8th February 2011 ... weekly volunteers

Present:
Justine, Anthony, Ron, Keith, Neil, Jane  and Martin.
John 'hors de combat' with his back.
Martin's back meant he was just observer

Activities:
- Bonfire of Gorse near the 5 bar gate on South Heath
- cut additional gorse near fire and burnt it
- cut more gorse further towards the cottages for future bonfires
- Martin, Jane, Justine and Anthony went a walk to the causeway and back to show the reserve.
- moved some gorse logs back to the wood pile from South heath.


Observations:
- two woodlark
- Raven
- Nail Fungus
- gorgeous day
- plane crashed near cuckoo pond. ( rubber band model).  It was collected.


martin

15th feb 2011 ... weekly volunteers

Present:
John, Ron, Keith, Jamie, Anthony  and Martin.  Mike came for lunch.
Jane sent apologies ( illness in family).
Jamie was substituting for Justine

Activities:
- mike took some firewood home
- John brought some hardcore which was used to part fill a large hole that has appeared in the carpark
- Keith and Martin did some repair work on nearby nest boxes.  76 replaced, and Keith will mend the lid of old one.  72 had a branch removed to give better access. 13 checked and cleared ( 2 addled eggs) and 32 had hinge strengthened. 54 checked.
- fence post at top of drive down to tractor shed ( next to strainer) rotted at base and new post driven in and stapled.
- all the remaining wood from the middle log pile which was stored in the tractor shed cut up for firewood and split.
- leaflets replenished near car park.
- John took away some of the big stumps stored by the log piles.

Observations:
- very wet and nasty
- wood lark
- john's back ok
- mike and martin better but being careful


martin

22nd February 2011 ... weekly volunteers

Present:
John, Neil, Ron, Justine, Anthony and Martin
apologies from Jane ( half term)

Activities:
- Did more filling in of the hole in the car park.  Probably enough for the time being
- Burnt the previously cut gorse on south heath, near the road.
- Cut some more of the lanky stuff at the top of the ridge, and burnt that as well.
- Cut some of the gorse at the bottom of the hill, below the cess pit, and some tall birch, awaiting possible burning next week.
- did some more pollarding in the copse near the tractor shed.
- moved the cedar wood pile that Tristram probably had dumped there on the path down to the squeeze gate, out of the way of the path.  This allows better access to south heath for vehicles if needed.
- took Justine and Anthony to area of sun dews, ( not out of course)


Observations:
- no more wood taken from roller stand
- woodlarks
- Raven
- Nail Fungus
- Dung beetle activity

Martin

Bird Count --- 26th January 2011

here is the spreadsheet for the 26th Jan 2011 for Old Lodge.

The weather was not good and the numbers are therefore low.

Woodcock was nice.  More goldcrest visible and active.  Raven near usual spot.

clcik here for spreadsheet

martin

1st of Febuary 2011

Present:
John, Ron, Neil, Keith, Martin and Justine ( upto coffee time).

Justine joined us to see what the Health and Safety situation would be for our possible recruit from St Andrews in Crowborough.

Activities:
- showed Justine all the various tools that we might be using on the reserve
- completed the building of the llsleeping policeman.
- Gorse bonfire on the second part of mature Heath.
- Cut some more gorse for the fire.
- Pollarded the remaining birch along the boundary ( this side of the fence)
- Noted that there was work for another day on our land the other side of the fence.
- wheel barrowed three loads of logs for Ron to take away for storage directly.
- The gutters of the tractor shed have been cleared in the previous week, by martin and nick.

Observations:
- noted that there is a possibility of the Stuarts having photovoltaic cells on the tractor shed roof, and that there may be a need for some layering of the foliage.
- cattle participated in the bonfire as normal.  One singed his head hair.
Noted that at least another load of logs had gone from the roller stand.

martin

January 25th 2011---- weekly Volunteers

Present:
John, Keith, Ron, Neil and Martin

Activities:
- collected some tree tubes from along the drive.  Some used below, and other stored in the tractor shed.
- went to the Roller stand to build sleeping policeman water diverter.  This redirects water from flowing down beeches avenue ( erosion ) onto the Heath land below the log pile ( diversity of habitat).  We used a mixture of mud from the path and tarmac that John had brought along.  There is a need for at least another load.
- had a bonfire on Mature Heath, near the car car, using the gorse that we had  ut the previous week
- cut some more gorse there for the fire, and also further north up to the sand martin cliff for next week.
- Also started pollarding some of the silver birch along the boundary, piling up logs and also burning the brash on the fire.
- discovered that the ash from the previous fire had been too trampled by the cattle.
- as expected the cattle joined the fire in their strange dare-devil way.

observations:
- lesser redpolls
- One enormous gorse has been left as a specimen of how thick the trunk can get.
- Some of the logs at the roller stand have been removed.  One or two loads, taken out along the drive.
- Mike still has his bad back


martin