May 22:
Arrival at the reserve in the morning; showed around reserve in Polaris off road vehicle, weather a bit damp and misty but wind not too strong so no problems standing up on the Moorland!
May 23:
AM – Stock count in dunes next to reserve, this required a fair bit of walking to flush out both sheep and cattle from dips and knolls.
PM – Fence repairs prior to stock arrival the following week, became familiar with ‘Gripples’ and tried not to pull existing fence down through ‘over-tightening’ them.
May 24:
AM – Fertilizer spreading demonstration; this required making a knife cut into a large 600kg fertilizer sack (once lifted and positioned over the rear spreader unit) to enable fertilizer dispersal within containment whilst avoiding ground spillage. Not an easy task and to avoid ground spill.ages
PM – Wall repairs to fallen walk within reserve area, fallen rocks transported and placed in field.
May 25:
AM – Wader bird survey, fairly early morning start (0630) to count Snipe, Red Shank and Lapwing.
PM – Shag nest counts along coastal regions
May 26:
AM – Fertilizer spreading across fields
PM – Grass meadow cutting using ATV to encourage growth of Irish Ladies Tresses Orchid.
May 30:
AM – Built bumble bee boxes using rough template from book, took a little tinkering to build the first prototype but once created boxes could be knocked up in a fairly short period.
PM – Arctic Skua survey off of the reserve; we were fortunate to see 5 Skuas, 3 of which were dark phase and 2 light phase. The going was tough over ground with large dips and knolls to navigate but a surprise discovery was a Greater Black Back Gulls nest with 3 eggs.
May 31:
AM – Lime spreading across reserve, a mucky job that required a good shower afterwards!
PM – Little tern survey down at the coast, 21 nesting birds were counted in total. They are encircled by an electric fence that was erected earlier in the month to keep livestock away from the nests. We electrified the fence using a battery and setting up the appropriate configuration with the +ve/-ve/ground cables.
Jun 1:
AM – Bumble bee box building and pressure washing of the tractor spreader container to remove buildup of lime from earlier field spreading
PM – Siting of newly created bumble bee boxes with marker poles across various dune locations on the reserve
By Ben Daly