10th July 2012 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Jonathan , Mike, Alan, Keith, Neil and Martin

Activities:

- bracken pulling, along road, M1 and area of open heath to the right before cricket pitch and cross roads
- some ragwort also pulled along road
- lowered the Owl box from original two ladder stages to effectively ground level.  Cleaned out the inside.
- heard and saw some ponies being bothered by two free running dogs.  Did not manage to count them.
- 'told off' the dog owner concerned as politely as possible

Observations
- tree creepers and goldcrests singing and calling
- two young tawny owls
- two ravens around nest site
- herring gulls
- owl nest box full of debris, including egg shell chips, a few small bones and pellets, and at various levels 10 eggs.  There cannot have been much room left recently for new nests. No new nest material seen, being mostly crumbly dry matter.
- Owl box battens in terrible condition and taking it down probably avoided a collapse.
- found a pine tree that probably had been struck by lightening, and burned, scorching nearby trees. difficult to give a date, but probably not in last couple of years
- lousy rainy weather and gave up after lunch.
- some spare items brought and changed hands
- some fire wood taken
- at least one, possibly two adders

Martin