find below link to the spreadsheet for the April Bird count.
41 species was nice
Summer visitors arriving with 2 Cuckoo, blackcap, 11 willow warblers, chiffchaffs, 7 Tree pipits and 14 redstarts.
Plenty of Blackbirds around. A nice couple of Brambling.
Plenty of things that are on the reserve we did not see, for instance long tailed tits.
Weather was not quite sunny enough to bring things out.
Martin
click here for spreadsheet
Monday, April 21, 2014
Bird Count ... 17th March 2014
find below a link to the bird count spreadsheet for 17 march 2014
43 species was quite something.
Just a bit of everything. Some things coming back to the area, for instance Bullfinch, Greenfinch , Linnets (20 in one flock), 1 Heron. Good numbers of Wrens and Chaffinches. Plus the first migrants ie chiffchaff.
Brambling, Redwing, Woodcock are still around, while fieldfare have gone.
Martin
click here for spreadsheet
43 species was quite something.
Just a bit of everything. Some things coming back to the area, for instance Bullfinch, Greenfinch , Linnets (20 in one flock), 1 Heron. Good numbers of Wrens and Chaffinches. Plus the first migrants ie chiffchaff.
Brambling, Redwing, Woodcock are still around, while fieldfare have gone.
Martin
click here for spreadsheet
Bird Count ... 21st February 2014
Below is a link to the spreadsheet for the bird count at Old Lodge on 21st Feb 2014.
34 species again, which is perfectly OK for a February
2 rarities for Old Lodge. 1 male house sparrow at top lodge, calling and being territorial. The other a large flock, estimated at 200, of starlings on one of the paddocks of the stud. They were down near the pippingford boundary, about where the stream emerges from nowhere under the road. Perhaps the grassland was completely water logged and there were plenty of worms to be had.
A jackdaw is increasingly being seem or heard. There is a big flock centred on Kidds Hill farm where they raise sheep, and these are now spreading further afield.
Plenty of starlings and robins
Martin
click to get the spreadsheet
34 species again, which is perfectly OK for a February
2 rarities for Old Lodge. 1 male house sparrow at top lodge, calling and being territorial. The other a large flock, estimated at 200, of starlings on one of the paddocks of the stud. They were down near the pippingford boundary, about where the stream emerges from nowhere under the road. Perhaps the grassland was completely water logged and there were plenty of worms to be had.
A jackdaw is increasingly being seem or heard. There is a big flock centred on Kidds Hill farm where they raise sheep, and these are now spreading further afield.
Plenty of starlings and robins
Martin
click to get the spreadsheet
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Bird Count ... 20th January 2014
Below is the spreadsheet for the Old Lodge bird count for January 2014.
The highlight was Parrot Crossbills. We had a bit of difficulty counting and only got up to 9, whereas at other times it has clearly been 10. We must have missed one. They just sat in a pine on South Heath munching away at cones. They could not be dislodged in order to count them, and just dropped cones on us in our attempts.
2 Mallard, 1 starling and 1 woodlark are perhaps of more interest in terms of possible breeding species, but they do not bring the twitchers in.
34 species is really quite good for the winter.
click for spreadsheet
martin
The highlight was Parrot Crossbills. We had a bit of difficulty counting and only got up to 9, whereas at other times it has clearly been 10. We must have missed one. They just sat in a pine on South Heath munching away at cones. They could not be dislodged in order to count them, and just dropped cones on us in our attempts.
2 Mallard, 1 starling and 1 woodlark are perhaps of more interest in terms of possible breeding species, but they do not bring the twitchers in.
34 species is really quite good for the winter.
click for spreadsheet
martin
15th April 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Mike,
Alan, Pat, Keith, Ray, David a, Neil, Stuart and Martin
Activities:
- pulling ragwort
along road
- lookering ponies,
but failed to find them. Found later in week and OK.
- pollarding birches
north of cattle pen
- taking out small
birches along fence behind cottages, and 2 pines
- fencing work on
south heath
- first half of nest
boxes
- john did some ditch
work
- collecting bark and
placing on car park path
- collecting some
bags of bracken peat from roller stan
- keith took 2 nest boxes for repair
- another box brought
to tool store for repair
- coppicing pine
saplings, pulling birch and gorse along reynards way
Observations:
- raven chasing 2
buzzards
- tree pipits
- flock of 6
woodlarks. Family?
