Bugs and a sedge warbler
Today I follow the choughs about a bit to determine their feeding sites. This should also give us a good idea of where they might bring the chicks when they fledge (which we’re hoping should be around the end of the month). The birds are busy collecting food, but still take time to groom each other, with Mr Brownblue occasionally running over to Lady Whitebrown with a food offering. Both the birds still look in top condition.
Today I saw, and heard, my first sedge warbler. Excellent. They have an incredibly complex and varied call (the RSPB recording doesn’t really do it justice, as it usually goes on for a lot longer), which makes them sound ever so slightly mental.
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- Glow worm larva (lamppyris noctiluca). Glow worms are suffering a continuing decline in numbers thanks to reduction in habitat and other human related factors
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- Bombus Pascourum on Kidney Vetch
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- Uhh, do I need rescuing?
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- Wall pennywort or navelwort (thanks Nic/Rachel), lichen on rock, and the Atlantic. And some sky (blue).
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- Painted lady (Vanessa cardui)
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- A wicked wee bug on the blogger’s finger. It gave me some advice (good), and then was on its way
More sun, sea and sightings, peregrines included.
After a day off I’m obliged to wander the cliff tops looking out for choughs again. Our pair are mildly agitated by what I’m fairly sure is a female peregrine today. But she (the peregrine) doesn’t give them the same stick as in previous days. My impression is that it’s the smaller male that seems to take pot shots at most birds. Not that I’m able to spend time tracking the peregrines to know whether it’s just the one pair that I’m seeing, or how successful they are, but I get the impression that the male I’ve seen is a bit more laid back and mischievous than the female, who’s probably just battering prey out of the sky while I’m not around (peregrines tend to hunt early).
It’s a bit damp first thing today, but the sun comes out before I start walking, and I hear a plethora of bird song as I hit the coast paths. Blackcaps, whitethroats, chiffchaffs, finches, tits, swallows, blackbirds, song thrushes, etc. I’m lovin’ it.
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- Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria) with a lackey (Malacosoma neustria) moth caterpillar in the foreground
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- Was this shed or is this all that’s left?
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- A fairly big looking Falco peregrinus I thought, so probably a female
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- Just so that you know I’ve been working hard, here I am watching things in a particularly productive way
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- Ooh, check that out! I wouldn’t’ve seen that from the office window.
Saxicola Rubicola
Ha, Saxicola rubicola. Such a quality name. Saxicola means rock dweller, and rubicola means to drink red fizzy pop. These birds are also known as stonechats, because they often make a call exactly like the sound of two small stones being knocked together. On the coast they hang about in the scrub, eating insects; further in land they like heathland and small scrub. Whilst walking this evening I was lucky enough to see male and female feeding a juvenile. I’m afraid I only managed a decent shot of Mrs Rubicola, but I think it’s one of the most exciting photos I’ve ever taken.
The male, by the way, really is a striking fellow. See a previous shot of him here (not the same one you understand, there are more than one pair in Cornwall, thankfully)
In other news, a peregrine was about today, at one point giving the choughs quite a hard time. They both kept low on the rocks for a while, until it moved on. It also swooped for a gull, and a house martin while I was watching. It didn’t seem to be putting much effort in, just gliding along and then darting towards something before gliding on again. Magic to watch.
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- This male wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) often puts up with me hanging about.
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- Rock pipit (Anthus petrosus)
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- Check out this fella’s crazy head! Drinker moth caterpillar (Euthrix potatoria)?
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- Here’s the juvenile
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- And here’s its mum, having flown up to just a couple of meters from me
Getting carried away
I walk about in the sunshine wondering if all is ok (see previous entry). Apparently the choughs haven’t been seen at their usual feeding site this morning. But then I see one, and then the other. In fact they spent a lot of the day feeding near me. And it’s beautiful day, and I maybe get a bit carried away, taking pictures of everything I see…
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- Sea pink (Armeria maritima) and what I think is rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum) in the foreground, but, if anyone knows otherwise…
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- I was eating my lunch and this gull had coincidentally just discovered something interesting on this rock
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- Mashface wasn’t so reticent, which might go some way towards explaining his (? quite a large fella) appearance.
