Close Encounters

Hyde under water!

Where's the path gone

Windrush bridge -above welly level

A little too wet to permit any Ranger work this week but armed with wellies, camera, binos went down to the water meadows [Lake!] on a sunny! friday. I was expecting the water meadows to be a little damp but was still surprised by how much water there actually was even though on the track down the newly formed stream gave a clue.  On reaching the water meadows I decided on taking the path towards the 'hyde' first and carefully paddled down the flooded path. Half way down I disturbed a large   bird which flew right in front of me and was my first sighting of a short eared owl since earlier this year. It flew across the meadows and perched on a convenient post in the middle of the meadow. After a couple of pictures {still too far for my telephoto} I waded on towards the hyde.  No more wildlife sightings so I backtracked towards the windrush. Crossed over to the Barrington estate side and was treated to another close fly by of a red kite this followed by another spot of a short eared owl in a large tree not too far from the field I had seen 4 owls February this year.  On my return journey I spotted a hare basking in the sun, obviously the weasel I spotted last week in this area not quite fast enough to catch this fleet footed prey.

This week marked the end of wildwood and maybe wishful thinking on my part but it did get me thinking about missed opportunities in the NT managed woods. Given the skill of the Rangers {assuming they reach Mike/Martin standards} charcoal, hazel supports for plants, quality wood for furniture all look to be under developed sources of revenue given some decent resource planning. Added to this, given available time from the Rangers, would of course be us volunteers! Sort of connected to this was a really good Mark Avery guest Blog  Dr David Gibbons, which introduced the idea of a conservation impact metric. This gets to the nub of my conservation frustrations which is to get good science better connected to application by practitioners. Agriculture environment schemes are but one aspect of this.

Is there anything u can't do with a tractor!

I am constantly amazed with the variety of tasks a tractor can be used for in the countryside. Of course this requires the extra attachments plus a competent operator. Today was a good example of the tractor's flexibility plus the introduction of the much awaited PALAX wood processing machine from Ebworth, courtesy of Matt.

Wood processing machine loaded by Ebworth tractor

Mike and I with extra big trailer drove over to Ebworth to collect the PALAX.  Ebworth centre always a nice place to visit and especially to collect a very special 'toy'.  Matt loaded up his impressive tractor and duly placed the wood machine onto our trailer.  We have this new toy at Sherborne for the month since Ebworth {its buildings heated using biomass heating system} has already built up an impressive wood store to last much of the winter. It was lunchtime before we got back to Sherborne so the 'test drive' of the PALAX would have to wait until the afternoon.

It was surprisingly warm at lunchtime so I paid a lightening call to the water meadows. Coal tits , green finches and blue tits were out in numbers plus a solitary buzzard. All was quiet down in the water meadows and the water levels were at the highest level I have seen.  The water courses/ditches were in good clean order after stirling work by various volunteer groups over the course of the year. On the way back I saw a large dragonfly late for this time of year and then a rabbit being chased by a hungry weasel. No red kites or short eared owls but you can't have everything. 

Good to go, cord wood loaded this end, split wood out the other

Afternoon began with me! driving the wood machine around to the Sherborne Nursery and Mike with his tractor unloading and then reattaching the PALAX to his tractor's rear. The PALAX huge saw and conveyor belt  is driven via PALAX propshaft connected to the tractor drive. So with me supplying/feeding the cord wood and Mike operating the 'sharp' end the wood started to flow up into the trailer. Not all goes smoothly since the sawn wood blocks sometimes get tipped the wrong way and get stuck on the splitter. However as a first trial it was pretty successful albeit a fair amount of space is required to set the whole thing up. The day ended all too soon and the light at this time of the year disappears very quickly. This left Mike with the challenge of driving the tractor plus PALAX back to the security of Sherborne offices and me to drive the long trailer back in the dark. Good news is we both avoided any collisions !

Its a long term thing - Woodland Management

Some good advice for all!

Difficult to escape the ongoing news on Ash dieback, the Forestry Commission  announces further spread involving 6 more counties. With this fungal disease its difficult to know how it can be contained given the spores can be carried on the wind and can be carried by any 'living' organism coming into fungal contact within infected areas. Is there enough of an 'appetite' in this country to protect our woodlands and especially supporting the long term strategies needed {trees life cycles encompass many years!} something I know is beyond a lot of the mover/shakers. Unfortunately we already import 90% of wood we use which is good quality and competitively priced. So to keep the commercial side of woodland management viable isn't easy and conserving woodland habitat becomes increasingly challenging with limited resources. Interestingly Mike has had to make a quick survey {timescales set were unrealistic with resources  available} on the Sherborne Ash which was additionally difficult given the absence of leaves.  The nursery source of our recent ash saplings doesn't look to be directly connected to infected sources but this may not be the end of the story. As an aside Mike has some new Elm strain to be planted but how this pans out will have to wait a quite a few years!

