Odd jobs and quick wins

Thursday, January 4th 2018

We've been cracking on with and completing many odd jobs of late, alongside the now completed moorland path works.

The recent work carried out to improve the views of the waterfowl platform from the lake hide, coupled with more regular spreading of feed has already proved successful and is well worth the time taken to complete.

Staying with the lake, the duck trap is now cleaned and ready to use. We are likely to start catching and adding to the three Mallard, four Moorhen and one Teal that were ringed on Monday over the coming weeks!

At the moorland edge within the mixed conifer and broadleaved woodland we've been keeping busy righting trees, some of which have then been re-righted after storm eleanor came in and undid some of our hard work. Many of the Scots Pine have been under planted in these areas in order to provide more shelter and bolster the wind shield effect of the existing Larch trees.

Hopefully these Scots Pines will be better prepared to weather the next storm that rolls in off of the moorland, until then the rubber tree ties should do the trick.

Work has also been carried out to remove Gorse around the edges of the heath, and to take out brambles and saplings on the heath and within the ditches that criss-cross them. Despite a really good go at the north west paddock there is still a fair bit to remove!

Another big piece of work that has been well overdue and that I am very happy to have got stuck into is the removal of vegetation from around the Heligoland trap. Work was ongoing well after dusk yesterday to cut back vegetation from the edge closest to the road, which has now been crosscut and removed.

It was great to get all of this removed, it won't be long before we start work within the trap itself and finish off what's left to do on the other side.

Aside from all of this we've had great views of the Sparrowhawk during coffee and lunch break today, swooping in regularly and scattering the birds in all directions.

Unfortunately, despite great views none of us were able to get a good picture of her due to the poor light and weather conditions we've been subjected to!

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