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.