey strainer to set the wire tension prior to fixing the chicken fence wire. So Mike took charge of rolling out the chicken fencing along with joining up the separate batches needed to cover the entire fence line length. Meanwhile I was kept busy stapling the high tensile wire to the posts and using the pig ring gun to hang the chicken fencing from the high tensile wire. Working flat out the chicken wire fencing for the new fence line was completed by close of the day but this left the installation of chicken fencing for the old fence line. Close to meeting the challenge but no cigar! Next challenge would be to plant the 1000 hedge plants made up of Hawthorn, Blackthorn and Spindle for the Hedge 1 and Hedge 2 rectangle 'frames' , then wait 3 or so years for the hedge to mature. 

Building Hedges

A better way of rolling out high tensile wire

Its been a while since my fencing techniques were put to the test, last year in Littleworth woods,  but today they would be severely tested for the days sizeable construction task. True Mike would be there to provide the expertise and experience. The job to be done was to create 2 new hedges near to Sandy Hill copse, each 100M in length and each requiring 2 rows of poles forming one long, narrow rectangle for framing the hedges. The hedge plants would be planted in between the 2 fence lines and protected by 3.5 feet wide chicken fencing fixed to 2 lines of high tensile wire. On the positive side Mike with tractor had cleared the area for the 2 hedges earlier in the week, fixed the 4 end straining posts and had the essential fencing tools to make the task easier. This included the 'ancient wheel' for rolling out the tensile wire plus a new monkey strainer and pig ring gun. The pole saw and chain saw were also part of an extensive tool set and needed to clear some overhanging branches from the fence line. The rest of the tools comprised of the metal bar, Drival, spade, axe, chisel,   staples, hammers, tamper, farmers boy and wire cutters. Seventy poles and 2 rolls of chicken wire completed the materials required.

Hedge 1 posts fixed and one side of the fencing almost done

In spite of the positive elements helping this work there was no escaping the physical endeavour needed to fix into the reasonably receptive ground some 60 posts, which by the end of the day tested our power reserves and the ability to lift the heavy Drival needed to drive the posts deep enough into the ground. It was with some satisfaction that we had fixed about half of the chicken fencing to the 'installed' fence posts for the first hedge by close of play. The hedge planting, completion of the chicken fencing plus hedge 2 would have to wait for next weeks all out attack. Biassed I know but we were both pleased with the progress made and a pretty good standard bit of fencing achieved. The new monkey strainer & pig ring gun also proved to be an improvement over the older versions used in the past and the ancient wheel was a big improvement on hauling around the heavy coil of high tensile wire.