- plenty of redstarts
- stonechats
- willow warblers,
chiffchaffs
- heron
- jackdaw
Martin
8th April 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Mike,
Neil, Pat, Keith, Ray, David a and Martin
Activities:
- ring-barked birch
en route to owl wood
- pollarded birch
which was leaning across fence with foresters cottage
- recovered tree tubes from pile hidden near this fence
and put on edge of birch grove ready for use.
- two brash fires on
edge of owl wood
- clear some brash
off heather and piled on edge of birch grove
- pulled some birch
saplings nearby
- inspected nest
boxes to east of reserve. 2 nestboxes taken down for repair . Need to be collected.
- inspected reptile
tins. 1 lizard, 3 slow worms
- lookered ponies
Observations:
- Raven
- brambling
- crossbill
- buzzard
- tiger beetle
Martin
1st April 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Alan,
Mike, Keith, Neil, Stuart, David a, David p, Pat and Martin
Activities:
- Repairing fences,
particularly along forester's cottage. Still a small amount that can usefully
be done
- pulled birch on
heath opposite foresters cottage
- moved brash off the
heather and into owl wood
Observations:
- Raven fending off 5
Buzzards
- a few redstarts
- chiffchaff,
brambling, siskin, wood larks, herring gull
Martin
25th March 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Alan,
Neil, Stuart, Mike, Keith, David p, and Martin
Activities:
- check fences prior
to pony arrival. Marked posts needing
extra support
- took in load of new
posts from Mark at tool store and end of power lines on northern boundary
- repaired berm at
top of beeches avenue
- Alan and John did
some ditch work along road
- cleaned troughs and
turned on the water
- collected bark
chippings for main entrance
- refilled brochure
box
- showed Mark brash
clearance near owl wood
Observations:
- probable sighting
of parrot crossbill
- woodlark, meadow
pipit, brambling
Martin
18th March 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Pat,
Stuart, Neil, David a, Ray, Keith and Martin
Activities:
- 4 brash fires in
Owl wood
- ring barked 3 birch
along ridge on way back
Observations:
- may have left small
bow saw
- crossbills,
redpolls, chiffchaff
- Buzzard
Martin
11th March 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Mike, Keith,
Jonathan, Neil, David a, Ray, Pat, and
Martin
Activities:
- John did a bit of ditch work along the road
- 2 bonfires, one on
corner of birch grove and other near veteran with owl box
- took down old
hanging branch on edge of birch grove
-observations:
- crossbill
- 2 mallard
- siskin, reed
bunting, redpolls, meadow pipit, wood lark
Martin
4th March 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Mike,
Alan, Keith, David a, David p, Pat, Ray, Neil, Stuart and Martin
Activities:
- 2 brash fires at
high beeches
- work on stoney pond
- work on ditch along
road
- metal detecting in
bomb crator (none)
Observations:
- 4 buzzards, Raven
- Redpoll, Siskins,
15+ crossbill
- gs woodpecker
Martin
25th February 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present: John, Alan,
David p, Ray, Keith, Jonathan and martin.
Neil visited for coffee with back problems.
