After having two very exciting sightings of the crane over the reserve at the weekend, we've seen it once more on Tuesday morning and are now suspecting that it is roosting here and then travelling to another feeding ground during the day. Hopefully we will see it again soon.
Jobs on the reserve this week have so far been varied and many because we don't have any major projects such as tower pool path to complete at the moment and we are using our time to catch up on the odd jobs list. The week began with putting the last of our 9 way-markers in the ground for the new circular foot path to Tower Pool Hide that takes visitors through fields of barley and species rich grassland. The next job on our agenda was to re-tension some of the rabbit proof fencing we have protecting the hedge rows that were newly planted last winter.
Yesterday saw a small team of us helping me to boat out to Tern Island in front of the visitor centre to remove all the nest boxes for the winter and then strim it. We were using a rope system to pull the canoe back and forth over the water with the nest boxes in it and then I was sent the strimmer to cut the reeds and grasses that have swamped the island during the summer. Just before the end of the day I had a mechanical fault with the strimmer so finishing the job was cut short but Vicky managed to get back out there and finish it this morning. Here is a picture of me strimming the island
Following on from this, our main odd job today has been burning the very large pile of ragwort that we have in the yard and this was going very well until it started to rain at lunch time so we have abandoned that task for another day. What tomorrow and Friday will bring is yet to be decided, but we have path and bridge repair jobs to do so I'm sure it will be one of the two, I just hope the sun is shining.
One more thing that's very worth mentioning and has personally been the highlight of my week so far, and that is my first ever tawny owl 'sighting.' For weeks and weeks now I've been hearing tawny owls twit twooing and ke-wicking outside the office during the evenings and at night. And actually I was starting to feel that it was turning into a bit of a joke on me, because I would hear them calling out, run into the yard with my camera and torch at the ready and everything would go silent. Anyway, I was determined to see one before my time here is finished so I've waited and waited until I heard them once again, but this time I decided to try stealth and i walked into the centre of the yard as quietly as possible and torch at the ready but not on. I must have waited in the pitch black off the yard for ten minutes and had nearly given up when there it was, the very distinct screeching ke-wick with an added echo coming from the rafters of the dutch barn. So, i crept around the corner from my hiding place, turned on my torch and searched the roof area of the barn and there it was, my long awaited tawny owl looking back at me. I cannot explain the excited feeling I had as I looked at it and it looked back at me, I was so happy to finally meet it. After soaking up the experience for a few minutes I decided to dash into the office for my camera but I wasn't quick enough to return and the Owl was gone. I'm sorry I did not get a picture but the experience was very special anyway and definitely worth the wait.