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- I spent a great day with our pair today, as they were busy collecting food near me for most of the day
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- Hey, I’ve explained elsewhere that I’m no photographic genius, but hopefully this gives an idea of what I was lucky enough to watch over and over again
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- Sorry, these are gannets by the way
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- I’ve had a good look about but can’t id this…
Cornwall choughs and species mission
I’ve returned to Cornwall to join up with the chough project again. My role is, essentially, to monitor the young pair that I was observing before the Scotland trip. I will be camping, and wandering up to 5 or 6 km of coastal path on a daily basis. Why am I doing this? Ha, you’ll see.
On my first day back I catch up with the male Brownblue first thing. He seems well, and a little while later both him and Whitebrown are feeding within a few metres of me. When I last saw them they had eggs, now they are parents. We think it’ll be about 3 to 4 more weeks to fledging time.
I also see stonechats, whitethroats, kestrel, jackdaws and gulls a plenty. And there are so many other species of plants, invertebrates, etc here that it gives me a great opportunity to indulge the nature geek in me. It’s a great day right up to point where a raven comes a calling. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against ravens, (in fact, like all birds, they are my favourite bird) but they are known to take other bird’s eggs and young. Our young choughs are well aware of this and make a point of attempting to beat the crap out of any raven that passes over their territory. As they do this the raven glides along and skilfully performs its 180 degree evasion technique, where it turns upside down whilst flying. It’s amazing to watch.
Anyway, last thing today there was a big commotion involving a raven, the choughs, some jackdaws and, I think, a kestrel, although I was surprised to see the kestrel flying away from the seen, as they usually don’t get involved. As the raven flew away it clearly had something small and black in its mouth. I couldn’t see what it was, but the other birds were disturbed. Unfortunately, I had to leave shortly afterwards, so I walked home feeling a little worried…
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- Whitebrown and Brownblue, maybe a little bit of grey there, from all those sleepless nights?
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- It’s also great to see how the jackdaws are getting on
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- Is this yarrow? No it’s sea carrot (thanks Nic)
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- Rock sea-spurrey (Spergularia rupicola)
A meeting with RSPB Abernethy
I’ve been trying to set myself up with a winter residential voluntary placement at RSPB Abernethy, somewhere I’ve worked before. In order to discuss this I had a meeting with Alice and Ian at Forest Lodge today. After spending a few weeks near the sea I was beginning to wonder if I’d appreciate being back inland again, but as soon as I found myself in the woods I started to feel pretty excited about the prospect of coming back here for a long term stay.
Last night, around late dusk time, I heard the most amazing noise and it took me a few moments to work out what it was. It sounded a little bit like the drunk old guy from The Fast Show, followed by a mini screech. Anyway, it was a Scolopax rusticola. I recommend clicking the link and then listening to the call on the RSPBs web site.
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- No osprey for me on Loch Garton this morning, instead pairs of mallard and widgeon
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- And a pair of crested tits. Excellent! The other was keeping watch in a tree just out of shot
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- A tree pipit.
Saturn and into the night shifts.
So, for my last three days on the project (for now at least), I was down to do shifts into the night. Once the pairs have laid eggs, the plan is to get 24 hour watches going on each of the nest sites (some mindless people still collect eggs, would you believe). This requires a fair bit of man power, so if you’re reading this, and fancy getting involved, then please do. Probably your best bet is to contact the Cornish Chough Project (http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/projects/details/223656-cornwall-chough-project).
Anyway, it just so happened that the last three days have been blessed with clear skies and much less wind than previous days. In fact I’d go as far as to say it was hot during the day. As a result, I managed to do some star gazing at night, and found Saturn through the RSPB scope I was using (16 to 20x). Wow, I can’t believe how clear the rings are. I’m afraid my digi-scope system just wasn’t up to getting a picture of it, but let me tell you, it’s an amazing site.
My shifts were to look after the young choughs, who are now showing all the signs of incubating. She spends the majority of her time on the nest, coming out, mostly near the end of the day, to feed and partake in grooming sessions with him. Usually I get to see this and it’s very sweet. He makes some (although maybe not as much as we might consider appropriate) effort to make sure she’s fed well, and she often cuddles up to him, or grooms his back with her beak.
