Thirteenth pond

Testing out earth on my android

You can see the pond, mostly by realising that the shadows of the trees are a different shape.

Martin

knots for pulling up saplings

One of the problems with pulling up saplings with a lever or pulley system is getting the rope attached to the base of the trunk.  there is a tendency for the rope to strip the bark.  Once it has started there is almost nothing that one can do.

I have a solution to this now, and interestingly it involves knitting rather than knots.

the first thing is the tie a knot at the bottom.  Normally one is using a long loop of rope, since you need to hook it onto the pulley or lever.  so the first knot is the simple loop through the loop knot.  Pull it tight.



from here it is knitting up the stem.  No idea the knitting term, but it is basically working up, round and under.  this can be continued up the stem. Pulling tight as you do it. 

the theory is that the rope grips at multiple points up the stem so that the total force can be a multiple of the force just less than the stripping force. 

You need a surprising length of rope to do this. 

If it starts to strip at one point it will soon stop as the other points take up the strain.

The advantage of knitting is that the rope does not lock, and is very easy to undo at the end of the operation.

Martin

bracken spraying map 2014

this is for possible historical interest.

It is the map where we request bracken to be sprayed.  Whether it is done is another matter.  Instructions are basically John's

martin

Past photos of the fire along the boundary with four counties car park april 2011

Below are some photos of the 2011 fire, which I have not put in the blog before.

It is difficult now to see the results of the fire, other than most of the fire damaged trees on the boundary have now died.  Some have already  snapped off or even fallen.   Which is really rather rapid decay.

The noted effects include

- burnt pine fungus appearing
- a lot of grass initially growing on the four counties side, which became a favourite place for reed buntings, for the seed.  Up to 100.  These in turn attracted the odd great grey shrike.
- a number of the fence posts were so badly burned that we ended up replacing them
- now there is quite a nice lot of heather on the four counties side.  You can just see the edge of the fire area
- we are talking about having more fire breaks, though i doubt if any fire breaks would have stopped this fire by iteself.

a few comments in the captions

martin

looking north with fence on the bank on the right

the main area of burning on Old Lodge, from the track north westward

 towards the bench

  

looking a bit more north towards foresters cottage

near a burnt environment pile, towards the boundary bank, some bilbury did not burn

fire brigade landrovers rushed up and down the boundary, and held the line

Peacock on thistle 2011

This is at certain times the common large butterfly, particularly around the tool store.

There has recently been a big crop of thistles at the back, and quite a few nettles.  Some of the work party think that the thistles are a nuisance and a possible invasive plant, and occasionally they get scythed before I can complain.

They provide a goodly amount of seed in the autumn for the Goldfinch, particularly if the neighbours are not feeding them niger seed.

martin

( previously published photo)

Comma near the tool store 2011

These are fairly regular, though only in small numbers.  At the tool store there are plenty of plants providing nectar, including masses of bramble and fleabane.


Martin

( previously published photo)

Parrot Crossbills a couple of years ago

One of ten Parrot crossbills on South Heath during a bird count a couple of years ago.  Photo from Keith.

Yes, the bill and neck are large, but it was the feeding behaviour that struck us as definitive.  There is no agile balancing and tweaking at the cone.  The stem of the cone is grabbed, ripped off the tree, moved to an anvil on a branch and attacked.  Brutal.

It was the dropping of discarded cones under the tree, rather than the dropping of little bits of cone and seed wings, that was noticeable.

And these birds seem to totally ignore us humans, and we could walk quite happily under the tree that they were in, and they would not take the slightest notice.

They were just hidden from sight from the birdwatchers that were at the roller stand, by the slope falling away as it got to the ditch and bank.  We did not bother to mention the birds to them, and they would see them later.

They stayed together as a neat group of 10, and that alone probably was enough to identify them.

I am sure that plenty of other isolated birds, would have been misidentified during the weeks that they stayed with us.


Martin

Broad Bodied Chaser and Four Spot chaser

This is one of Keith's photos of dragonflies, taken during a bird count in 2011.  It was taken at a rapidly drying Stony Pond.

Broad Bodied male on the right, and the Four Spot on the left.  You should be able to see the spots at the various points on its wings.

These are the early dragonflies, and regularly seen on the reserve.  The BB Chaser is the more obvious, and does not need to be seen close up.


Martin