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Sunday, September 18, 2016

13th September 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Jonathan, Neil, Pat, Bernard, Mike m, Mike p, Ray, Steve, Stuart, Alan and Martin

activities:

- looked ponies
- pulled bracken on south Heath
- finished off the second pond below the bench
- cleaned both troughs
- checked and mended staples on south Heath and the cess pit
- drilled some birch in ol1 to create natural nest boxes through rotting
- pollarding birch on south Heath just over the fence from the tool store
- pollarding birch and Holly in the copse alongside the tool store
- cutting down beech and Holly branches on the corner of the copse and the road. the branches were encroaching on the open space. Brash stacked up on the thistle bank behind the shed
- Mike p cut grass etc along the path to the car park
- final birch saplings dug out near the pond work

observations:

- Raven
- newt in the south Heath trough
- very hot weather
- about 10 new posts will be needed along the bank of sh.
- still no obvious sign of bracken spraying


Martin

6th September 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

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

activities:

- found a firebeater and hung it up on the post above the bench.  took remaining fire beaters from store, only to discover that they need holes drilled in them. to be done.  the fire beater found had probably been taken off a pole and played with by children.

- worked on the two pond below the bench

- pulled up birch in the area, and the odd rhododendron.

- recut some channels in the path down to the high beeches, to take water off the track.  cut a ditch and bank where the part gets near the bog to the north where there is often standing water.

- did some PR with visitors as normal

- completed the low hanging branch work along the main tracks

- did a bit of bracken sickling in the wood above the bench

observations:

- overcast but very warm
- lots of small Heather plants flowing in the long grass. this is thought to be unusual.  there must have been good germination conditions at some point.  the grass is also particularly prolific this year
- ravens


Martin

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30th August 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Keith, Alan, Steve, Bernard, David a, Neil, Jonathan (briefly), Pat, Mike p and Martin

activities:

- pond work on amex and frog marsh ponds, including an extra bit of bank where water was overflowing between the two ponds.  an additional small pond has been constructed from the clay digging at the water outflow at the west end of amex pond.

- various bits of digging were done in the channel leading down to frog marsh pond, to create more diversity in the sphagnum cover

- Mike did some bracken scything in the area and the route back to the tool store

-new rhododendron growths were cleared at the corner sling the top, near the house and garden

- the drain under the path at the boundary with foresters cottage was cleared and the downstream channel dug out a bit

- the fencing across the cricket field was in a poor state and a lot of re-stapling and wiring was done

- several flowering ragworts were removed and taken of site for composting

- low hanging branches were cut down along most of the public tracks on the sw of the stream.  this is to open out the rides and also make vehicular access easier.  other half of reserve remains to be done

observations:

- sunny and hot
- Steve landed twice in the mud
- BlackBerry crop is good and delicious.  at least one crumble to be made
- young kestrel around
- 5 woodlands
- adder again under tin 4

Martin

23th August 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, David p, Mike p, Mike m, Pat, Keith, Neil, Ray, Bernard, Steve, Graham, Alan, Jonathan and martin

activities:

- pond work on 13th pond and Irish pond.  used some logs that Jim cut down on his training course, and some new fellings. Irish pond may some more work done on it.

- bracken cutting along the stream path, and up to beeches avenue

- more ring barking in the woods towards sphagnum heath.  now almost finished the red and yellow spots.

- John did some dragonfly counting and some birch work

- looked the ponies

observations:

- tree pipits
- raft spiders
- golden ring, brown Hawker, common Darter, southern Hawker, emperor dragonflies
- very hot. so in shade in stream area


martin

16th August 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

Jonathan, Alan, Keith, Mike p, Mike m, Barnard, David a, Ray and martin

activities:

- bracken cutting in ol2, including the edges of the cricket field, the bird count route and some of open space
- ring barking birch and cutting down thin birch along a ditch feature below the open area
- cleared the flower heads of some remaining ragwort at the bottom of the ol2 cricket field
- looked the ponies

observations:

- sunny and hot.  that is why we were in the woods
- raven and hobby
- a fritillary was seen at the weekend near the tool store
- the windows gone to be cold frames

martin

9th August 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Mike p, Mike m, Neil, Stuart, Keith, Steve, Pat, Jonathan, David a and Martin

activities:

- looked the ponies
- John did some wide area bracken pulling
- mike p and martin some bracken cutting along the path from the causeway to the bridge
- Jonathan, mike m and Stuart did some bracken slashing around the area of the owl box, where there is a heave gate in the central fence
- main task was ring barking some of the marked trees that were too big for Jim's training session. and some that were yellow spotted by Alan, John and martin years ago
- martin and mike m checked some of the ring barked trees at the top of slope and did addition work on them where necessary
- went down the stream looking at dragonflies

observations:

- quite a few dragonflies out. brown Hawker, southern Hawker, golden ring, azure, large red, common Darter.
- meadow and tree pipits, mistle thrush, tree creeper, bee's nest, redstart
- nice sunny weather


martin

2nd August 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Alan, Ray, Mike m, Mike p, Keith, Neil, Steve, Graham, David p and Martin

activities:

- looked the ponies
- pulled birch saplings in the difficult patch opposite foresters cottage
- small scything through birch grove along bird nest route
- put out most of the fire beaters. 2 left near owl wood
- ragwort work around cottages including one very tall growth
- covered up the first log piles with some sheeting that mike p brought

observations:

- horrid rainy weather. not what was forecast. we all got very wet
- crossbill

martin

26th July 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Ray, David a, Jonathan, Neil, Keith, Steve (new), Graham (new), Pat, Alan and martin

activities:

- looked the ponies
- completed the Irish bridge on the boundary with pippingford.  pond extended and bracken cleared around it
- ragwort cleared all over the reserve either covered in ol2 or taken off site. work was concentrated on flowering plants to avoid them seeding
- bracken clearing along m1, around the pippingford boundary and back to the store. some work on south heath in pm
- padlocks oiled and maintained
- nest box near holly taken down and taken off site for repair.
- some rotten wooden struts on top of fences along beeches avenue removed
- fence repairs on south heath, where sheep were coming in.  the bank has been badly eroded in places unrelated to breaking through.  one replacement post and a sheet of stock fence to fill the worn gap.

 observations:

- 2 tawneys at Irish bridge
- crossbill
- redpolls, siskins
- green woodpecker
- 7 woodlarks in a flock
- dodder along the road
- centaury
- nice weather, not too hot
- ravens
- kestrel
- dead mole (sunday)
- small white, gatekeepers, ringlet (sunday), meadow browns, small copper. no ssb
- Azures, keeled skimmer, brown Hawker, golden ring, l red, common Darter


martin

19th July 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Bernard, Keith, Ray, Alan, Jonathan and martin

activities:

- looked the ponies. all 7 together
- filled leaflet box
- put out 7 new tins. 3 on south heath, 2 near the car park and 2 on the plateau
- inspected the existing tins. too hot for things and one slow worm only
- looked for SSB.  saw two holly blue, 2 small coppers, meadow Brown's, gate keepers, one ringlet, marbles whites.
- bracken clearing along the top and down to the stream
- checked the pit for ragwort. none
- checked cess pit fence, and added 2 posts to strengthen broken posts
- put out 4 mended fire beaters
- looked for dodder. small amount on road but none spotted near car park
- in wood beneath sphagnum heath, moved cut logs around to make berms and dams to slow flow of water off heath to stream


observations:

- very hot. too hot to be out of shade
- kestrel
- siskins, redpolls
- more dragon flies


martin

12th July 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

Keith, John, Bernard, Ray, Pat, Stuart, Alan, Mike p and Martin

activities:

- looked the ponies.  now 4 koniks and 3 Exmoors
- Pat and Martin looked for silver studded blue butterflies, with no luck.  there were very few insects about at all.  plenty of bell Heather flowering
- bracken pulling along the road, beeches avenue, south Heath and various places along top and down to the high beeches.
- ragwort pulling around the cottages and along the road

observations:

- visitor saw a hobby
- meadow Brown's, gatekeepers, grasshoppers, slow worm
- could not find the dodder along the top
- celebrated Pat's birthday


Martin

5th July 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

Keith, Bernard, David a, Mike p, Mike m, Ray, Neil, Jonathan and Martin.  Mark came for interview with Ake, and John visited with grandson.

activities:

- Martin had interview with Ake
- bracken pulling up and down from the bridge on both sides.  later working up towards stoney pond.
- bracken cutting on OL1 along the bird counting route
- bracken and grass cutting on path up to the car park
- some more bracken work on paths in ol2
- 4 loads of logs brought back from ol2 and stacked behind the shed
- found someone who had seen the ponies

observations:

- nice weather for a change
- 3 exe-Moor ponies coming this week.  no separation from others


Martin

28th June 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Neil, Keith, Bernard, Stuart, Mike m, Alan and Martin

activities:

- looked the ponies.  one still 'very' friendly with the hunter
- bracken pulling under the power lines and up to the top corner
- bracken cutting along the paths down to the stream ( from the road side) and between them, and along the edge of the stream
- filled the brochures box.  nearly out of brochures again.

observations:

- found a nightjar nest (ie  nothing) and one egg. adult seen flying away
- woodlark singing nicely along the power lines
- single crossbill
- blackcap
- some sweet peas distributed
- John has done a map of areas to be sprayed

Martin

21st June 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Neil, Keith, Mike m, Ray, Bernard, Stuart, David (new - second visit), and Martin

activities:

- looked the ponies
- finished the last quarter of the nest box survey
- put up new fire beater post near the cross roads, cutting a new bit of chestnut for the job
- banged in the post of the squeeze gate
- bracken work all round the cross roads

observations:

- Martin delayed until coffee time with appointment at Pembury
- woodlark, tree pipit, siskin, redstarts, blackcap, goldcrest, tree creeper, mistle thrush, skylark
- slow-worms 3, one probably pregnant
- emporer, large red, broad bodied chaser, common darter, meadow brown
- remain/leave discussion


Martin

14th June 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Alan, Jonathan, Neil, Ray, Bernard, Keith, mark, and Martin

activities:

- looked the ponies
- collected 2 builder's bags of tubes and took off site for re-use
- tidied up wood piles behind tool store, and brought much stuff into tractor shed
- moved 9 load of birch from ol2 and built 2 and a half log piles
- sawed up some of the longer big logs
- cut bracken near the log piles in ol2

observations:

- some showers but survived
- woodlark
- about 20 sheep back in south heath
- Alan's car's capacity for tubes and builder's bags

martin

7th June 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Alan, Ray, Keith, Mike m, Bernard, Stuart, Neil, David a, and Martin.  Pat visited us as part of her recovery process.

activities:

- looked the ponies
- bracken pulling and cutting along the road and on m1 and ol2 , and moving towards the plateau
- nest box survey , except the last leg along the top

observations:

- red kite at crossroads
- crossbills on south Heath
- stock dove singing
- thunder and rain from lunchtime
- large red damsel flies
- Stoney pond leaking?
- saw Bob from Pippingford
- Mike distributed some broccoli plants
- Ray brought two tubs of goodies to celebrate last weeks birthday
- about 20 sheep in south Heath.  we blocked up the squeeze gate with gorse logs

Martin

31st May 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Neil, Stuart, Alan, Keith, Mike m, Bernard, and Martin

activities:

- cleared gutters and drain pipes
- opened up channels in the driveway a bit more
- patched the drainpipe at the back of the store near Jack's parking space, and created a slight soak away
- cut and split fire wood brought in from the log piles
- did some tidying of the log piles
- cut down some branches of beech and birch that were becoming bullies, near the log piles. arisings added to log piles and brash put in ditch to slow flow of water.
- tried to check the one nest box that needs a ladder.  box's lid is stuck, and possible adult great tit nearby, and so abandoned this
- looked the ponies

observations:

- horrid weather, cold, windy and very rainy and wet
- broke the handle of one of the two handed saws. Martin mending
- baby lettuce plants distributed
- Keith is mending a spare Cantsbury hoe (manure rake) for ol.
- crossbills




Martin

31st May 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Neil, Stuart, Alan, Keith, Mike m, Bernard, and Martin

activities:

- cleared gutters and drain pipes
- opened up channels in the driveway a bit more
- patched the drainpipe at the back of the store near Jack's parking space, and created a slight soak away
- cut and split fire wood brought in from the log piles
- did some tidying of the log piles
- cut down some branches of beech and birch that were becoming bullies, near the log piles. arisings added to log piles and brash put in ditch to slow flow of water.
- tried to check the one nest box that needs a ladder.  box's lid is stuck, and possible adult great tit nearby, and so abandoned this
- looked the ponies

observations:

- horrid weather, cold, windy and very rainy and wet
- broke the handle of one of the two handed saws. Martin mending
- baby lettuce plants distributed
- Keith is mending a spare Cantsbury hoe (manure rake) for ol.
- crossbills




Martin