Meanwhile, he’s continuing to harass the local raven, although he now seems at ease with passers by. Apparently ravens are known to take chough eggs, so I have to wonder whether his behaviour doesn’t just draw attention to the pair, or if he’s got the raven thinking that he’s not to be messed with. We’ll see.
Tonight, as the birds were going to roost, I wished them the best of luck. I’ve grown very fond of Brownblue and Whitebrown, and a couple of the local pairs of jackdaws (currently hauling large amounts of nesting material about, in a sometimes fairly comical way). I’m hoping that I’ll get a chance to come down here again this spring. In the meantime, if I hear any news about Mr Brownblue and Lady Whitebrown et al, I’ll add it to this blog.
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- Hmm, shags (as opposed to cormorants).
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- Woaw, I took this picture and when I got it developed…
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- Scilla Verna, or spring squill
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- Although nearby, surely this isn’t the same plant? Anybody? (Jane!)
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- The young choughs cuddle up
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- Wolf Rock is 9 miles away. The shit on my lens is not.
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- A gannet, the rolls royce of birds.
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- Phil Golder, the rolls royce of bloggers.
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- Sea campion.
Adits and other holes
Today, whilst the pairs were being reasonably well looked after, I had a chance to catch up with the boys, and to determine whether the situation had improved for our lone female, Brownblack. After a lot of traipsing about I determined that the boys look unlikely to pair up with our young lady. At one point, after a break to explore one of the adits, the boys landed 8 feet up the slope from where I had emerged. They then proceeded to get a bit jiggy with each other. This made a fairly significant contribution to my deductions.
I did see her following them, at a distance, towards the end of the day. But there was no significant interaction, and, unfortunately, no sign of the unringed chough seen in previous weeks. ‘Unringed’ has apparently been spotted further up coast recently.
This part of Cornwall is littered with old mine related buildings and shafts. I have an insatiable urge to look down every hole, or walk into every adit. I can’t work out where this comes from, but given the slight feeling of disappointment I felt after exploring some adits today, I can only assume that, subconsciously, I had been hoping to find Mines of Moria style caverns backing away for miles underground. Unfortunately, it seems our Cornish mining ancestors were less interested in creating Tolkien-esque underground chambers, and more interested in scraping out more for less. Still, the leftover workings, stained walls and apparent maze like quality to the tunnels continue to leave me fascinated.
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- On closer inspection the glittering appears to be millions of tiny water droplets
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- To be fair there may have been riches a plenty beyond this point, but I would have fallen thousands of feet trying to get further
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- Blueblack, one of our boys.
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- The National Trust try to collar off holes where they can, but…
A ring ouzel! Where are you now, Nick Baker!?!
Today, the skies were blue and so was the sea. On the way to my office, with a cliff top view, I stopped and gave a lift to a pretty lass who was doing some painting for someone nearby. On site, I found myself a seat in the sun and watched choughs, wheatears, and then my first ever ring ouzel, for the afternoon. Not to mention the jackdaws acrobatically flying amongst the rocks, and the gannets diving out to sea, and the raven wafting by, and the kestrel hovering gracefully looking for prey, and the occasional pleasantry with a passer by.
So, it looks like our more mature pair (Mr Redred & Lady Blueorange) are beginning to sit on the nest. She was spending up to half an hour spells on it while I was watching today.
And our young choughs are surely incubating eggs now, as she is spending more time on the nest than not. This evening, they both spent time near base together. He passed her food on a couple of occasions and she spent a little time grooming him, at one point with one of her feet on his back.
To be fair to Nick Baker, his work for the RSPB has been to identify breeding pairs of ring ouzels, and their nest sites. From his talk on it at the RSPB pre-Christmas South West regional meeting, this seemed to involve him hunkering down for hours trying to work out where the birds were flying to, which he did with some success (http://www.nickbaker.tv/blog/). All I had to do was sit around in my usual spot and ‘my’ ring ouzel just flew on out from under a nearby rock. It was pretty unlikely to have been thinking of sticking around, let alone nesting here, as their usual habitat would be uplands, somewhere like Dartmoor. Still, I was lucky enough to be able to watch it feeding for many minutes during the afternoon, and then again in the early evening.