Activities:
- 2 brash fires below
high beeches. the lower part of tree
tunnel is now clear of brash
- took down leaning
birch on the bank by the house in the
corner
- John did some more ditch work before coffee
Observations:
- 10 parrot
crossbills
- say 5 other
crossbills
- Jonathan bringing metal detector next week
- raven, buzzard,
woodlark
Martin
18th February 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, David
a, Stuart, Pat, Mike, Neil, and Martin
Activities:
- 2 brash bonfires in
tree tunnel below high beeches
- made safe the two
broken branches of oak tree near the stables. The other branches are currently
safe in normal weather
- inspected blocked
pipe under path which is overflowing at end of power lines
Observations:
- crossbills,
goldfinch, redpolls, chaffinches
- buzzards
- great tits, tree
creeper, goldcrests singing
- song thrush,
redwings, blackbirds
- badly split pine
near owl box in owl wood. Cannot do
anything and off the track
- Keith has made us
an extra saw horse
- Mike returned
painted and bladed bow saws
- dry hat identified
as David p's
- some firewood taken
Martin
11th February 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Mike,
David a, Stuart, Keith, Alan , Ray and Martin
Activities:
- weather atrocious
- some ditch work,
until John was wet through
- cleared roof and
door gutters
- cut and split logs
- put more covers on
log pile
- started replacing
blades on small saws
- rearranged piles of
posts and bags to give access to work bench and vice
Observations:
- nuthatch, woodlark
- mike showed some
old arial photos of reserve
Martin
4th February 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Mike,
Alan, Ray, David a, Stuart, Keith and
Martin
Activities:
- 2 brash fires in
tree tunnel of owl wood
- John did more ditch
work before coffee
- more logs brought
into tool store
Observations:
- woodlark, buzzard,
crossbill, redpolls
- told a 'Goulden' to
put her 2 dogs on leads, which was done.
Explained about woodlarks and dogs
- looked at 'quarry'
and think it is bomb crater, as there is a bank around it.
- logs taken
- Stuart brought in
large tool box
- tarpaulin donated
and covering part of log pile
Martin
28th January 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan,
Alan, Mike, Neil, David a, Stuart,
Keith, Ray, Tim Rodd and Martin
Activities:
- two brash bonfires
along beeches avenue
observations:
- Raven, woodlark,
meadow pipit, crossbill
Martin
21st January 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Mike,
Alan, David a, Keith, Ray, Stuart, Neil, and Martin
Activities:
- 2 brash fires in
Owl wood
Observations:
- woodlark
- crossbill , siskins
- Tawny Owl
- Keith showed photos
of parrot crossbill and golden rumped elephant shrew
Martin
14 th January 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
John, Jonathan, Mike,
Ray, Pat, Keith, Stuart, Neil, David a and Martin
Activities:
- two brash fires
along beeches avenue
- prepared for new
fire site
- marked up trees
with Mark
Observations:
- crossbills
- woodlark
- brambling
- reed bunting
- sparrow hawk
Martin
7 th January 2014 ... weekly volunteers
Present:
Mike, Neil, Stewart,
David a, David p, Keith, Jonathan, Alan and Martin
Activities:
- did some repairs to
gate at car park
- cutting and
splitting logs in tractor shed. Two man saw worked well
Observations:
- lots of birders
looking for parrot crossbills
- crossbills
- 50 brambling
- redwing, fieldfare
- 2 Ravens
- some logs taken
- blackbirds
Thursday, February 20, 2014
No 19 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 19.
area between the stream and beeches avenue, looking west
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Google maps KMZ file is here
A path through the bracken along the central fence line can be seen.
The Island is not readily visible, and has trees on the west bank casting a shadow over the north end. The causeway is just visible as a dark line across the tussocky stream. There is one pond visible down stream.
There is some scraping to the east side of birch grove and west of owl wood.
the exact nature of the bracken clearance is still not clear to me. There are clearly big tracks over the earthworks where the underlying soil is exposed, but the rest is difficult to judge, and indeed there is clearly some residual bracken coming though. Perhaps this is what a scrape looks like after a year, with the peat piles covered by bracken.
martin
No 18 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 18.
OL2, looking north east with the stream in the distance
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Google maps KMZ file is here
The line parallel to the road is again clear.
The birch is without leaves and pretty indistinct. The pines are dark green. This shows another set of greenery which I assume is gorse, in OL1 near the water trough and the entrance gate. I am sure that there are only a few remnants of this nowadays. You can see plenty of yellow on them.
Between the road and M1 you can see a bare track, which is the route of the current bird count. It is not obvious what exactly it is. it is not obvious as a continuation of the track that from the M1 curves round and down, although it clearly starts from that track.
the track up from the cross roads continues at the edge of the tall pines and sort of meets the bird count route, but they both seem to peter out
there is an interesting impression of beeches avenue continuing onto pippingford. this is all roughly along the valley, Some of the lidar maps show lots of ruts, possibly animal tracks following the same general direction.
