Spring News - Bluebells, Birdboxes and Boardwalks!

With the nesting season well underway, the bird ringers are out almost everyday monitoring the hundreds of birdboxes around the military training area as well as those at Foxglove Covert. A favourite location is an Oak woodland that is packed with springtime flowers. The floor is covered with a carpet of Bluebells.

Among these are hundreds of Early Purple Orchids. The land adjacent to the woodland is grazed by sheep, here there are very few flowers which demonstrates clearly the negative effects of grazing on traditional wildflower rich grassland.

This habitat is perfect for many of our native woodland birds who benefit from the artificial nest boxes put out by the Foxglove team. Traditionally this wood has been home to Pied Flycatchers and Redstart.

The woodland is on a very steep bank and the team have to work hard moving between the different locations.

The effort is well worth it to catch a glimpse of life inside the nest boxes. Both Pied Flycatchers and Redstart use dried Oak leaves in the construction of their nests. Redstart will also add a bit of green moss as seen below.

Team Tuesday were also constructive for once today! The industrious band of volunteers russled up numerous sections of boardwalk to be installed at a later date in a boggy patch on the reserve.

Other tasks carried out included removing tree tubes from mature Corsican pine trees and butterfly recording. Butterflies seen on today's transect were two Small Whites, one Green-veined White and two Speckled Woods, the latter were freshly emerged.

Muchas gracias a todos!