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- Some of the old mine buildings near the Vean
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- I’m reasonably confident this is a male, as the females don’t have such a prominent ‘ring’.
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- Brilliant!
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- Later this wee chap (wheatear) came calling.
Dive bombed, ravens and jackdaws
On Wednesday, during a couple of days off, I popped into Aylesbeare to pick up the chough project landrover. Most of the winter management work has now stopped for spring, so as not to disturb birds nesting, etc. So, most of the staff and Wednesday volunteers appeared to be working about the yard, carrying out maintenance or updates on the infrastructure.
Then on Thursday, on my way back South, I met up with Ray Piper, the Lantra trainer who had trained us during our tractor course, for a days Mule (the Kawasaki 4 by 4 version) training. This involved driving the Mule up onto Dartmoor and then through terrain that you would ordinarily consider off limits for vehicles. It’s all about momentum, top stuff.
Since then I’ve mostly been watching the young pair. She (Whitebrown) is now spending as much time at base as she is away. This is a new nest site, and it’s impossible to see where the birds go when they fly into it, but we have to assume that she’s now sitting on at least one egg. As far as we know none of the other nest sites are at this stage. This pair, maybe because they are so young, are doing this a little earlier than expected.
Our man, Brownblue, is still having a go at passers by, sometimes even if they are nowhere near the nest site. As much as this is quite entertaining it means that I sometimes have to explain to people what’s going on, and ask them if they’d be kind enough to let him have his way. Everyone seems to have an appreciation of the birds (there are information boards on the walks), and are happy to have seen them, so it’s generally a pretty nice thing to have to do.
However, Brownblue isn’t getting things all his own way. Yesterday I’d spotted a Peregrine about on rocks a couple of times, which the choughs are usually wary of. Seemingly with good reason, for as they both flew away from the nest site yesterday afternoon, he suddenly twisted and dived, dropping amazingly quickly down towards the sea. As he went below the cliff line I just managed to catch a glimpse of something dropping after him. Although I didn’t manage to identify it at the time, I can only assume that it was the Peregrine, as I know nothing else likely to do this. Anyway, I stood there wondering if it was possible that he might have been caught, or even if he, or his assailant, had not pulled out of their dive before hitting rocks or the sea (they were already flying quite low). Thankfully I spotted Brownblue on some rocks a few hundred metres down the coast. He then flew slowly back to meet up with our lady, who had taken refuge on rocks up the slope from me. They spent some time reassuring each other, and tapping beaks, and I wondered what he must be thinking as they flew off together.
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- Falco Peregrinus.
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- The slightly more chough friendly, Falco tinnunculus
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- Possibly my new favourite birds. Jackdaws take cliff top flying to a new level
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- Corvus Corax. Often seems to get mobbed, especially by Brownblue, for reasons unknown to me
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- The Long Ships lighthouse off Land’s End
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- The isles of Scilly!
Getting jiggy…
So the sun isn’t always shining down here. On Sunday I spent my shift peering into the fog for a glimpse of our mature pair, redred (see pictures from last entry) and blueorange. This pair have a good history of getting away broods (http://www.cornwall-birding.co.uk/category/choughs/), so the fact that I barely saw them all day is not too much of a concern.
Yesterday I spent time watching the young pair, who were mostly out feeding all day, but are spending a bit of time around the suspected nest site. Back at the Vean, I did see what I’m fairly sure is a female black restart, so that was cool.
Today, the weather was pretty bleak to start with – 100% cloud, visibility maybe 5-10Km. Again, watching the young choughs, they are spending more time nearer their base, and our man, brownblue, is getting quite fiesty with anyone that comes near. This involves him landing within maybe 20 feet of them and calling whilst occasionally pecking the ground. Invariably this leads to people stopping, pointing at him, and then standing there taking pictures. He’s a bit of a character, I have a bit of a soft spot for the little fella, but he doesn’t do himself any favours.
Still, he must be doing something right, because our lady, whitebrown, made it quite clear, with a fair bit of stooping and wing fluttering, that he was the man for her. Jiggyness ensued, although I must admit, I didn’t have to look away for too long.