Additional lone swan on Sherborne Brook

Started the sunny day with a wood delivery in Sherborne village. Although the new wood store has been finished by Mike over the weekend,  the wood processing machine has not yet arrived, so it was back to splitting for the rest of the morning.  Enjoyed a relaxing lunch break by Sherborne Brook where the only newcomer spotted was a lone friendly swan occupying the water above the weir and away from the resident swan family.

The afternoon was spent in the West Belt where the thinning work continues. Worth mentioning that the wooded area worked provided more challenges than previously faced. Firstly the density of trees was greater which meant most of the trees felled refused to fall directly to the ground. So the tree lever, wedges, and a 'wood lever' all were called on before the trees could be grounded. Secondly the distance to the cord piles & rides, from some of the felled trees was longer, which meant more carrying effort for me. Sadly access for either the tractor or if available horse plus 'trailer' was not an option, so just my manual effort the only option. 

Wildwood, part 3 , carries on with more highlights of the need for good and sustained woodland management. Two observations I would highlight are the need for longer term planning { planting for the future} and the impact on wood quality and woodland diversity in the absence of sustained management. Was also pleased to see that on the non disease front public enemy no 1 'the grey squirrel'  for woodland got  a mention although trapping and shooting still looks inadequate against the millions of grey squirrels out there.

Chillier times ahead

Dieback attacks our Ash!

Disturbed to hear of the 'dieback' of Ash and the 90,000+ trees already destroyed in England ! to curb its spread. You would think that the Dutch elm experience plus the devastation in Denmark of 90% of its Ash would have elicited more prompt action from Defra but we should be grateful its now stopped further diseased Ash imports into our nuseries. Mike has yet to check our recently planted Ash,  no easy task since we have a lot all contained within tree protectors and spread across several different woods. In addition determining the nursery which sourced the saplings should indicate if we have a serious problem. What with squirrels attacking especially the Beech, potential Ash 'dieback' and Phytophthora its not easy protecting the already little woodland we have.

Spotted 4 Red Kite on my way in to Sherborne this morning, hopefully they are returning to this area for winter. Started the day with blocking and splitting in Sherborne nursery and maybe because my splitting days are numbered it was more enjoyable than normal even though the first blocks of sycamore, beech and ash were more 'resistant' than usual. Mike joined in on some even gnarlier beech which tested his technique to the limit. We both then enjoyed splitting some good ash and even better lime, like a 'knife through butter!'  Such work kept us pretty warm so we didn't notice the cold wind which gradually increased in strength during the course of the day.

The afternoon was spent back in the West Belt , continuing the thinning work. The cordwood piles are really building up, but according to Mike we are only a quarter way through this area! Rain and increased wind hit us early afternoon and in spite of the hard work we both felt the drop in temperature for the first time.

Wednesday evening watched the next part of Wildwood where I imagine Mike would have cringed a little on the felling & cutting technique applied to the Ash. Interesting to see the use of horse power to remove the Ash from pretty tricky terrain. Mike is at least  able to use his tractor plus me for initial stacking.

Wildwood, a reminder to all of basic conservation in our countryside

Ragged Copse colour change

Mike and some really accurate felling in West Belt

Mike tipped me off this week regards a new BBC4 6 part series Wildwood which looks to be a good basic primer to good woodland management and the benefits to be accrued from this activity. Although I don't own a broadleaf woodland like strawberry cottage wood I can relate to the learning experiences the star of this series has gone through in his first year. Mine have been through working in woodland with NT rangers in the North Cotswolds over the last 18 months. They have generally been good experiences but sadly I feel mostly unadvertised and undervalued in todays NT organisation. This country has little enough of its woodland left that one its biggest landowners seems to be neglecting {or at least steadily reducing resources}  its conservation activities in the countryside {aside from a chosen few flagship areas}. True such activities tend not to be revenue producers but erosion of the sustained care needed in countryside activities like this, along with the skilled ranger resources, will not be recoverable longterm and thats not what I thought the NT stood for. Anyway programmes like Wildwood at least help to give an interesting portrayal of an important countryside activity which needs all the good publicity it can get. It might be nice for the NT to balance its Property & Commercially  biassed {Theme park trend?} communications /support with something on core countryside management,  I can offer up  some suggestions.

Anyway back to this week which although dismal weather wise provided a variety of experiences. We started with some wood deliveries to local customers the first of which was in Windrush. I was pleasantly surprised when we delivered the wood that this new customer had a good appreciation of what work was involved in providing the wood, from 'felling through to splitting'. Having completed the deliveries it was back to the nursery to block and split some more wood which was to be stored in the newly formed shelter. In future blocking and splitting is aimed to be done by machine,  loaned by Ebworth,  which means my axe skills will no longer be required. This means more time will be available for working the woodland and countryside which should be  good for wildlife habitats in general. Interesting to note that in our morning travels we encountered the 'local' hunt in full progress, attended by locals in support. Obviously difficult to stop this tradition and one more countryside activity I am not keen on but 'understand'  along with the Badger cull which thankfully has been postponed { grateful for its about TB Mark Avery blog}.

