Poetry in motion!

Looking towards South Park from just below Moors Copse

The promise of a hot sunny day at Sherborne on Wednesday was certainly delivered and oddly we were first to deliver a full load of wood to a village customer at a location which was a pleasure to be in.  In the skies above Sherborne swifts and swallows {on a lower sometimes ground hugging flight path} demonstrated their aerial prowess ,  this nicely captured by a  Mark Avery guest blog featuring this 'swift' poem.  Following the unloading of the wood we enjoyed a welcome drink and biscuit kindly provided by a local villager and whilst still admiring the swifts & swallows witnessed the late arrival of 2 red kites and a buzzard. The rest of the day was dedicated to the completion of four more tree guards down from  Moors copse, still plenty left  to do on this task. My nail, staple, sawing ends of rails  and 'wire twisting'  skills are certainly being tested! Had time to see the Broadwater swans and especially their cygnets who after only a week on this planet were being shown how to cope with the weir. Have to confess I didn't realise how buoyant they were. Lots of other youngsters out on the water {coot & mallard chicks but no tufted duck young yet.  As a slight aside on my visit to Slimbridge tuesday observed for the first time kingfishers at the Kingfisher hyde although their young were not quite ready to leave their 'hole in the bank'.

Hare today….

Thursday acting on information from the Barrington gamekeeper was delighted to 'strike gold' on the hare front {no jokes please!}, I gave up counting after 20.  So lots to learn here like : the early bird…, a bigger telephoto is a must and the footpath from Greater Barrington to Tayton provides a good walk & plenty of wildlife opportunities !

Andy & Will under river Eye bridge, 'models' extra!

Alan using his head, Andy & Will bookends

first Dipper box duly deployed

Survey begins, just downstream from the Mink boat

One still living trout needing some first aid!

Beautiful demoiselle female, watch the spider...

Today saw a return to Greystones with the Wildlife Trust to deploy the Dipper boxes constructed last week and to also carry out a water vole survey along the reserves river Eye stretch and also a part of the river Windrush close to Bourton. I joined Will's team for the river Eye location leaving Richard to lead the team on the Windrush location ( we've still to learn how Richard's team fared in the deeper waters of the Windrush).  Have to say was unsure how: the Dipper boxes were to be fixed to the underside of the bridge,  our team of 5 would be used , the water vole survey would be carried out. The good news was the weather was great, we would be in the water for most of the work in the hottest day of the year and even better we all had waders albeit slightly leaky. The pictures give an indication of the work involved but not how much we all enjoyed the day on a slightly different to the norm outing. Several things deserve a special mention not listed in any  preferential order. Andy & Will showed their flexibility fixing the boxes under the bridge without getting too wet, Alan majored on drilling, spotting a kingfisher, a water vole and impressive water vole feeding & toilet areas, we all walked in the river Eye from the Greystones boundary nearest the farm all the way to the main bridge for the water vole survey without mishap. The day ended all too quickly with the Dipper boxes safely installed and the survey with very encouraging findings,  completed.