I’d been watching it come over the sea for some time and at half one there was a break in the weather and the sun came out. Visibility was excellent, maybe the best it’s been while I’ve been down here. All the lighthouses, etc, in the distance were clearly visible, the sea became a deep azure blue, to mirror the sky. All the local birds, gulls, jackdaws, the choughs, pidgeons, took to the air and were all whirling up and up, and we were all suddenly very happy.
The choughs seemed especially upbeat, circling higher than I’ve seen them go before, and then flying sensationally together, before she went back to base. He came over and checked me out, still rising up and diving and spinning in the air, before heading back. I said hello and suggested that he calm down around people, but, he probably wasn’t listening…
Choughs and kestrels
So, we’ve been concentrating our monitoring efforts on the non-paired choughs for the last few days, to see if there were any likely pairings appearing. But, alas, it seems not. Our boys still seem very close, and the lone female doesn’t seem to be able to attract their attentions for long enough.
This looks like it might be quite frustrating for her, as she, today, took to flying about with large bits of nesting material in her mouth, whilst performing aerial acrobatics. Quite spectacular acrobatics. At one point she stole up to a kestrel, that was just minding her (I’m fairly sure it was a female) own business, bumped her from above, then dived down below and around her. It was spectacular stuff, but neither the kestrel, nor the boys seemed particularly interested.
Also, the unringed chough, that appeared to be hanging around with these three, hasn’t been seen for a few days. So, it looks like that story might not break, which is a shame. However, I could be misreading all these signs, and it might all mean something entirely different…
I’ve managed to get some quite interesting shots of the kestrel by, in some cases, combining my camera with the RSPB scope. Later today, I saw two of them fly up to a roost site, possibly a pair, although it was getting a bit dark to tell. They really are incredible to watch whilst hunting. Once I’ve trained my binoculars on them, it’s possible to see that they hover in exactly the same spot, by judging it against the background. How do they now how to do this?! Amazing.
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- Here dogs and cows are bred to produce cogs.
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- This mad looking fella is an oil beetle.
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- This is our older, experienced pair. He clearly knows that this is a killer move
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- At 7 years old, he’s the oldest bird that I’ve been watching.
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- Someone please tell me what this is?
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- I’m fairly sure, from the brown cap, that this is a female kestrel
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- Here she is on a different rock a little while later.
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- This, I’m afraid, is not quite so attractive.
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- A new word for you (maybe), this is an adit.
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- Male stonechat. First rate perching.
Young choughs
I spent today watching the young choughs affectionately known as brownblue and whitebrown. Catchy names, I know you’ll agree, but I don’t have the job of naming the choughs yet. As I mentioned in my last post, all of the choughs that grew up in Cornwall have been ringed. Coincidentally, the rings on these choughs match their names. Brownblue is the male in this pair.
These guys are young, just two years old. So this is the first time they’ve looked like they might nest. They seem to be very close. After even short spells apart they’ll spend time reassuring each other by being close and occasionally tapping beaks (possibly food is passed between them, but I haven’t been able to see this for sure). While they’re foraging they’ll occasionally run towards each other and tap their beaks in a fashion that looks very much like they’re kissing.
By the end of today, our lady was spending a little time on her own in the area where we think the nest might be. At this point our man spent his time calling and generally looking a bit restless.
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- Mr Chough thinks he’s a winner with the ladies. Well, lady.
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- and it seems he is
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- A male black redstart. A first for me, fantastic.
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- A male wheatear…
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- …and a female wheatear
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- The Botallack Vean lounge, where I’ve been staying. Not in the lounge you understand, they have given me a bedroom
Off to Cornwall again then…
So, my next role brings me back to Cornwall, just two weeks after I was last here. I call by the Marazion office again, but this time to meet up with the RSPB’s Claire Mucklow and the Cornish chough project. I get a little bit of time to look around the Eastern part of the reserve, and see the usual array of passerines. It still makes me smile hearing how loud the Cetti’s warblers are.
Once our hire van has turned up we head out to a place called Botallack, where I’ll be staying. The Botallack Vean is a National trust property – they are also involved in the project – as is a lot of the land on Cornwalls South Westerly tip. Nic, the project co-ordinator and I, go out to see if we can see one of our chough pairs, and they duly oblige with a fly-by as we are out walking. Good start.
