Orchid Translocation

Last week we trans-located pyramidal and marsh orchids from an industrial estate in Warminster to Underhill Wood Nature Reserve (UWNR). This was 2 days of solid work, but we have very high hopes that these precious plants will thrive in their new location...safe from diggers and earth-movers!

2 stalwart friends & champions of UWNR, Jan Freeborn (ecologist and ecological consultant) and Louisa Kilgallen (head ecologist at Wiltshire Council), worked together to successfully nominate UWNR and then enable the trans-location.

Jan, Arthur Bryant (butterfly expert) and I did the digging and shifting - in total we dug close to 100 holes - all in very heavy clay!

Jan and Arthur carefully digging up the turves

The bagged orchids about to be transplanted at UWNR - Arthur and Jan sorting through the pyramidal orchids.

We selected the lake bank as the main location for the marsh orchids - this environment is low in fertility, damp and in full sun.

R.I.P

All through early spring the badgers have been clearing their setts of bedding and hauling in new bales of thatch - in readiness for the cubs, who are born from December through to February / March.

I came across perfectly intact skull at a sett entrance while walking the land with Sue Clifford and Angela King (see earlier blog post about their visit...). Angela told me that if an adult badger dies in a sett chamber, the other badgers will close off this section and entomb the dead animal. Clearly from the skull, it is evident, that the body remained entombed until decomposition was complete. Only then was the body cast from the sett....

Different Histories....

Last week, it was a huge privilege to have Sue Clifford and Angela King visit Underhill Wood Nature Reserve (UWNR). Sue and Angela are champions for our environment and have achieved much over the years, fighting for important causes. Things like the banning of Otter hunting & commercial Whale hunting, stand among their many achievements.  More latterly they ran Common Ground working with another personal hero, Roger Deakin.

This link gives more information about Common Ground in its current form- https://www.commonground.org.uk

On our walk around UWNR Angela and Sue pointed out Dog's Mercury, growing alongside the stream bed which runs north - south through the land. They then went on to tell me that Dog's Mercury is an indicator of ancient woodland - to quote Sue; 'it gives evidence to woodland existing since 1600'.

So this is exciting news - the land at UWNR was once part of an ancient, and probably extensive, woodland.

New boxes

Today took possession of these wonderful & lovingly made bat boxes. They (3 sets of 3 boxes - 9 in total) will be sited this spring in the veteran oaks which run along the northern boundary of Underhill Wood Nature Reserve. They will serve as summer roosts for a variety of bats which hunt and reside within the reserve boundary.

A very big thanks to Peter Gulliver who is a fellow member of the Wiltshire Bat Group and a member of Frome Mens Shed. Mens Shed has got to be one of the best charities on the planet - http://www.fromeshed.org.uk/community/frome-men-s-shed-12888/about-us

Lake or pond? Now I have the answer!

An old Wiltshire / Dorset countryman told me that one way of telling the difference between a lake and a pond is if swans are resident. Swans need approx 80-90 yards to land and take-off....this afternoon these new visitors took up residence - so Underhill Wood lake it is!

Jem, Jack and Seeds4Success

One of the key aims of the project has been a desire to engage young people and children in nature, the environment, the outdoors.

At last this is coming to fruition with the amazing help of Jaki Farrel, who heads up a vibrant local charity called Seeds4Success. (http://www.seeds4success.org.uk). Seeds4Success gets young people out into the environment to work and learn.

Jem and Jack put in a day of hard graft at Underhill Wood constructing another dormouse bridge - this pic shows them and the results of our collective work:

Pondsong - January 2017

On one of those very cold & clear early mornings during this January (2017), the pond at Underhill Wood was covered in a vast, single sheet of ice. While that is not that unusual, the sounds coming from the pond were bizarre - I had not experienced this before and haven't since.

I laid my phone on the ice sheet, pressed record and this clip is the result. There are 3 discernible sounds - a Robin in song, ice cracking & creaking, and resonant pings (pondsong).

My friend Graeme Miller worked his magic and 'cleaned' the recording - thank you!

In our email exchange Graeme wrote this - 'it just highlights how audaciously dynamic nature is'. 

Last bit of hedge work for winter 2016 / 2017....

On the back of the all the great work done by Malcolm, Jeff, Dragan and Simon, I have finished my winter work on the final stretch of hedge at Underhill Wood. This 500 yard section is almost all hawthorn and has been long neglected. Many of the hawthorn bushes have morphed into 30 - 40 foot trees - long & leggy. Over the past 2 weeks I have reduced these and come spring they can rehabilitate into dense bushes producing more flowers and fruit, and thereby support a greater range of fauna.

At the same time I have removed a 500 yard post and rail fence (a legacy from the days when this paddock was grazed by ponies) - this has increased the size of the owl field. I can now incorporate this ground into the vole rich habitat and increase the volume of prey available to the barn owls....

This came from a fallen tree....

Came across this while working at Underhill Wood today - the perfect structure combining stunning form with perfect functionality.

Fox - at last....

I have waited 3 years for this to happen, but concluded that Vulpes vulpes had been eradicated from my patch of Wiltshire / Dorset....then....

Last Friday evening I spent 20 minutes watching, through my binoculars, a large, mature, male fox hunting for field voles, in the barn owl field. AMAZING. He was dark brown & black, with tinges of very light ginger, and a very square face with black tear drop markings running down each cheek. He was, for sure, an older dog which gave me heart. So the field which is rotationally cut to provide field voles for the barn owls, is additionally providing food for the fox. What a result!

Working bees at Underhill Wood

A working bee is a Kiwi / New Zealand thing where a group of friends come together and typically do a civic task, of good...when I was a kid, it was things like painting the seats at the local rugby club.

So, this winter, we have have had a couple of very productive working bees at Underhill Wood. The overall purpose of this work has been to prune back 2x 500 yard hedges, which run down the spine of the land. The pruning will be done on a 3 year rotation - first pruning the south flank (winter 2017), then the north (winter 2018) and finally the top (winter 2018). This rotation then continues year-on-year....

This shot is of the first team:

From left to right - Simon, Malcolm and Jeff

The second working bee carried on the great work of the first - with a notable exception.

Working with my friend Dragan we constructed a hazel bridge, which connects one of the hedgerows to the block of most mature woodland. This block is about 4 acres in total and is a decent mix of native species - oak, ash, field maple, hazel. Late winter / early spring this year, I will plant honeysuckle in the hedgerow and across the hazel bridge. I am very keen to attract dormice into Underhill Wood Nature Reserve and this habitat enhancement is key. 

I need to acknowledge Smallwoods (www.smallwoods.org.uk) for this idea. This fantastic charity, which I belong to, publishes a highly informative journal and the New Year 2017 edition contained a piece about dormice, hazel bridges, honeysuckle and so on.

Dragan putting the finishing touches to the Hazel Bridge.

Bird Species at Underhill Wood

To date I haven't done a formal survey of bird species but this is what I have noted, informally:

• nuthatch
• tree creeper
• mallard duck
• dabchick
• green woodpecker
• greater spotted woodpecker
• lesser spotted woodpecker
• great tit
• blue tit
• bullfinch
• sparrowhawk or goshawk
• kingfisher
• woodpigeon
• swallow
• house martin
• robin
• wren
• long tailed tit
• kestrel
• barn owl
• tawny owl
• buzzard
• raven
• jackdaw
• crow
• jay
• magpie
• mandarin duck
• thrush
• fieldfare
• snipe or woodcock
• red kite