Your Best Shot 2010 - Shipwrecks & Abandoned Boats - a gallery on Flickr

my image "Whaling boat Petrel, beached at Grytviken whaling station" was featured in the flickr blog -

Your Best Shot 2010 - Shipwrecks & Abandoned Boats

Your Best Shot 2010 - Shipwrecks & Abandoned Boats - a gallery on Flickr

River Ouse with ice flows

so you want to know what the weathers like down there?

if you have a look at Ocean weather you will be able to see the current sea state and the hight of waves I am bobbing about on

packing and preparation and the final countdown

A day before popping to London and on to Heathrow (UK) - Madrid (Spain) - Montevideo (Uruguay) the bags need packing and every thing I need for 5 months on the waters round Antarctica need packing.

So I the week starting with the bank holiday Monday in London training ahead of the working trip south.

on the Monday after travelling down from York, I spent the next 7 hours walking around London, with a flying visit to the natural history museum and the science museum.  The weather for the week was warm, and the daily walk across Hyde park from Kensington gardens to Mayfair was a nice way to start and end the day.

over the week i seemed to have a thing for Asian food as it was a different restaurant and a different dish each night that required chop sticks to eat.

On the Saturday night having arrived in Bristol on the Friday, it was a day at the beach in the sun and then a evening out to toast my engagement and also to wish me off with friends.

getting ready for a working trip to the bottom of the world

this will be updated with every thing i think i need to head to the deep south for 5 months

Spring arrived and the veggies went in

Over the last few weeks the weather has warmed, leaves have opened, birds have built nests and the vegitable seeds have germinated and gone out from the greenhouse.

quick trip to Oban

So I had a brief week visit to Oban in Scotland to try out the life style and the role of being a summer guide.

the town is not easy to get to with a train out/in twice a day, and a 10 hour plus journey to get to and from York.

I had a nice time walking the hills in the snow

love birds new home?

there was an all day event at potteric carr on the 14th feb, with activities aimed at children starting their half term.  On offer was bird box building, insect houses, animal footprint making in plaster as well as log bird feeder making with lard and mixed seeds.

On the plot 13/02/09

A day spent working the vegetable patch at home.  the soil had been nicely broken down by the recent frosty weather and with a few warmer days it was time to get started on the early potatoes and plant some raspberry canes.  also found some asparagus tubers to plant so these went in under cover.  there was a toad in the pond, but still no spawn.  In the greenhouse the first gutter of peas was started.

pedestrian mower being fixed and more scrub bashing 11/02/10

pedestrian mower being fixed
Originally uploaded by bowsawblogger

the day was spent fixing the pedestrian mower with a new set of skids and then i underwent some training on how to use it before cutting the scrub on the bank beside the café. the Afternoon was spent back on cottage drain working on removing trees that had regrown since their last cut 3-5 years ago.

spring is sprung 9/2/10

spring is sprung
Originally uploaded by bowsawblogger

Since i had an afternoon meeting with the JC it meant a half day for me, so I was assigned to making some bird feeders for the morning, these are simply drilled sections of Birch. In the evening it was a few quite drinks and some dinner with a friend from Bristol that happened to be working out of the north for a week.

Sarcoscypha austriaca - Scarlet Cup

Sarcoscypha austriaca - Scarlet Cup
 Another day spent clearing away regrowth, this time with the weekend volunteers along cottage drain.  In the afternoon i went to check on the sheep and on my way there came across two Scarlet Cups.  apparently its the first time they had been found in this section of the reserve.  

Sprotbrough Flash a magnesium limestone site

Sprotbrough Flash is a magnesium limestone meadow.  We were tasked with removing a section of scrub and trees to enable a new fence to be put in to allow the stocking of grazers to keep to meadow in check without using machines.  There was snow on the ground all day and the air was thick with mist, so a hard cold days work.  In the afternoon we cleared away piles of biomass from previous works onsite and moved it further into the undergrowth.

hard frost followed by sunny spells and a evening snow shower

General onsite tasks including hide checks, tightening the window hinges on the hides and removing obvious litter whilst walking between hides. 

back to work

Having been out of action for a week with an eye infection it was back to the reserve.  After a short wade out through the thinning ice it was time to start clearing off the islands on piper marsh.  This involved a scrub basher cutting back the thorns and then loppers and bow saws to remove the re-growth.  The stumps were treated with herbicide and the biomass was burnt.

silhouetted oak

silhouetted oak
Originally uploaded by bowsawblogger

Volunteer Sunday

So Sunday means half a day with volunteer help on the reserve and we were out in the light rain. The morning was spent continuing to burn the previously collected up biomass. Apart from maintaining the fire the morning was also spent controlling the crowds using the hide close by as there had been a couple of bittern spotted on the pond and with a couple of large groups bittern fans on sight it proved a popular spot.