Day 2, and I’m shown another pair, who are apparently young but enthusiastic, and then an assortment of other choughs, including a couple of males who seem to be quite close. So close in fact, that they seem to be ignoring the attention seeking actions of a local female. They become known as the ‘boys’. They like flying along cliffs in formation, especially with ravens and occasionally kestrels.
There is also one unringed chough about, which we are really hoping will hang around. All the locally born choughs were ringed in the nest, hence we know what sex they are. As with any small colony, it would be great to get some new blood involved to prevent the potential for issues arising from a small gene pool.
At the end of my second day, the sun is going down over the sea, the pipits are flying around me as I sit on my rocky outcrop, watching 4 choughs. It’s a lovely evening, hello Cornwall, hello choughs.
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- A blackbird (poss juvenile) at Marazion
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- This picture of a chiffchaff is one of my best
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- Deep and narrow inlets down here are called Zawns. This one doesn’t quite qualify
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- Caves down here are called caves. Oooh, what’s in there?
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- One of three male Wheatears about near Gwennap head today
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- Let me introduce you to the ‘boys’
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- From it’s call I’d say this was a Rock Pipit. Pipits all look the same to me…
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- The mist round here is a bit unpredictable…
My last days at Aylesbeare
So, it’s time to say goodbye to RSPB Aylesbeare. It’s been 5 months of proper physical work, some lengthy debate and a little self questioning. I’m now confident in the use of a chainsaw, and have used tractors with trailers, winches, mowers, front loaders, blah blah blah. The truth is that I’ve really enjoyed using all this machinery. I set out thinking it would be good to have the experience, and that it was a little bit boys toys, but maybe I’m just a boy at heart (ha, I already knew this).
I’ve also learnt a lot from the guys I’ve been working with, who have a fantastic grasp of the environment they’re working in. They work hard, eat cake, and share biscuits and knowledge. On Friday we all went in to Exeter for a few drinks and I was presented with a copy of “East Devon pebblebed heaths, 240 years in the making” by Andrew Cooper, signed by my colleagues from the reserve. I realised (again) that I’m pretty lucky to be doing what I’m doing. I hope to stay in touch with both the reserve and the people.
Other highlights in my last week were… Finding an “eyed” ladybird, anatis ocellata (see photos). This wee fella is apparently only found in pine wood habitats, and was indeed found amongst some Scots Pine we were thinning out. And driving the Ford 4000 around. Although this tractor seemed pretty heavy going when I first started driving it, as soon as I got used to its little idiosyncrasies (like third being opposite first, then fourth bring at the other end of the box), it turned out to be my favourite. The one at the reserve is k registration, which, it turns out, makes it a couple of years older than me. My parents also enthuse about their experiences in Ford 4000s. Ok, that’s enough, before I start sounding like a tractor geek.
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- Myself and Johnny got lucky enough to see this great grey shrike for many minutes. Picture was taken with my phone through binoculars
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- I think this may have been a mosquito flying over
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- At last a half decent picture of the ever vocal nuthatch
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- Daring. Or at least it would be if we tried it.
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- Moments before it produced the nunchucks
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- The aforementioned anatis ocellata
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- Me driving Fordy
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- Ed de-clutching using the shock method
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- Willow in bloom, spring is here.
Labrador Bay
Today, with some of the Wednesday vols, we planted a hedge at the RSPB reserve at Labrador bay. The weather was again delightfully bright and sunny. Despite the extraordinarily steep slopes no one fell off the hill into the sea.
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- Soon, all this will be hedge.
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- Richard just manages to stop himself from rolling down the slope
Spring at Marazion
The RSPB Aylesbeare warden, Toby Taylor, very kindly offered out the services of myself and Tia to RPSB Cornwall reserves. As a result we’ve been removing willow stumps at a place called Marazion for the last couple of days. The weather has been glorious, the reserve is beautiful, and we’ve been eating lunch on the beach looking out at St Michaels Mount. If Dave, the warden down there, offered residential placements I’d be jolly well signing up.
