Ash 'bowled' over?

One half of the split Ash trunk astride the Pleasure Grounds fence

Tractor supporting Ash to pull it back over the fence

Wednesday was spent with Mike and James in the 'bowling alley' adjacent to the Pleasure grounds Sherborne. Some dispute  exists as to where the 'bowling alley' name came from with the Americans { second world war} making their claim and a document from the 19t century seemingly referencing it also. Anyway a part of an ash tree had split apart in this area and needed prompt attention before either the fence or cattle using the pasture were put at risk. The tractor with large trailer, 4x4 and full compliment of chain, pole, silky and other saws were all needed to carry out the task. Access was via ewe pen and several gates so not an easy journey. With some careful, skilful  chain and pole saw use combined with the tractor the split trunk{s} of the ash was safely brought to ground with no damage to the fence or us! All the brash was tidily piled up on the Pleasure grounds side of the fence and the wood blocked up and placed in the trailer. A full mornings work and hopefully the farmer appreciative of the work done.

Toby first to respond, for a change

No news on Barn owl boxes at Greystones today so took the 'boys' to Leckhampton Hill.

January 'clearance' in the water meadows

Willow blocking main track down to water meadows

Track cleared, Mike 'pruning' further down track

Tractor trailer filling up with brash

Misty start to the day at Sherborne where I discovered Anna hard at work in the workshop on a developing 'cottage industry' making bird boxes. Task for the morning was to clear a fallen willow down in the water meadows and this needed Mike +tractor and James with myself to hopefully clear the willow by lunch time. Pole saw, chainsaw and 'Silki' saw were all needed to reduce the willow to manageable parts for placing in the tractor trailer. As the willow was gradually reduced to its component parts Mike left us, armed with the pole saw,  to wander further down the track to begin cutting back other willow tree branches potentially threatening to block the track in the future. This led to more brash piles and work so by lunch although we had cleared the fallen willow more work would be needed in the afternoon to clear the extra brash piles. The weather certainly improved during the morning session to remind us all what a great spot on the estate this was inspite of the fact the wildlife was conspicuous by its absence.

Good reminder from Martin Harper on the sensible approach to 'managing' the land wrt to high rainfall and downstream water levels.

Back in Black

Not blown down by 'Barny' but felled by fungal disease

Clarkes close and a new tractor!

Its been a while, almost 3 months, but joined Mike and James at Sherborne today in my standard , mainly black volunteer outfit. A mixture of a shoulder injury, more building work at home and Ollie has kept me from any volunteer work over the Autumn. It was a gentle introduction back to countryside work as I joined James in a quick tour of the Pleasure Grounds, the Commons ending up in Clarks Close to complete a survey of the Sherborne estate trees to check for damage after 'Abigail' and 'Barney'. Good news was no obvious tree damage so all attention was on the huge beech that had fallen last year in Clarks Close because of fungal damage.

As we reached the site of the fallen Beech, Mike had already reached there in a new 'Demo' tractor, and was continuing the work he and James had started on the fallen Beech earlier in the week. It didn't take long with the use of this high powered tractor to fully load the tractor trailer with plenty more still to load. What with a quick tour around the new tractor, with all its fancy electronics, and the tree survey work the morning disappeared and its was time to head back home. It was good to restart the work at Sherborne again.

Not wishing to end on a downer but the future again doesn't look too bright for the environment with DEFRA likely to be hit with huge cuts { they may not be brilliant but with ~35% budget cut plus the weak leadership from Truss it will be hard for the NGO's to keep the environment from a collapse akin to the huge Beech!}

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.

Special Ranger 'Ollie'

Large Oak clearance from fence line

Not quite back on full time  duty at Sherborne but did pay two visits this week to Sherborne, accompanied by Ollie. The first visit was on Tuesday and a chance to trial whether Ollie could settle in at the Sherborne estate offices whilst I helped out Mike on my usual duties. As it turned out it was a good meet and greet /socialisation opportunity with  NT staff and the two resident English springers. First of the Springers was Pepper who at ~6 months proved to be  Ollie's most interactive meeting with a dog. Pepper didn't hold back and to his credit Ollie managed to get a couple of licks and 'cuffs' in although he was mainly on the receiving end. Next on the scene was Maddie with a much more controlled interaction but with more vocal noises to keep my young pup in order. All in all a good experience for Ollie who went down well with all, so much so I let him run free in the yard.

