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!}.

Winter by the brook

coppicing by the bridge

All clear but material needs to be moved to far bank

Looking much clearer along old Sherborne brook

Sad to see demise of old dead tree

First day of winter and a sunny but cool day with the GWT coppicing along the banks of the old Sherborne brook.  Will, assisted by Emma, lead the large volunteer team which headed down to the water meadows and initially focussed operations by the Gravelpits copse stretch of the brook and later moved onto the Birch copse stretch. We soon discovered that most of the coppicing was on the bank adjacent to the Gravelpits copse although I did get a good clump by the bridge on the other side. Was expecting to operate in the brook, having donned waders, but soon discovered the brook was too deep so had to operate from the bank. This meant I had to throw all the coppiced wood across the brook to the Gravelpits side where it would be tidied up by that part of the team working there. Was happy to see a couple of Red Kites but not so pleased to see that one of the iconic dead trees of the Sherborne estate had finally fallen leaving the landscape that much poorer.

Have resisted, for a while, mentioning the short comings of DEFRA, NE,NFU {and to some extent the NT } but the issues regarding Grouse shooting, wildlife crime and countryside mismanagement remain [although grudgingly criminal activities now being acknowledged by the likes of the Moorland Association]  as references by Mark Avery's blogs peak district and wildlife crime demonstrate.

A frosty start on the river

View of some of the obstructions/overshading from a very dodgy bridge

Cleared stretch of water further downstream

Rising temperature provided 'creeping' mist

Second water course forming 'island' on the far bank

Unobstructed view now, looking back at the bridge 

Spent Friday working with the GWT on a stream close to Ablington which flows into the river Coln at Bibury {trout farm}. John led the team on a sunny, frosty morning and the work was pretty similar to that carried out Mareslaid but in a prettier stretch of countryside. On this occasion I donned some waders and spent most of the time in the water removing loose wood debris and cutting back & hinging to the bank the extensive obstructions/overshading of tree branches arching across the water course. There were some heavyweight branches which required John to break the silence with his chainsaw. Once again the solid efforts of the team made quite a difference to a significant stretch of water hopefully helping improve the environment for water voles and fish.

Bothy Bonanza!

Blue posts leading to mine were covered by vegetation

Zoom in to spot mine entrance

Extra wide gate granting access to 'mine/bat cave compound'

Joined Mike and Maurice on a crisp and sunny November for this season's first Bat survey, starting at the Bat Cave. There were a healthy 90 lesser horseshoes in the Bat cave, 23 in the kennels, a record breaking 98 in the Bothy and 1 in the cellar giving a total of 212. Work would be needed on 'step repair' to the mines for the December count and a renewed promise of renovation work on the cellar entrance was made i.e. Maurice and myself to refit door with suitable slot for bats access ala the very successful Bothy model.

Inevitably the Autumn, Winter and possibly another Spring 'watch' will continue to curtail my activities at Sherborne but when Mike can escape the demands of the BBC/NT management I hope to sneak in some real conservation/countryside management work.

'Careful' coppicing

An overly cluttered stretch of Sherborne Brook

Coppicing to help water flow & introduce more light

Spent Friday with GWT on a stretch of Sherborne brook just down from the boat house and weir, Mareslaid copse. John led the volunteer team where the task was to clear lots of loose debris from the river and reduce the over shading caused by fallen trees. The challenge was to help the river flow more easily by removing the many obstacles in the river, reduce the over shading (helping plant growth & of course water voles} but leave enough shading for the fish {especially the trout}.  Apparently regulations on what can be removed and what has to stay is tricky but we did our best with John's guidance. Its been a while since Mareslaid copse has been worked on so plenty of work lay ahead for the large team.

Go Faster GWT?

Reserved parking at the co-op for a special car

Yep it really is Lewis Hamilton's 2016 Formula 1 car

Today was spent at Greystones where John was leading a team to cut back willow growth along the central ditch. The renovations {exterior at least } at Greystones are looking good but I was not prepared for the standard of car parked outside the new Bourton Co-op. Ok it was second hand but only one year old and one 'careful' previous owner who only happened to be Lewis Hamilton {number confirms it}. Wasn't sure whether the WT have decided to go for speed {for their new transport}  rather than practicality but the slicks were the tyres fitted so it was a good job today was dry & sunny!

Needed 4x4 to load willow on, Formula 1 not too practical

Impressive sculpture outside roundhouse

My first view of Greystone's roundhouse, Tom's new home? 

The team {~12}was divided into 2 which covered two stretches of the central ditch cutting across 2 fields. On the far side of the ditch,  {enclosed by a stock fence} was SSSI land and of course most of the willow stands which needed cutting was on this side of the ditch. The good news was John was able to drive 4x4 to the fence line where we could load it with the willow once it had been deposited on the non SSSI land. Again the clearance of these willow stands will be good for the water voles who use this water causeway as one of their 'highways' on the reserve. At midday, having done my bit, I passed by the Greystones roundhouse which I had made a small contribution to earlier this year. 

Autumn clearance

Top of Ragged copse, self portrait?

Wednesday was spent with Mike at Sherborne, carrying out various clearance tasks. The first was at the 'Bat cave' where the vegetation, mainly Comfrey, had completely hidden the path. An aggressive use of the brush cutter soon uncovered the path down to the mine and revealed the steps. Had to replace/secure some of the stakes supporting the steps and all was ready for a visit by the Springwatch team on thursday. We then moved onto the top section of Ragged Copse where some path and fence line shrub clearance was carried out, continuing the work started earlier in the week. Not a bad mornings work especially since at the start of morning Mike had suffered 'a battering' in a fall in the estate yard.

Hyde Mill residence, we were downstream of this

Today was spent with the GWT at Hyde mill alongside an overgrown stretch of the river Dickler. John led the volunteer team which was divided into teams one checking previous work on this stretch of river and the team I was in was removing stands of willow providing shading detrimental to the growth of sedge grass etc. an important food source for water voles. Given limited available space to dispose of the large amounts of willow it was fortunate John had a trailer to collect the brash in and the nearby Meadow farm yard provided the area to unload  the material.