What’s more, whilst there, I saw my first bittern, flying for a good few hundred metres across the marshes this morning, fantastic! No, more than fantastic. Both myself and Tia became very excited and probably embarrassed poor Dave by gushing thank yous to him, when he isn’t, after all, able to control what the birds get up to. There are also Cetti’s warblers on the marshes, and chiff chaffs that hang around all year round. With chiff chaffs joining in the plentiful bird song there was a proper feel of spring in the air, probably something that part of the world feels before most places in the country. Oh, and it’s hard to describe how loud the Cetti’s are – they manage to make their call sound like it’s being produced in an amphitheatre. Incredible.
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- We set up base amongst the willow
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- Some of the stumps to be removed – looking South, the sea is the other side of the road
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- Our lunchtime view
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- Larus argentatus
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- Finishing the day with only one boot full of water was a result.
Fire Beacon Hill
The overcast mornings are clearing to bright sunny days. And our current view while working, from Fire Beacon Hill (FBH), near Sidmouth, is pretty fine. We are carrying out annual winter management of ‘our’ part of the hill, which includes removing birch scrub and coppicing some of the more leggy gorse.
On Wednesday, we are joined by the Wednesday volunteers, a great bunch of people, all giving some of their time to help out and pass round cake. Shortly after arriving at FBH on Wednesday, I received a call to say that the Ford 4000 (with trailer) had broken down on the way over. I hurried back, with the battery pack, to where Richard had managed to pull over on the A3052. Ed had also turned up in Zetor (another tractor), but their attempts to get Fordy started were all in vain. In the end myself and Ed had to leave – Richard took a hit for the team and stood bravely on the road side, hand to his to his head, saluting us off. Would we ever see him again…
As it happened Johnny came out in the Valtra and towed Fordy, the trailer and Richard down the road and across the reserve back to the workshop, while we had to get on with some real work. Oh, meant to say, saw my first butterfly of the year last week – a Brimstone! I’ve never seen one before, it was moving about too quickly for pics unfortunately, but still, fantastic.
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- The 2 Richards watch as John Bell (of Axewood fame) trims a tree with surgeon like precision.
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- Tia, Ed and Johnny aren’t speaking to each other.
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- Who would live in a house like this?
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- Ed. No comment needed.
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- The Norman Lockyer observatory – well worth a visit, apparently.
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- Turned out nice again.
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- The Wednesday vols
Rain and odd jobs
It’s been raining a lot recently. 25mm last weekend, 35mm the week before, and a little more early this week. But as the week has gone on there seems to have been a change in the air. It feels a bit like spring is on the way.
Jobs this week include: clearing paths on the reserve, which basically involves chainsawing gorse & creating habitat piles; clearing ‘dangerous’ roadside trees near Lympstone common; clearing a fence line on parts of the reserve; and clearing brash on Lympstone common. I also managed to create some unneeded air conditioning in my chainsaw trousers whilst bending (my knees, not my back) down yesterday. Tia has very kindly made them public friendly again.
I tried to get a few shots of the visitors to the workshop bird feeders. None of them turned out that well, but I’ve added the Siskin one.
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- Tia attacks some gorse
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- Woaw, isn’t this cool?
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- Siskin seem to be the only birds going for these smaller seeds
CS chainsaw assessments
Today I made a small trip over to Salcombe Hill to take a look at the Axewoods Co-operative woodlands project (http://axewoods.org/), a project that aims to promote working and communities in East Devon woodlands. The project offers the opportunity to learn wood work skills, and free wood to those who want to get involved.
Afterwards I took a walk around some of the National Trust paths on the hill, which offer great views of Sidmouth. It was a beautiful evening (it’s stopped raining!), and I was treated to a fantastic vista of the sun setting over Devon.
On Monday I had my CS30 and CS31 chainsaw assessments at Bicton college. Frantic revision over the weekend, and a few tips from Johnny on the reserve the Friday before (thanks Johnny!), helped me through both assessments. It was a long day with the maintenance part of the assessment at Bicton college in the morning, and the felling taking place on Harcombe hill in the afternoon, but I’m now free to fell trees unsupervised. Nice.