Today at Sherborne  with threatening weather I left Ollie {in Pepper's spot in the yard} on a long lead with his cage for refuge. Mike and I headed off in 4x4 and tractor to century wood where clearance of a fallen oak was to continue with emphasis on clearing the fence line and loading on the tractor trailer the substantial oak branches. Some tricky chainsawing of the Oak branches was performed by Mike and by lunchtime the trailer was full and the fence line cleared for repair. Amazingly it was possible to temporarily repair the fence {before a proper job was possible} as most of the posts were unscathed by the fallen Oak. On  returning to the estate offices I found the 'guard dog' Ollie pretty filthy, wet and glad to see me {unfortunately much whining had taken place throughout an increasingly wet morning}. Still it meant Ollie was to get his first bath and tired out by his 'socialisation' with all, he slept on the return journey home with no noises to make me feel guilty at all.

Reunited with two 'old friends'

My favourite axe, Mike keeping me supplied with big blocks

'Gripples' to the rescue after fence flattened by Beech 

Surprised by two things today, firstly the weather was particularly fine and secondly the first task involved blocking and splitting, old style, in the nursery. Fortunately three things were to assist in producing a trailer load of wood: Simon was assisting Mike and I, Mike was blocking up some excellent seasoned wood { too large for the absent wood processor} into 'man size' blocks and I had my favourite axe to attack the wood with. In no time we had filled the trailer and so with little delay headed up to Lodge Park to tackle the aftermath of storm damaged Beech trees. The first task was to repair a stock fence crushed by a large beech branch. Enter the Monkey strainer and that old favourite of mine the 'mighty Gripple'.  A little fiddly especially since we had a limited supply of gripples but by lunch the stock fence was restored to working order and even better the two barbed wire strands re-tensioned & connected with the use of super sized gripples.

Lunch time was a little disappointing weatherwise but the Broadwater entertained with the usual water fowl complimented by an additional  pair of  mute swans, a pair of canada geese and a handsome Red Kite. The afternoon began back at Lodge park to tidy up a fallen beech and for Mike to carefully bring to earth a large beech branch hanging precariously higher up an adjacent tree. Before leaving this area of the park my attention was drawn to the Lodge Park 'barrow mound' which sadly and inspite of over four thousand years age still lacks a suitable name {all suggestions welcome}. Next stop from here was to exit the Lodge Park to head for the next damaged beech in the south west corner of the Park. Again we were faced with a sizeable clearance task but with a sting in the tale. An even larger beech branch was propped up by the main trunk and with one of its limbs hanging over a drystone wall. After attaching a rope to different parts of the offending limb Mike finally pulled the branch down to the ground using the 4x4 and more importantly without damaging the wall.  A good end to the day and here's hoping for a continuation of fine weather for next wednesday.

Looks like a positive outcome from Defra on future environmental management schemes NELMS. A timely comment from Mark Avery on the Badger culling following a particular bad BBC showing where a farmer and 'tame' vet illustrated the uphill struggle still facing this issue.

Dark Knight back from Oz

Sunny but very wet in the water meadows

After 2 weeks of cancelled sessions a respite in the stormy weather has at last permitted a return to some  normality. I got a head start on a sunny Sunday with a visit to Sherborne's water meadows which also included a visit to Greater Rissington. Water levels were very high and I only just managed to cross the waterlogged Windrush bridge to gain access to the Barrington estate and the footpath up to Greater Rissington.   A good day for wildlife with yellow hammers, green finches, chaffinches, bramblings, 'serin/siskin', buzzards, red kite, heron, cormorants, mute swans, 100+ lapwing, deer and my first spot of a large male hare of 2014.

Todays Sherborne session welcomed back from Oz,  Morris, who was joined by Simon, Richard with Mike and myself. So plenty of help for the February bat count where expectation for increased numbers of lesser horseshoes were high. Sadly this didn't prove to be the case with 138 in the bat cave, 0 Kennels, 0 the Bothy and 15 the nursery cellar giving a grand total of 153. This was 17 fewer than the January count and a significant increase is needed for the March count if we are to reach last years May high of 212. The count took a little longer than normal since a good deal of knowledge sharing from Morris was the order of the day, with tales from Australia including their healthy Bat status, and some current news on nearby Cotswolds bat roosts.