In the afternoon I continued to burn the lumber whilst trying to keep the numbers in the hide flowing and the queue outside minimum. There was the odd person that decided to try and sneak round the front by climbing a muddy bank but these had to be stopped both for their safety and also so they did not scar off the birds they were all there to see.

Still iced over

Still iced over

The morning was spent bagging up more food for the weekends sales and tidying up and putting out the recycling.  The afternoon was clearing up the previous weeks tree felling.  As there was so much biomass piled up along the path it was decided the afternoon would consist of building a fire and then burning as much of this as possible whilst keeping the fire small its foot print limited.

York - Flooded pub

 the pub that floods
Flooded pub
 

Everyone from the trust had to go to York for the day, for an all day meeting.  There was a series of talks on what different parts of the trust get up to as well as where the trust is going.  Mid afternoon it was time to finish and a quick pint was had in York’s famous pub that floods, the water from the Ouse was still on the river path and the front door boarded up with its flood gate but the side door was open and the fire lit.  A quick pint later and then it was a long wait at the station to go home.

Misty oak tree

 oak tree with owl box
Misty oak tree

Volunteer day

The day was spent continuing to clear the side of the paths and also mark out using birch trunks.  I took two assistants with me and went out to one of the levees separating the pond cells and cleared some trees that were blocking a view point over the points and also to a oak tree containing a owl nesting box.

The afternoon was then spent back continuing to clear up after the mornings tree felling.

winter fungi

 Jelly ears

We continued to clear trees from the side of the path as well as removing old rotten fencing and its associated wire.  The area that had been marked off by wire fence was to be marked out using the trunks of felled silver birch. 

Cold caps

Cold caps

The day was due to be more tree felling and tidying up as i was to be the only person working out on the reserve.  This all went to pot though and after putting out the bird feed, I set off to count the sheep and then remove some trees blocking a view from a hide and i was approached by a range of different visitors and so spent the next few hours stood out in the snow chatting over that mornings sightings, these included two bitterns, a few foxes and three roe deer.

In the afternoon a consignment of bird feed was delivered so the afternoon was spent bagging this up for sale and then putting some out for the weekends feed.

Snow cap

Snow cap

Back to chopping down trees and scrub re-growth at the side of a path.  The idea again was to open up the area to let in more light and increase the amount of plants growing there.  Whilst carrying out this task in the morning and the afternoon two groups of perspective jobs fund applicants were given interviews and their work skills and ethics judged. 

Grey sky and ice skating bitterns

Grey sky

The day was spent checking the hides and insuring they were not affect by any vandalism, contain rubbish and had the correct signage. Apart from giving each the hides a clear out, there was also the task of removing any ice from in front of the doors and any dangerous trees on the paths between hides.

As we went into a hide we were fortunate enough to come across a bittern that then decided to walk right across the ice to the front of the hide.

Moor hens in the snow

Volunteers day

The volunteers that made it in through the snow as well as the reserve staff spent the day clearing the remaining snow from the café frontage and also the access road and parking area.  The parking area had become compacted ice and required the use of brute force to chip away the ice and pill it up out the way. 

Back to the reserve after the snow

Selby abby

First day back after being snowed in for a week and the reserve had a magical look about it.  The paths were all deep in snow and this had to be cleared in areas of heavy footfall.

So the day was spent insuring that the paths around the cafe leading off into the reserve were cleared of snow.

A few trees had been report to have started to come down from the mass of snow on them and so these had to be made safe and put out the way

Snow covered trees

Snow covered trees
First day back after Christmas and back on bank clearing.  The snow from before Christmas was thin on the ground in Doncaster.  But the paths still covered in ice and with the tractor stuck in a ditch it meant taking the tools to the work site in wheel barrows.  At the end of the day the snow returned.  

Outcrop in the snow - Sutton Bank

Outcrop in the snow
Originally uploaded by bowsawblogger