A long, long time ago

Earlier work reveals wall/room boundaries 

First break, most of concrete covering removed

Some finer troweling revealing 'Mike's wall' 

Quite a change from countryside work at Sherborne as Mike and I headed over to lend a hand to the archaeological dig, started on Monday, at the Chedworth Roman villa. On site was greeted by Martin and Nancy the archaeologists leading the activity and ably supported by a capable team of 'young' volunteers, that is until I arrived! A good deal of work had been carried out which had already revealed an impressive mosaic which had been re-covered with soil for protection, so I had to make do with a picture. It also had defined the 1700 year old room boundaries containing potential mosaics and the Roman walls. My first task as an 'archaeologist' was surprising since I had the opportunity to use a mattock, sledgehammer, metal bar and lump hammer, albeit with care, to remove a layer of concrete covering the  top of the room walls. It was here that I uncovered my first Tessara which was but one cube forming a part of the mosaic. Its fair to say the work was harder than I had anticipated given the removal &  loading of many buckets and wheel barrows with concrete followed by transporting the contents to a large skip.

However the real work was to follow with the painstaking clearing of soil & concrete to the level of the Roman stone walls using a trowel. This needed to be done carefully so as not to damage any Roman artifacts and was also under the close scrutiny of the public who were showing a keen interest in the 'dig'. I was pretty much occupied for the rest of the day on this work whilst others more experienced were either directed to work carefully on the top soil covering the room mosaics or on uncovering the top of the stone walls, a job Mike proved pretty effective at. All in all a worthwhile experience with an enthusiastic and friendly group of people. A good deal still needs to be done to reveal the secrets this dig contains after which it will be carefully covered up until such time a suitable cover can be constructed ala the existing  West Range cover building.

Good message on Badgers from the Wildlife Trusts but is this government listening, although there is a little more chance given the exit of Owen Patterson who clearly not only lost the plot but was never 'on plot'.

A worthy Celebration!

Sherborne's cygnets almost adult size now

Wednesday at Sherborne was spent at Lodge Park with some brush cutting, tree tidying and stone collection for the Cotswold wardens who were repairing a wall in the village. More importantly I got to get inside Lodge Park for the first time where Emily the Lodge manager was making final preparations for an exhibition showing part of Mike's impressive photographic images of the Sherborne estate where he has been working for over three decades!

Puts some of my photos of Sherborne to shame but I can't begrudge Mike's  well deserved place in this spotlight.  Even better the exhibition at Lodge Park {access available weekends through to 31August , includes bank holiday} provided an ideal setting to show off Mike's selection of photographs of the living landscape of the Sherborne Estate where he has made a serious contribution to its care over many years. He represents what I think is an all too scarce breed which quietly, modestly and diligently looks after our beleaguered countryside, which in Mike's case not only includes its 'flora and fauna', but also the community living within it. Talking of the great variety of fauna to be found in the estate one of the villagers was lucky enough to spot an Osprey {6 august } catching a trout in the Broadwater. It was no doubt on its way back to Africa and Sherborne was a handy stop on its lengthy journey.

Hard graft raking on the Cirencester flood protection bank

Today was out in Cirencester with the Wildlife Trust at the old Nursery site close to the river Churn. The main activities were raking up after the brush cutting/mowing by the Cirencester council staff, clearing the fence line at the entry to the site which runs along the Palladium Way and cleaning up the small stretch of the river Churn. Notable wildlife sightings were 3 frogs {which survived the brush cutting}, kestrels having a bit of a fight overhead, a kingfisher, trout and the unwelcome Signal crayfish. A good turnout on a pleasant day delivered a better than expected outcome for Will who led the days activities.

Worth selecting this particular Mark Avery blog on the long running Hen Harrier debacle.