Ragged Copse, fallen larch to be cleared

The afternoon was spent at the top end of Ragged Copse where fallen larch had blocked the footpath. Access was going to be a challenge given the wet ground but with Mike/maddie in the tractor and me driving the 4x4 with trailer { Simon & Richard on board}  we risked an ascent up the Sherborne Park slope. Amazingly the journey was managed with minimal impact on the grass pasture  and Mike managed to position the tractor, with grab over  the boundary fence close to the area of fallen larch. Given the large team the clearance of quite a few fallen larch was completed and a survey of the paths through Ragged Copse checked for any other obstacles/threats. This all proved to be a timely operation as activity during this half term was busy & the families 'out and about' grateful for our labours clearing the paths for them. The larch were cut into lengths for loading onto the tractor grab where they were then gently loaded into the trailer. It seems the larch was to be used to enhance the play facilities in the Pleasure Grounds, what lucky local children!. With almost spring like weather all day it was a relief to be able to enjoy a rewarding day outside doing some useful work again. Mike couldn't resist informing us of plenty more clearance of fallen/damaged conifers & broadleaf waiting to be dealt with given ground conditions permitted access. Personally I can't wait to get stuck in and hope the future weather plays ball to help us catch up with an ever growing task list.

A Christmas paddle!

Stormy weather sadly took out top of oak on the left of track!

Being a little fed up with the stormy weather of late and carrying a slight injury to my leg I seized the chance on a frosty, sunny xmas day to get some fresh air! Where better than Sherborne water meadows where its fairly flat and offered me the chance of seeing if any short eared owls might be around. Luckily I thought to take my wellies although waders may have been more appropriate as it turned out.

The beginning of my walk was a little sad as one of the fine oaks on the track down to the Water meadows had succumbed to storm damage, something which will no doubt have to be tidied up in the new year. I decided to take the track through Picardy and Commons towards the Water Meadows and was immediately greeted by a small herd of Roe deer. Already the ground was decidedly wet and  for the first time I was forced to go over a bridge as the main track was lost under deep water.  As I entered the Commons I came across 2 more Roe deer {mother and young} and just before the Water meadows I disturbed a large buzzard { the first of 6 I came across} which had just caught a field vole for brunch!.   Almost immediately a large heron { 3 in all today} took off in front of me and as I came to the actual water meadows  there were a dozen pied wagtails and the same number of lapwings enjoying the flooded meadow area. In fact all the ditches and water courses were full to the brim or had overflowed. As I headed over to the Windrush and the bridge between the Sherborne and Barrington estates I saw the first of 6 red kites. The Windrush  too was full or overflowing and only a couple of inches below the bridge which to my surprise seems to have lost the new gate the Barrington estate had erected this year!

Birch copse, difficult to see edge of Windrush, track on right

Lake formed by side of 'Sherborne brook' and Birch Copse

Made my way down the fisherman's path by the Windrush and headed towards Birch copse.  This proved to be quite a challenge as both the Sherborne brook and Windrush had burst their banks and created a 'Bayou' like terrain. Got a bit wet wading towards the bridge which would allow me across the Sherborne brook and in the water logged pasture the other side saw several red kite , black backed , common and herring gulls plus a flying V of canada geese. Paddling towards Gravelpits copse and the 'footpath' I spotted a green woodpecker followed by a kestrel {1 of 3 in the day}. Finished the days walk following the main track back out of the Water meadows and was pleased to see several goldfinches and greenfinches in the hedges bordering the track. To complete a fine day I spotted 2 fine looking buzzards hunting over Northfield copse.

A small footnote as Boxing day was looking good I couldn't resist a visit to Slimbridge. Was impressed with the thousands of lapwing and golden plover who provided spectacular flight displays in-between  their feeding sessions.

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.

'A romp' down by the Windrush & the first 'fall' of Autumn

Windrush, with good feeding for water voles

Pair of kingfishers frequent this area, but not tempted today by this  perch

Out with Will and Richard from the Wildlife Trust, on the Windrush. beginning of the week along with  a shedload of volunteers. I like collective nouns but they do vary, with for example a romp of otters or a colony of water voles. The voles get a bad deal here so I prefer Richard's offering of a shedload or maybe mine a drizzle of water voles?.  In any case I didn't spot either otters or water voles whilst we were working a new stretch of the Windrush  just upstream from Bourton, owned by the 'Slaughters' farm. With so many volunteers we soon cleared a good stretch of the Windrush from overhanging scrub/trees and this should encourage more of the existing riverside sedge to grow, remove shade & help the recently discovered water voles plus the local fishing club.