The afternoon was spent in the West Belt on continued thinning, part 3 of Wildwood next week, where Mike's experience clearly in evidence especially when felling a sizeable sycamore into a very narrow gap and without destroying my pile of cord wood!

There's a lorra, lorra trees

West belt thinning

Cord wood piles building up 

Day set fair for some continued thinning in the West belt and already the difference in space and light noticeable for areas worked on. The new growth of beech and ash coming through also quite evident. In the main the practice of close planting of new trees to promote straighter trunk growth can be seen and of course this is one of the reasons for thinning out the trees to allow the best to mature with sufficient space. For the broadleaf woods like this under Mike's care such woodland management is a lot of work and even with contractors working on the 'mixed' plantations on the Sherborne estate coverage of the 60+ wooded areas is nigh impossible with available resources and priorities. Generally a 20-30 year cycle for harvesting the ash, sycamore and conifers is the norm. But there is also the required removal of damaged {storm, squirrels, desease} trees to add to this and normal thinning.

Generally Mike fells the selected trees away from the ride/pathway which means less work to tidy the 'brash/canopy' and usually the stacking of the heavier cord wood is easier for me! However such was the density of trees that quite a few had to be felled over the ride and my workload increased as well as my vigilance lest any walkers were approaching. Surprisingly no walkers or wildlife were around all day. Sometimes the felling of selected trees proceeds quite smoothly but today a number 'resisted' and quite a bit of clearance of shrub/smaller trees was needed as well {see top picture}. So for example  a particularly large sycamore needed the tree lever, wedge and our combined efforts before it could be persuaded to fall safely to earth.

Lunchtime was to be spent at Sherborne brook where I hoped to spot a reported new bird Mike had been informed about. I only had chance to observe the usual suspects before I beat a hasty retreat back to the estate offices as the heavens opened with a heavy downpour which included hailstones. Fortunately the afternoon was fine for continued work in the West belt albeit with a good deal of additional standing water! Doesn't look like a visit to the water meadows will be a good idea for a while.

Dendrochronology - who knows where the time goes, (Sandy Denny)

This is what a Dendro.. looks like, Andy

Good view of deer park valley, Nigel, Mike, Andy hard at it!

Once more this year the met weather forecast was way off the mark but I have to confess I can't be too unhappy given the fine sunny day enjoyed for most of the day. This wasn't the only surprise since the day started at Lodge Park where we met Andy {Dendrochronologist- tree ring ageing/analysis expert} and Nigel {'Sponsor'} who were to age some of the really mature oaks in the deer park. So with Mike's approval Andy with Increment Borer drilled into the first of the Oak trees chosen. This proved to be an instant success, noting trees several hundred years old often suffer from decay or hollowing, and an excellent core sample obtained with an initial estimate of age by ring examination of ~500 years. Its amazing how quickly the bore hole closes up, so no risk of damage to the tree plus a surprise for me when extracting the Borer, harder than it looks but a lot of compression involved from such a heavyweight Oak! Clearly Andy has to clean up the core tube sample and with the girth measurement produce an accurate figure. Much can also be deduced by the width of the tree rings in terms of varied growth rates caused by changing environmental conditions experienced throughout the trees long life. The next 2 sampled Oaks revealed a hollow core even so the partial core tube samples obtained still provide useful historic data. The final Oak examined provided another excellent core tube sample and first examination suggested this tree was ~200-300 years old, a relative youngster! There is quite a bit more that analysis of these 4 samples can reveal about Oaks/conditions in this area and we are all looking forward to Andy's full report in several weeks time. This days exercise reminds me generally how little we are aware, value or take care of our ancient {and modern trees too} trees where as 'living' organisms they are an essential part of our countryside and can tell us a great deal about the environment over many hundreds of years!

Spent the lunchtime down by Sherborne Brook in the sun watching the resident birdlife enjoying a relaxed time on the water or in the case of the buzzards flying high in the sky, waiting for unsuspecting prey to get careless. The afternoon was spent in the West Belt where Mike continued the thinning, which had been started earlier in the week with Simon's help,  of mainly sycamore but included some ash. This will not only encourage healthy growth of remaining trees and young saplings but build up the wood supplies ready for the winter demand. Again Mike's choice of trees to thin are influenced by a number of factors.  One especially helping protection of the good beech and ash from squirrel damage by leaving some of the sycamore standing to hopefully provide the squirrels food source. So a good day for me, with trees dominating, and with an interesting surprise at the end.

This was strictly after I had 'signed off' but involved the rescue of Bryn a golden retriever who had lost its owner and was wandering down the road to Sherborne village. This took the combined effort of Debbie {NT building manager}, myself and Mike {add Pet rescue to NT country services}. Fortunately there was a happy ending where Bryn's owners were eventually discovered at Ewe Pen Barn and although something could be said regards looking after your dog, Bryn was happy to be reunited, which is the important thing.