Dartford warbler today

It has been a long time since saw a Dartford warbler on the reserve.

Walking along the top to look the ponies, I heard a single call, and then walked towards it, and there it was on top of one of the remaining gorse bushes.

Wonderful.

It was still there on my way back from finding the ponies at the high beeches.

Martin

22th November 2016 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

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

Activities:

- cut and split load of firewood, brought more into shed
- looked ponies and checked reserve for any storm damage
- redug the diagonal trenches on the m1 for draining running water off the track, this reducing erosion and mud
- investigated the parallel ditches in the wood north east of the trough, and their flow of water. Changed the flow to increase the time the water takes to get into the steam, basically flooding the area of land towards the sphagnum Heath
- John did some gorse work along the road
- some bramble and Holly work done in the wood alongside the shed

Observations:

- noted the group photo on the swt Facebook page
- brambling, crossbill, Raven
- weather very windy, and bonfires impossible, lots of rain.

Martin

15th November 2016 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Keith, Jonathan, Pat, Neil, David a, Mike m, Mike p, Graeme, Bernard, Ian, Stuart, Alan and Martin

Activities:

- looked ponies
- cut goose along the top near the ride junction
- bonfire of about two thirds of the cutting and one of the piles of tractor mowing
- John did some sapling pulling in the area

Observations:

- sparrow hawk
- ravens
- buzzard
- fieldfares, mistle thrushes, redpolls, bull Finch, long tailed tits, brambling, herring gull


Martin

8th November 2016 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Keith, Mike, Ian, Steve, David a, Neil, Stuart, Bernard, Pat, Mike m, and Martin

Activities:

- looked the ponies.   Now on main reserve and 3 Koniks added. Hence 7 koniks and 3 exmoors
- 2 bonfires behind shed, using all the brash recently cut.  Pollarded more Holly and birch there.
- checked the high stock dove nest box.  Empty.
- rodded the two pipes through the Irish bridge under the power lines and the pipe under the path near the end of the power lines


Observations:

- crossbills, Raven, Reed bunting

Martin

1st November 2016 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Steve, Keith, Ian (new volunteer), David a, Neil, Stuart, Mike m, Mike p, Alan, Bernard, Graham and Martin

Activities:

- looked ponies
- finished clearing the nest boxes
- pond work on level pond and slip pond
- pollarded some hollies at the back of the tool store,
- pulled some birch and pine saplings near the pillow mound and near the high beeches
- mended a lopper
- put up the last mended fire beater
- collected some pony poo from south Heath
- cut some more invasive bramble near the tool store

Observations:

- nice weather to start with, but at coffee time a cold foggy front came in and it was not so good
- 2 separate wood Lark singing
- big numbers of wood pigeons. Say 500 plus
- meadow pipits, reed bunting, goldcrests, redpolls, goldfinch, long tailed tits
- Jack has now moved

Martin

25th October 2016 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

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

Activities:

- cleaned half the nest boxes
- pulled saplings on m1 and plateau
- split large logs at the tool store
- pulled some saplings near the pillow mound behind the cottages
- cut some Holly at both ends of the track down past the tool store
- mended a fire beater
- more pushing back of the bramble line
- looked the ponies


Observations:

- butterfly , peacock most likely, hiding in a wasps nest, in a nest box
- several hearings of crossbills
- Raven
- rutting Buck
- lots of redpolls
- woodlark singing
- possible brambling near roller stand
- one nest cleared was probably tree mouse


Martin

18th October 2016 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Jonathan, Alan, Keith, Stuart, Mike m, Mike p, Steve and Martin

Activities:

- ponies had knocked down the bottom part of the fencing around the cess pit. Mended it and added electric fencing around the actual hole and new cover, and a new bit of fencing across the middle. Did not have the required fencing posts etc, but managed to find enough bits and pieces.
- John did some clearing of bramble etc around about.
- looked the ponies
- did some sapling clearing on the slope down from the roller stand
- inspected the chalet nest box, and found a barn owl secondary feather in good condition and numerous pellets with small mammal bones and fur.  So some occupancy since we last looked.
- put up the last two fire beaters, and found an old one with broken handle. This had no hole for hanging, and so most have been lying around for ages.
- cut some Holly behind the tool store on edge of south Heath, with brash added to birch in the ditch
- continued clearing bramble around the tool store, and some pollarding inside the copse
- put up repaired nest box on closest beech
- cleared gutter of tool store
- redug channel in drive to divert rain water away from area in front of tool store