500+ year old oak minus one large limb

3 hours of clearing later reveals the large limb

Today at foggy Sherborne was intended to be a thinning session but circumstances were to change this.  Shaun the fence master working down in the water meadows phoned in to inform Mike of a fallen oak across the track down to the meadows. After completing a wood delivery to Sherborne village, with heavy heart, we set off with tractor & 4x4 to survey the damage. Good news was the ancient oak tree, one of Sherborne's finest, was still standing but minus one of its large limbs. Lots of debris of brash and smaller branches required moving using the chainsaw, tractor and me before the main limb was revealed. Other good news was the tree looked healthy enough and no rampant disease seemed to be the cause of the limb falling.  The rest of the day was spent clearing up, ensuring the area was safe and removing 3 trailers worth of usable wood from the area. I even managed to round up some of the sheep which had escaped over the broken fence before we repaired it, temporarily at least.

Despite  the day's unexpected events I still managed a visit to Sherborne brook. The swan family looking good plus 1 heron, 1 egret and a buzzard under attack from a number of rooks & 1 raven. The weather improved throughout the day with ever increasing temperature, so although a satisfying day I was glad to get back home to an ice cold beer and curry!

The grass 'is' greener on the other side!

Littleworth wood viewed from Snowshill Manor

Sadly no NT work experiences this week, and for as yet an undetermined period, as I appear to have damaged a tendon connected to my right knee (this to be confirmed by the Dr today).  I may have made this unexpected injury worse by working at Snowshill Manor on Sunday but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Sunday did however provide two new experiences. One was working with the Coventry garden volunteers which was rewarding and the second involved some animal husbandry. This involved escorting a rogue goat off the premises and back to its mate on an adjoining property. Helped by Katie we scrambled down the shelter belt, crossed a small stream, gently pulling the goat with us, and then lifted the goat over the boundary fence back into its field. There was no doubt the grass in its field was inferior to ours so no surprise that it had, via an as yet undetermined route , decided to pay Snowshill Manor a visit!

In the ongoing 'bee' saga and 'neonics' I thought this NT blog {NT Pressoffice} provides a good perspective, especially why is the temporary ban only 2 years when this particular pesticide lingers around for ~4 years. Slightly odd connection with the Chelsea flower show but this NT blog reminds us of the ongoing threat to our trees.

The Fallen, a Tandem response

Hard to imagine I'd face the trickiest driving conditions this winter over the Easter bank holidays but the strong easterly winds plus cold temperatures had left the high Cotswold roads with icy snow drifts which are just not going away. Another consequence of these unseasonal conditions, helped in one case by white rot fungus disease, brought about the falling of an ash in Leasow Furlong and part of a large beech in Little Setts near the cricket ground at Sherborne.

So having recovered from an annoying chest infection, {I rarely get ill,  I blame it on some bruised ribs}, I arrived at Sherborne where Mike was ready to go with the 'tractor and big trailer' plus the '4x4 with trailer'. The first task was to finish the clearing of the fallen Beech near the cricket ground and with some trepidation, {after last weeks trials} I set off in the 4x4 with Mike following with tractor. Good news was the ground was a good deal firmer than the water meadows so no sinking in the mud. Had to manoeuvre up the side of an elder hedge alongside an '80 acre' ploughed field but there was a useful grassy verge so no impact on the field. While Mike cleared up the large beech cordwood with the tractor grab I set to with axe on splitting the blocks Mike had cut the day before. Didn't expect to be doing this so late in the season, but with the wood store empty and demand still there, the extra wood was important. By lunch had added to the wood supplies in the nursery and apart from a hole in the hedge and a scar on the surviving part of the beech, all was clear.

'Leisure' furlong, again no picnic!

The afternoon promised more of the same but down in Leasow Furlong where fallen ash needed attention. Last visited this wood  last May, where fallen larch and 'prep' for a boy scouts camp was the task, but this time we were to work in the eastern side of the wood where some pretty old and strange looking multi-trunk ash dominated, the result of long ago 'coppicing'. After some energetic work, much needed in a brisk cool wind, we filled the tractor trailer with cord wood and after blocking and splitting filled the 4x4 trailer with wood supplies for a local customer. Mike deposited the cord wood in the nursery and we then drove the 4x4 to unload its wood loaded trailer manually at the customers residence in Sherborne village. A productive but tiring day so was pleased to get back home and turn into a couch potato in front of the TV!