Hello and welcome to a slightly late blog from Greylake, Swell Wood and West Sedgemoor. Last week was a bit hectic as Tom was away on a chainsaw course and another member of staff headed off for a new job at Insh Marshes in Scotland. I had a day off on Friday as well, so Fiona was left picking up the pieces, which didn't quite manage to include the blog. But as the remnants of Storm Ciara have us hiding in the office today, here I am to bring you all the latest news.
I'm going to open with some stunning photos from Greylake sent to us by Graham Wagner. These incredible images show the predation of a teal by a peregrine falcon, and the subsequent theft of that meal by a marsh harrier. Thanks for these Graham. We rarely get time to get photos like these so we always appreciate them being sent in.
Anyone who has the chance, head down to Greylake because the water levels have dropped in other areas nearby and the birds are increasing in number at the site, so you really have the chance to see this sort of behaviour first hand (no promises though - nature is fickle!).
Anywho, last week I think we really did have all four seasons happening. Monday and Tuesday were very springlike, a bit chilly, a few showers, but not too bad. Wednesday and Thursday burst into summer. We were working in t-shirts, the bees were buzzing. We even saw a peacock butterfly flutter past at one point. It was lovely. Friday morning brought back a touch of winter, with ice needing to be scraped off the cars. And the weekend arrived with some typical autumn storm sort of weather. I say typical - it was pretty awful and we didn't even get the worst of it down here.
I spent all of last week hedge laying. We've really powered through on the hedges now. Fivehead is all laid, although some bigger trees still need to come out and others need to be planted to fill some of the gaps. We also tackled a small hedge opposite the office and finished the whole thing in two days. Check us out in our fashionable high-viz jackets.
Photo by Fiona
I was hoping that might be the end of the hedging, but it looks as though we're starting a new one this week on Redhill. Thankfully we're also beginning some coppicing work in Swell Wood, so that will be a nice change. We coppice the hazel on rotation to provide a succession of habitat structures for dormice, and other wildlife also benefits.
The Heronry hide remains closed at Swell Wood to allow the herons to establish territories. According to the BTO Heronries Census results, published last week, the Swell Wood nesting site was the second largest in the UK last year, with a count of 90 active nests. We hope that 2020 will be an equally good year (or better!) Once the hide reopens in March, take a trip to see how many you can count.
Grey heron nest building - photo by John Crispin
That's all from me this week. Check back for another update, hopefully on Friday.
Kathryn