Observations:

- Crossbill
- store cleared
- bamboo from two distributed
- the cess pit lorry was emptying last Thursday when we were mowing with the tractor, but there seemed to be still quite a bit in the bottom of the tank
- the tank appears to be brick built, with dimensions of 10 foot cubed. There is an over flow pipe going down hill for 5 yards, providing soak away. A new cover has been added since last checked. There is some 'flow' erosion on the surface.

Martin

11th October 2016 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

John, Keith, Alan, Mike m, Mike p, Bernard, Steve, David a, and Martin

Activities:

- looked the ponies
- put up two more fire beaters
- drilled holes in two more fire beaters
- cleared pines and birch saplings north of the ride junction and down to high beeches
- dug a drainage ditch across the path at the bench
- put up a mended nest box near ride junction
- cleared low branches and bushes at the large gate entrance near the car park to enable the tractor and harvester to come onto the reserve. Rearranged the lock.
- cleared more branches at the corner of the wood west of the tool store and more Pollarding inside the wood
- collected some pony poo from south Heath
- ring barked 6 pine and birch near the bench
- cut down nettles and thistles behind the tool store and brambles along the edge of the path to the road.

Observations:

- chilly, but nice in the sun
- crossbills, siskins and redpolls
- redwings
- Raven
- 2 slow worms


Martin

4th October 2016 ... weekly volunteers

Present:

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

Activities:

- continued fencing on south Heath, using up last 9 posts available
- looked the ponies.

- on OL1
- coppiced small Willow trees growing in the ditch down the boundary with the common land, stacking the brash as habitat piles
- extending the dam round the west side of the pond up to the tree, with mud and tussocks dug out of the main pond, and some cut birch logs and brash, and cut bracken.
- cut out some puddles in the area with sundews, to increase the germinating surfaces available to them.
- hammered in one of the posts of the style which has been used by ponies for scratching

- On reserve
- John did some birch sapling pulling
- pollarding of Holly and birch in the copse next to the tool store, and cutting down Holly and beech branches at the corner of the track and the road.  Brash put behind the tool store.
- cut holes in two fire beaters ready to put up on their stands
- tidied up the gorse wood pile

Observations:

- woodcock, Raven, kestrel
- a bit cold to start with, but sunny and nice after lunch
- Jack and Joan getting ready to leave soon
- shop had a good day
- Raft spider, dragon flies, comma
- Stonechats


Martin

27th September 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

John, Jonathan, Mike m, Stuart, Alan, Steve, Keith, David a, Bernard and Martin.  Mark was with us with his vehicle.

activities:

- looked the ponies
- moved the ponies with food bribes onto south Heath
- picked up the 9 remaining fence posts from just beyond the cricket pitch and brought them to south Heath
- used most of these posts to strengthen the fences on south Heath. a bit of work still to do.
- dug about 30 bags of peat from the piles near the roller stand, and moved them to the tool store. maybe half have been taken home by volunteers.
- moved about 5 loads of logs from ol2 and some from near the car park to behind the tool store.
- put out a new lock in series at the roller stand with same combination

observations:

- dull day with of bit of drizzle
- filled out list of start dates for volunteers for Mark and Lucie.


Martin

20th September 2016 ... weekly volunteers

present:

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

activities:

- mended fence from the crossroads to the hunt gate, including one new post and a new strut at the slight bend.
- cut 5 channels across the path down from the chestnut wood to reduce the boggy conditions of winter.
- ring barked around a dozen trees in two areas.  half way between the fence corner on beeches avenue and the bridge, and on the new edge to the plateau Heath.  in both cases trying to break up lines of pines, and to create breaks.
- pulling small birch saplings around the cross road and further down towards the stream
- cleared west pond
- looked the ponies

observations:

- cooler and still. quite nice for work in the open
- meadow pipits
- house Martins and swallows migrating
- ravens


Martin