The M1 was apparently built as a fire break, and is not an ancient track. The old track is in OL2 and can be seen coming out of the wood on the right and crossing the open patch and moving nearer the M1 , and can be just seen in the wood land before disappearing. It would have emerged onto the cricket pitch, but this cannot be seen. Maybe it went up to the wicket itself?
martin
No 17 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 17.
car park, entrance and top lodge, looking south west
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Google maps KMZ file is here
A good view of the entrance and the U shaped earthwork. Given how boggy the path has been this year, I really feel that this was some attempt at keeping the area inside the U dry. I would guess military, but who knows.
There is some gorse here, but nothing like the amount we now have.
I think you can just spot the noticeboard.
The path outside the reserve parallel with the road is pretty clear here.
The reservoir is intact and surprisingly not central to the mound there apparently. There looks to be a clear track from the reservoir directly down to the cottages. I have not seen this on the ground.
The ground between the current lane and the boundary ditch appears to have a track across it directly from the stone pillars to the main road, with some short cuts added when approaching the road.
Also there is a line continuing the fence line behind the cottages, with a particular line of gorse bushes.
The pillow mound is clear to the right of the main path, but nothing can be see here of its existence up to the edge of the cottages. That the other end stops with reynard's way, may indicate that the way is older than the mound.
The track which goes basically from the gate into South Heath, across south heath and then OL1 and ultimately meeting the boundary ditch at the bottom of the valley is nicely seen in the photo. Interestingly this is parallel to the range firing ditches and indeed it appears to coincide with the one nearest the butt, near the roller stand.
The boundary bank at the bottom of south heath is impressive, with possible tracks and ditches on both sides.
martin
No 16 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 16.
the north boundary with the stream across the middle, looking westwards
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Google maps KMZ file is here
A good view of the strange square patch, which currently has so many birch saplings on it.
One can see the heather blooming near the hunt gate, but clearly rather little on the reserve. at this stage. Maybe just a bit to the west of the tree tunnel/ owl wood. And also near the cricket pitch.
stony pond is not visible, and the only visual evidence of the pillow mound is a line of trees.
A good view of how wooded the stream is.
martin
No 15 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 15.
Eastern part of reserve in foreground, looking south
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Remember to really get a detailed view of the pictures, get a copy and use your favourite picture software. Or open in a separate tab, and manipulate it there.
The mowing along the top is something I did not recognise before. It looks small scale, and maybe done by the mower we still have in the tool store.
Probably not that much has changed here, other than the mowing, is not now done, but we have the ponies.
There is an odd bit of ground opposite the bench, just above where the chalybiet (spelling?) springs emerge.
The various ditches and banks parallel with reynard's way are quite clear, centre left.
It is still not obvious what the earth moving under the power-lines is all about.
There is perhaps a hint of some gorse, just beyond the power- lines above the causeway. This is on the south boundary of the mowing there. This was getting quite large, recently and has been partially coppiced.
martin
No 14 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 14.
OL2 with Old Lodge buildings in the distance, looking north west
Google Earth image is
The two dead areas in OL1 really stand out in this photo, showing the direction of the firing range. Attribution: Google earth
The tracks along the M1 are basically as now. Interestingly the point where they join looks far more like a crossover, than a joining. The curve appears to continue into the woodland in OL2, curving round the contours and then straightening out into a track towards Old Lodge. . The main track appears to be the one that hugs the fence.
The moving or scraping along the edge of the wood on the M1 looks more like small scale mowing. And it is not obvious if there is any bare mounds of the scrapings. And the land immediately north of the track is still covered with bracken. This implies that the mount that is there is from scraping between the two tracks , and was done at least a few years earlier.
Parallel with the road is a strange narrow ride, which must be beyond the bank of the road itself, and must be about as far back as the metal gate into OL1 near the water trough. It appears to go the whole length of this piece of road. Is this the remains of some older path here, and the existing road is a new construction along side it. It would make the location of the quarry just by the butts at the roller stand appear to be in a better position. Or is this the result of the recent construction of the fence line?