Downtime for volunteer tasks but not the environment

Mirror image? as one gatekeeper about to land on another

Common blue female, Leckhampton

Common Blue, Sherborne Water Meadows

Quiet time on the NT and Wildlife Trust front at the moment but plenty still happening on environmental issues. Whilst hen harrier persecution provides a lot of attention {quite rightly} there are still many other issues bubbling under the surface e.g. Neonicotinoids is not 'going away'!, neither is Fracking, Fracking2 and a challenge from Wildlife Trust/RSPB.

Butterflies seem to be enjoying the hot summer, especially the 'blues' with more showing in my local hillsides and Sherborne than I have seen before.

'Tour de Water Meadows'

Ok no bicycle or mountains or the likely 'Tour de France' winner Nibali But it was hot and I was carrying binos and 2 cameras! No volunteer action this week as both our Dark Knight and 'head Ranger' were on the sick list.

Not much room to land

Barn owls, Sherborne water meadows 

Arty shot of Sherborne buzzard

Red Kite over the Water meadows

After a couple of trips recently to Symonds Yat to see the Peregrines, which provided some great displays but disappointing pictures, I thought a survey of the Sherborne Water  Meadows was in order. I was fully armed with 'kit' which was ok at the beginning, before the sun burnt through the early cloud, but took its toll later on. It was pretty quiet all the way down to the water meadows until I bumped into Sherborne's shepherd and his friendly sheep dog. Enjoyed an interesting conversation which included a view of how well water management is performing {possible scope here for me to get interested & knowledgeable parties together to move things forward} and also the shepherd's 'spot' of otters today {I went to see of they were still around but no luck today}. However on my way towards the 'tin barn' I spotted an adult hare and then two magnificent barn owls which I managed to get a couple of half decent photos of. I left the owls to some peace and quiet as I made my way towards the Windrush and the boundary between Sherborne and Windrush estates.

More wildlife was on show with excellent displays from Red Kites and Buzzards. Wandering alongside the Windrush lots of Peacocks on show with some Red Admirals as well. Joining the butterflies were an assortment of damselflies not all of which I could identify. Not so good was the presence of ragwort which also showed itself at the top end of Picardy. I slowly made my way along the fisherman path by the 'cooling' Windrush with not much wildlife on show.  I eventually reached the bridge at the far end of Birch copse and headed back towards Century wood  & Northfield barn car park. Was pleased to see 50+ lapwing on the main pasture alongside the sheep which were clearly in relaxed mode {lying down} given the heat. So not a bad visit which ended with a quick look around the Broadwater which was fairly quiet with a couple of herons & the swan family on show.

A meaningful agenda

Bat cave compound, bit of a jungle 

A little busy of late so a brief summary of July thus far. Started this years renovation work in the Sherborne bat winter roost aka 'the bat cave'. Morris directing on this with Mike as support engineer and me on security duty. On reaching the entry to the 'compound' ( in which is located the bat cave) with heavy bags of building clamps we were faced with a wall of vegetation. So it was a good job Mike had the brush cutter although it was a tough going to find the path through. It proved to be a hot and sticky session for me outside but good progress made in cooler conditions inside on construction.

Young oak, minus tree guard

This week was to be a continuation of construction in the bat cave but sadly Morris was sick so it was back on tree guard construction. So fully tooled up we set off with tractor and 4x4 with trailer to the previous site below Crookmoor Ash. Was glad I was following Mike in the tractor as he discovered some soft wet ground which I probably would have got stuck in. Turned out that there was an underground leak in a mains water pipe in the pasture we were working in. The old tree guards we were replacing today were pretty badly damaged but fortunately the oak trees they were meant to protect were in good condition. On the Broadwater today the swan family were all in good health ,although the adult male was absent on a visit above the weir, a pair of small egrets were on show along with the usual herons. On my return to the estate offices I also came across a large grass snake, not sure who was more surprised.

Martin Harper with an environment agenda of worth.

Who lives in a place like this?

