19th march 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Jonathan, Neil, Keith and Martin

Activities:

- two brash bonfires in wood below the trough

Observations:

- jonathan took two bits of remaining cedar
- john reclaimed gloves
- woodlark singing on SH
- siskins, raven, fieldfare, robin, chaffinches


 martin

12th March 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

Jonathan  and  Martin
Weather horrid:  snowing and high wind

Activities:

- cutting logs in tractor shed
- made safe dead tree leaning on fence along the top

Observations

- Great tit, bullfinch, magpies, blackbirds
- 2 possible chiffchaffs flying, not calling
- cattle taken off yesterday.  previous movements were for tb tests.


 martin

5th March 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Mike, Alan, Keith, Pat, Neil, Ron, David a, and Martin

Activities:

- 5 brash bonfires down slope to sphagnum heath and stream
- cut down 3 small birches of no consequence
- processed these birches
- lookered cattle
- oiled lock of five bar gate

Observations:

- Raven
- redpolls, siskins, redwing
- small shrew at firesite
- jackdaws
- pheasant at tool store
- nuthatches
- greenfinch
- tawny owl

Martin

26th February 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Jonathan, Neil, David a, David p, Pat, Keith and Martin

Activities:

- 4 brash bonfires on track to right from beeches avenue
- put up two new tit nestboxes made by david's friend John

Observations:

- raven
- crows
- brambling
- 50 Redwing flock
- 2 mistle thrushes
- cattle probably have now moved.  No sign of them

Martin

19th February 2013 .... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Jonathan, Mike, Neil, Ron, David a, Ray, Pat and Martin

Activities:

- Mike counted the cattle
- and then the cattle started to be taken off, with just 2 left at the end, plus all the corral stuff
- had 4 brash bonfires above beeches avenue towards the cricket pitch

Observations:

- Raven
- redpoll and siskin
- Tree creeper singing
- chaffinches and great tit singing
- Jack etc have moved in permanently now


Martin

12th February 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Jonathan, David a, Ron, and Martin

Activities:

- bonfire of brash half way up the  M1
- lookered cattle

Observations:

- Mark, Rubin and  Mike on site cutting down trees
- 2 Ravens
- Robin

 martin

5th February 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Jonathan, Mike, Keith, David p, Neil and Martin

Activities:

- John did some more mending on  m1
- completed bonfire started by sunday group
- started a new bonfire towards the path across plateau
- lookered cattle
- cut a bag of logs
- oiled and graphited lock at roller stand

Observations:

- Ravens
- owl pellets
- Jack started to move some of gravel pile
- need to keep route to far garage clear

Martin

29th January 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

Alan, Keith, Mike, Jonathan, David a, David  p and martin

Activities:

- lookered the cattle.  Five now.
- took the leg down from fence on South Heath, being remains of a deer.
- refilled pamphlet box.  There was a found child's/ ladies watch there.  We will tell swt about it.  Not intrinsically valuable. Now in tool store.  Plus a pair of Y-fronts !
- mended the heave gate nearest the tool store on SH. Strainer, strut and a post replaced.  No idea what pushed it all over.  Herd of deer chased by dogs?  Linked to other dead deer?
- cut wood in tool store and brought more inside.
- put up repaired nest box from last week.
- checked notices about short leads being from jan 1.

Observations:

- lousy windy rainy weather
- raven
- new tenant Jack not here today


Martin

22nd January 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

Keith, Jonathan and  martin

Activities:

- lookered cattle
- cut wood in tractor shed
- brought in rest of se- most pile of logs to dry
- took down nest box near cuckoo pond for repair.  Keith  has taken away

Observations:

- frank et al sanding/salting the road
- horrid weather and nothing else possible


 martin

15th January 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

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

Activities:

- work on m1 track filling in ruts left by contractors vehicle
- two brash bonfires along M1
- cut down two weedy birch and one small pine marked but missed by contractors
- lookered cattle.  They all seemed fine
- moved some logs into tractor shed

Observations:

- Ravens
- nice day, despite cold
- Mike had problems with his knee, with no apparent cause


Martin

8th January 2013 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Jonathan, Mike, Alan, David p and daughter Maddy, Keith, Neil,  Ron and Martin

Activities:

- 4 bonfires of contractor brash, along path from cricket pitch to cross roads
- renovated some of the diagonal gullies along the M1
- lookered the cattle

Observations:

- David p cut up some firewood for home
- Ravens
- Siskins, goldfinch, chaffinch
- deer

Martin

1st January 2013 ... weekly volunteers

And we did exactly what we did last week.  But perhaps with more energy to be in the open air.

Martin

25th December 2012 ... weekly volunteers

Surprisingly we did nothing, despite the need for work on burning the brash.

martin