You get a view of the old stables of Old Lodge, a surprising distance from the main buildings. There is a chunk of bare ground in front of it, which may the Lodge's quarry/ rubbish tip. I think this is the bit that is now built over with stud buildings.
martin
No 13 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 13.
the poisoned patch in OL1, looking up at road northwards
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Google maps KMZ file is here
There is a distinct triangle of different vegetation in OL1 to the top left with no, pine, but gorse and birch. On the top right you have the tall pines, with various holes for poisoned areas and other damage, and then a large grassy area below that ,down to the stream, which is wet and boggy. There is little bracken in the centre of it. The bracken is showing light brown here in spring.
The path along the boundary ditch appears to show some wet patches
at the bottom of the photo you may be able to see a firing ditch aiming at the poisoned areas.
It is difficult to be certain , but there look as if there are a couple of ponds on the south part of the grassy area towards the left hand end. It is known that this is a low area, and shows signs of water flow. there is also a pond named ' target pond' in the area which is not now identified. Or are they just shadows? I would not like to say.
Martin
No 12 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 12.
looking from owl wood across stream at the cross-road and beyond south westward
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Copyright: (c) Google
Google maps kmz file is hereI think that you can see some of the peat mounds or preparatory scrapping around the plateau heath.
The boundary ditch is very clear from this angle going across above the cross roads.
The sweet chestnuts woods look small partly because they have no leaves, but also because it is not that long after the great storm.
The beeches avenue looks very closed in by pine trees, as does the stream up from the bridge.
The heath the other side of the bridge is possibly mowed, pretty well down to the stream banks.
You can see part of the strange square of darker heath at the very bottom centre of the photo.
Martin
No 11 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 11.
the centre of the reserve looking south west, with stream running round and across the middle
Google Earth Image is
Attribution: Google earth
Copyright: (c) Google
Google maps kmz file is here
slightly strange lighting here, maybe due to the paleness of the march grass.
One can see the sheer mass of trees on the west side of the stream at that time, compared to the east side.
There is again the strange bare earth appearance to the left of the high beeches in this photo, which I do not understand. Was this a partial scrape? leaving the peat at the end of the v shaped earth works? which is definitely there.
The two ponds, plus a smaller one are clear
You can make out the size of the swamp that makes up the source of the stream.
looks as if some of the scraping of the plateau heath, above west pond may have been done, with banks of peat just showing as dark lines.
Looks as if high pond is there, and also one downstream from where the causeway now is,.
Cannot see the power-lines, though they must be there.
Maybe there is a path across the stream under the power-lines, but I cannot see any sign of the causeway.
martin
No 10 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 10.
in the forground, the road entering the reserve past top lodge, looking north west
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Copyright: (c) GoogleGoogle Maps kmz file is here
Amazingly the top cottage and the tool store building are completely hidden in this picture despite being in the centre. There is just one strange object visible in the garden or maybe just outside the garden. Is this some vehicle like a landrover?
There is some mowing visible one the edge of the heath patch beyond the main path. The cattle pen is presumably the object at the left hand end roughly.
One actually looks straight down the stream in this photo, but it is completely hidden by trees
All this mowing makes it look more golf course than it is today, but like the common is still.
There is the strange white object on South Heath. No clearer what it is.
martin
No 9 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 9.
bridge across the stream, looking south west
Google Earth Image is
Attribution: Google earth
Copyright: (c) Google
Google maps kmz file is here
Recently mown, but the bracken is coming through again.
Copyright: (c) Google
Google maps kmz file is here
Recently mown, but the bracken is coming through again.
Notice that there is virtually no gorse on either side of the track down to the bridge.
The strange square that is unmown is the area with difficult birch sapling now. Is it too stony or what? There is no obvious signs of scrapings. But one can see some pale splodges in the area,
In the first thick bit of bracken one gets to, moving into the left centre of the picture is the outline of one of the semicircular structures, which we now think of as a way of keeping the middle ground dry. They always face down-hill.
You can see just one pond below the bridge.
Notice that forester's cottage was also doing some mowing of bracken at this time.
martin
No 8 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 8.
Entrance to the reserve looking north west, with 'reservoir' in the middle
Google Earth Image is
Attribution: Google earth
Copyright: (c) GoogleGoogle Maps kmz file is here
The reservoir looks very low and rectangle, as if in original condition.
some of the semicircular earth works are clear in the foreground.