First stage: with stakes embedded and facines in place

Completed with 'dog' access, Andy fine tuning

Monday was spent with the Wildlife Trust at Hyde Mill, Nether Swell. Was pleased to get the opportunity, so soon,  to practice the Plant id work carried out with Richard 2 weeks ago.  Initially however the challenge of river bank revetment/restoration work beckoned on the river Dikler near Hyde Mill. This was to be a similar construction approach carried out at Greystones where I helped last year in the creation of the 'facines' a key component of the bank revetment work. Lots of volunteers turned out today for this work plus the additional  task at Slaughter farm to finish off the kingfisher box. Nick, Mandy and Paul volunteered for the Slaughter farm task but more on that later! Leading the day required Will, Richard and John who gave us all a chance at 2 out of the 3 tasks on offer.  Of the volunteers, at Hyde Mill, Will led one team on the 'plant Id' in the adjacent meadow {followed by the Hyde Mill house garden/meadow} whilst I was with the team Richard led, to start the revetment work. Its interesting to know in this case that the bank erosion has been mainly caused by enthusiastic dogs who {with owners} frequently visit this part of the Dikler, as it lies on 'several' main walking routes in this picturesque area of the Cotswolds.  In order that the work is effective in restoring the river bank and erosion isn't moved further down the river a dog access was added to the construction 'blueprint'.  Had a lot of fun honing my sledgehammer skills on the stakes which would secure the facines and managed to avoid injuring anyone especially Richard!. Everyone had a role to play and with waders we all managed to cool off in the cool waters of the Dikler, which had a healthy population of small fish and perch. At lunch time John and the Slaughter farm team joined us with 'Mandy and Paul' looking pretty muddy & wet having misjudged their route in the deep waters of the Windrush where the Kingfisher box was sited.

One last check, Paul showing off his muddy morning exploits

I spent the remainder of the day with the 'plant ID' team, which included Nick, Mandy and Paul, with Will leading whilst John led the remaining volunteers in completing the revetment work.  The owner of Hyde Mill and surrounding estate, Hugh Tollemache, who also is on the Wildlife trust board, has certainly embraced  water meadows conservation {see here if u want ure own meadow}. He has recorded approaching 150 plant species which includes several types of orchid. Needless to say we identified a good deal less on the day but it was certainly a step up in diversity from any meadow I have visited recently.

Our 'host' with a Soay lamb to be reunited with the herd

Bee Orchid in Hyde Mill garden meadow

Pyramid Orchid in Coronation meadow

Scabious, popular with butterflies and moths

New kid on the block

New cygnet looking up to mum

Resident female cleaning up

Started the day at Sherborne expecting to start this seasons work on the bat cave now all resident bats have moved to their summer roosts primarily in the bothy(58) and kennels(175) where the latest count totals a healthy 233. Unfortunately Morris couldn't make it so new plans had to be made. This was however delayed a little due to the visit of a local hornet which caused some disturbance in the estate offices until it decided to leave by the window realising it wasn't wanted.  Eventually Mike and I were able to proceed with the tree guard repair work down from Crookmoor Ash. I drove the 4x4 with trailer and before Mike arrived with the tractor, I managed to disturb a local fox. As we began the repair work a juvenile buzzard flew in and perched on a nearby oak to see what we were up to. The morning flew by, with eagle eye Mike also spotting a sparrow hawk, and then a well earned lunch break was upon us.

As usual spent lunch down by the Broadwater with the the resident swan family looking in good health along with the usual ducks, herons and sheep. Also spotted a kestrel which was pleasing given they seem to be scarcer this year. However a new pair of swans with a single cygnet were on show on the brook up from the weir. They were quite friendly and swam across to greet me and I suspect they were quite a young family possibly related to the resident mute swans downstream.

Continued the tree guard work in the afternoon session with a green woodpecker making a brief appearance and maddie trying her best to make things more interesting by lying down right where we were trying to work. Another rewarding day ticked off and one big positive was the 'biting' flies left us alone. Not so good were the English sports results covering rugby, cricket and football, the less said the better!