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- Tia and Ed on our last full day of work on the Bucehayes (Stockland) turbary
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- The view from Harcombe hill, where I became a stage 1 chainsaw jedi
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- Salcombe Hill
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- Sidmouth
Bowling Green Marsh bird hide
Today I popped along to the hide at Bowling Green Marsh, Topsham, to meet the legendary John Allan, and brush up on my wader identification skills. A female Smew has been hanging around the marsh for a few days and I was lucky enough to spot it, on numerous occasions, diving away in front of the hide. This was probably my first sighting of Smew, although I find it difficult to remember which birds I used to see when I went out with the YOC many years ago.
Also in attendance were most of the other duck species I’d expect to see, Mallard, Teal, Widgeon, Gadwall, Shoveller, Pochard, Pintail, Tufted ducks and Shelducks. There were also large numbers of Avocets, Godwits (black tailed), Curlew and Redshank.
John attends the hide at some point during most weekends, and today he and Margaret were helping inexperienced visitors to identify birds with a scope.
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- Redshank and Godwits try to find some shelter from the chilly breeze
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- Avocets
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- A Goldfinch
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- Goat walk, Topsham
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- Curlew
Some recent photos…
Nothing too unusual to report. Lots of rain, the usual work out at Stockland, and a bit of a look around the Venn Ottery parts of the reserve.
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- Johnny and Richard take a look at the Stockland site that was cleared a few years ago.
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- We’re finishing up the current Stockland site.
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- Sheep on Venn Ottery hill. There will soon be quarry works here.
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- This one is called Simone
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- Here Tia explains that the quarry diggers will soon be moving in
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- Below Venn Ottery Common, this Spruce must have some sort of an ear infection
A winter moth and tractors
As an extra special birthday present the RSPB have put my through some tractor training. Thanks to the marvellous, patient Ray Piper for teaching us the ways of the PTO and 3 point linkage. On day three (today) we were assessed by Ray, and I’ve now been given the go ahead to get tractoring. It’s all a bit mad really. At least one of the tractors that we drive is the size of a small house. It has power steering, no, power everything, and feels as easy, if not easier, than driving a car. And yet, if the driver was to take their eye off the ball for a couple of seconds he/she could find that they had just driven over a car. Apparently 13 year olds are allowed to drive tractors, and 16 year olds can take them on roads.
Here are some wildlife photos taken in the Land Rover and cottage. The moth (in the LR) is a winter moth (Operophtera brumata). Apparently it has an internal anti-freeze that prevents it allows it to fly through the winter. Top stuff. The beetle was found wandering the cottage looking for st john’s wort.
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- Winter moth
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- Chrysolina hyperici – the st john’s wort eating beetle. Sadly, this one had become lost.
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- Here I can be seen nonchalantly reversing over a barn
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- Here Tia and Yasmin head for the M5 with a loader full of grit
Stockland Turbaries
The big project at RSPB Aylesbeare at the moment is to ‘restore’ habitat in an area called the Stockland turbaries. Historically, the Stockland turbaries were areas of bog or lowland heath where peat was dug and used for fuel. Typically these areas are dominated by heather and gorse (gorse was also used for fodder). But the area that we’re working in is also a stronghold for bog myrtle in Devon. The decline of traditional heathland practices has resulted in a reduction of the wildlife associated with heathland.
This is a contentious issue. I don’t want to use this blog as a tool to promote or knock heathland, but I can see that there are good reasons for protecting heathland where it exists, and hence preventing species loss if those species have evolved to live in such a habitat. I have found it a little more difficult to come to terms with the removal of semi-mature woodland in the name of habitat restoration. Whilst carrying out the work Dr David Allen has been out to view our progress on numerous occasions, and his enthusiasm is persuasive. But I’ve still a lot to learn about these habitats, and I hope to better understand both sides of the argument before I move on to pastures new in a couple of months.
In the mean time, the work itself is a lot of fun. I’m spending a lot of time on the chainsaw, working out cuts, wind direction, safety, etc, and then hauling about big lumps of wood. I’m tired at the end of each day (most of us fall asleep in the LR on the way back to base), but it’s a good tired, and I’m sure my general strength levels have improved enormously.
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- Hmm, I know this isn’t porcelain mushroom, but…
Life since the office 
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