The heath to the right looks to have been mown with a tractor, and you can see the tyre tracks following the curves down hill. No obvious scraping as such. There does appear to be a possible trackway of sorts just in from the first tree from the right along reynards way. Clearly there are patches of thick heather that have been left with bracken around and in between. Maybe these were too rough for the mower.
Reynards way has thick bracken right up to it, and presumably the way itself was mown to keep open.
Is that the notice board beneath some big trees? I am sure this is much more open now, with views across to pippingford.
The path along the eastern boundary has bracken growing right up to it. but it looks as if it is stripes, maybe as a result of vehicle tracks.
martin
No 7 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 7.
Looking south along the power line from high beeches to the gorse triangle and south heath
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Copyright: (c) GoogleGoogle maps kmz file is here
Again this is an unusual view across the reserve, from high over forester's cottage or there-abouts.
The paths looks mown and there is a funny triangular piece of mowing to the east of the high beeches, which I do not recognise on the reserve.
There are the two big ponds out on the heath beneath the bench, but also a possible third smaller pond.
The banks of the ponds look bare as is they have been recently made or renewed.
There are some earth works just to their right, under the power lines and a strange area just to the right and down from that which appeared as a pale object on a previous slide. There are numerous vehicle tracks going round these 'works' and across the heath under the power-lines. Were the elecricity people doing some work, and basing themselves in the area?
To the right of that are some peculiar dark patches, looking like shadows, with no trees. Maybe banks in shadow, where a stream runs off when the land is wet.
There is on pond visible at the bottom by the path, and then a chunk of wood beneath it parallel with the power-lines. This is now all cleared with extra ponds.
As you move back in the photo, across the stream, it is not obvious that there is any path, or any of the ponds that are there now.
You can see some of the ridges of peat mounds from previous scrapes on the near side of the stream.
The white patch on South Heath, from this angle looks more like a vehicle
There is a clear view of the reservoir to the left of the willow pit. I do not know if it is intact, or just has not been covered up. These reservoirs were sometimes quite low with earth banked up against them, with a massive concrete slab on top. This kept the stresses to a minimum.
The lower part of the pillow mound is visible coming down to reynard's way.
Instead of the cattle pens, it looks vaguely as if there are three cattle there, though the picture is very grainy on magnification.
Martin
No 6 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 6.
Path from Owl wood on far left, all the way to the cricket pitch, looking south east
Google Earth image is
Copyright: (c) Google
Attribution: Google earth
Google maps kmz file is here
There is a secondary scrape path around the edge of what is the current plateau heath, and I assume this was being used as a marker for the operation.
Is it possible that one can see the beginnings of west pond, or is this just a smudge? It is in the middle of one of the tracks.
The tracks on the reserve side looks very uniform, with clear vehicle tracks. Was this the result of regular mowing? It is clear here that there were two tracks. Nowadays this is only obvious quite near the hunt gate. I cannot think of any reason for there to be this short bit of dual carriage way!
There is no obvious bog or stream down the slope to the boundary, and everything is covered with bracken.
There is a powerline pole in the cricket field, as well as some ominous yellow clumps of ragwort. The boundary fence across the field is clear, but I am not sure why. There was perhaps some sheep grazing done on the reserve side?
There is a break in the line of trees opposite the cricket pitch, which has not been scraped yet, and is covered in bracken.
There is a good patch of heather to the east of the track from the cricket pitch to the cross roads, with some odd strange blotches in it. Was this some tree stumps?
The clear area of OL2 and OL1 looks as if it has a lot of low vegetation on it, from this angle, and maybe dense birch saplings.
The area between the cross-roads and the bridge and the equivalent the other side, looks like very close mowing, rather than scraping. I cannot remember seeing any peat mounds here. There is a very strange unmown square on the other side of the stream, which is untouched, and looks to be where we now have difficulty with the birch growth. I have no idea what this is.
There is a strange pale patch to the right of the high beeches, possibly at the end of the v-shaped mound. No idea what this is.
martin
No 5 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 5.
Beeches avenue, looking south east to Roller stand
Google Earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
The Google maps kmz file is beeches avenue kmz file
shows the white object on the South Heath.
