Lots to do. We have sheep from the RSPB reserve at Haweswater grazing the grass to improve it by removing the coarse vegetation to leave the short grass. Yesterday the staff from Haweswater came to lift the tups and worm the ewes. The tups - male sheep - have done their duty and have been taken home. The Haweswater sheepdog (no other dogs are welcome on the reserve) rounded up the sheep into the pen by the Haverton gate. After worming treatment the ewes were let back onto tne pasture.
Meanwhile the estate team staff and volunteers were burning the scrub (hawthorn mainly) that we have cleared from the clay field where the cattle graze. This will give good open wet grassland perfect for waders.
Haverton gate is behind Freddie's head, with the Transporter Bridge behind that. We all took turns at cutting the scrub then feeding the fire.
More work still needs to be done on the Tern islands, as Josh said in his last blog, and on the Sand Martin bank so there is often something for visitors to watch us doing as they sit in the cafe!
As we went back to the workshop at the end of yesterday we were treated to a fly-past by a Merlin - always a nice sight.
Peter