There are a lot of trees along the road just east of the roller stand, as well as down the slope from the roller stand.
There are trees between the beeches and the start of the M1.
The track of beeches avenue looks covered in bracken, as well as being enclosed by trees on both sides.
There is a proto-sphagnum heath, covered in bracken, but much smaller. Presumably it was not particularly wet, at least not enough to kill off the bracken.
There is a scrape the other side of the river just north of the causeway. There look to be trees in the flow of the stream, presumably alder and alder-buckthorn. It is not obvious if there is a causeway as such, but it is not very clear. There is at least one pond downstream.
The stream is encroached on both sides by trees
OL2 appears much more open, with the road being clearly visible along the whole length, though a lot of it is covered in bracken.
You can see some of the scrapings in the wood north east of the M1, and the start of cutting into the edge of the wood along the M1.
there is no cut-through slope to the west of beeches avenue, and generally it is a pretty dismal path with only the glade of sphagnum heath as respite.
You can just see the path along the fence going down the stream, and the power lines at the corner in the path
It looks as if you can make out vehicle/ tractor tracks at the bottom of the photo along the avenue, possibly along the exposed fence there.
I cannot see the power lines along the M1, but they could be hidden behind the trees. There seem to be quite a few birch along the track,which surprises me a little.
martin
No 4 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 4.
OL2 in foreground, looking east along m1 and road
The Google Earth image is
Copyright: (c) Google
Attribution: Google earth
The Google maps file is click for Google maps kmz file
The m1 is narrow and appears to have an exposed bank of peat scrapings or mowing, even though the m1 itself looks as if it has heather covering it. There are chunks of bracken at the far end near the roller stand visible.
The track along the M1 that curves across and joins the other along the fence line, can perhaps be seen as a rather different earlier track that continued round the contours and cutting back in OL2 towards Old Lodge buildings. The patch of bright green would on this basis be a junction between the old track running parallel with the M1 in OL2 and this curved track. This is speculation of course.
You can again see a yellow object on South heath, and also a white object, which occurred in an earlier photo but could then have been a reproduction artifact.
The quarry near the old lodge is clear.
There are lots of small blobs on the OL2 side of the cricket pitch. Are these Ragwort?
The dense trees on the north side of the road from the Roller stand onwards are really clear in this photo.
Has the top heath near the car park recently been scraped as well?
Martin
No 3 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 3.
old lodge road across the middle, looking over ol1 and south heath to the north
The Google earth image is
Attribution: Google earth
Copyright: (c) Google
The Google maps kmz file is click to see in google maps etc
The bracken is green.
You can see the mowing or scrapping on the South Heath. There are three yellow and one blue object near the scraped area. Are these part of the operation in progress? If so, it is not obvious where the scrapings are being piled.
The dead patches in OL1 are obvious. and you can make out the firing ditches in the fore-ground,
The divide between OL1 and South heath is not evident.
Lots of trees including pine, on the north side of the road near the roller stand, which were not there the following March.
Possible scrapping can be seen in the middle of the reserve, including the south facing bank under the power-lines, where silver studded blue used to be, and just east of the high beeches.
The pond (s) at the east end of OL1 look as if they are newly made, or bare.
Martin
Martin
No 2 ... Aerial Photos of Old lodge from the 1990s ... No 2.
Path from Cross-roads to cricket pitch looking south east along Beeches avenue
Google earth image is
Copyright: (c) Google
Attribution: Google earth
The Google maps kmz file is crossroads 2.kmz
looks pretty wet with puddles at the bottom of the scrape
The paths looks as if they have been mown
The top two heaths either side of the path, have been recently scraped, with the arisings placed up against the chestnut copse. There is some scrapping towards west pond.
You can see the different vegetation across the cricket field, with the OL2 part more heavily grazed. Were there sheep here?
The chestnut copse looks remarkably thin, with few trees. It has not recovered yet from the great storm.
The M1 is tree lined and narrow. there are trees on the bank, which was formed when the M1 fire-break was created?
Cricket wood appears very dense.
The boundary ditch parallel with beeches avenue is obvious, though very covered in dead bracken. The ditches either side are visible.
Martin
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