Our lovely volunteers!

It's National Volunteer Week next week so I thought I would take the opportunity to say a big thank you to all of the wonderful wardens that help us carry out the vast amount of work here all year round. Come rain or shine, they are here and usually smiling! They also take plenty of photographs, many of which are offered to me - so here are some of our lovely lot! (As I browsed my files for these pics I soon realised that two gents in particular end up infront of the cameras a lot - guess who?!!)

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I need lots more pictures of everyone else, so will be sneaking up on them with a camera over the coming few weeks...

Finally, a lovely shot of the deer taken by Phil a few days ago - they have their summer coats now, and the bucks are growing new antlers at an amazing rate. As the weather warms up the bucks are splitting off into social groups and are often seen quite near the public paths as they graze and sunbathe; meanwhile the does are preparing to give birth in the quieter sanctuary areas. If you do ever come across a fawn hiding in long grass or bracken, remember never to touch it or get too close - if the mother can smell a human on her baby, she will abandon it. In a few months you will be able to see the fawns running with the rest of the herd, so we look forward to that.

Hawks, hogs and holidays

What a fantastic day we had today! The sun finally made an appearance, it is the first day of the half term holiday and we had a brilliant show of hawks and owls from Feather Perfect, a local company based in Telford. Hundreds of visitors gathered to watch the flying displays, and some lucky ones were even able to take part. It was a great opportunity to get close to some beautiful birds of prey and really appreciate their speed and agility as they soared across the Mile Meadow paddock and the crowd. I hope that we can have similar days in the future - and that one day I get to be the one with the gloves on handling these magnificent birds!

Last Sunday we had a party to celebrate the five year anniversary of the first turning of the soil in the Walled Garden since its restoration began. In the Bothy you can see displays of photographs from the last five years, including some taken back when the garden was an empty grass field - hard to believe when you compare it with what you see now. The staff and volunteers have done an amazing job in transforming the area, and work is ongoing - now that the old childrens playground has moved into the Shoulder of Mutton playfield, the three new tamworth piglets are hard at work rooting and fertilising the soil so that later in the year it will be turned back into production. The plan is for a flower garden, providing fresh cut flowers for the mansion and tearoom as well as a beautiful area for visitors to enjoy. Here they are on the day of the party:

The wardens have been working a lot on one of our tenanted farms, clearing away old spiral guards from established young hedges, pollarding overgrown and collapsing willows along a brook and removing an old fence so that it can be replaced. It has been a strange week weather-wise - one minute we are wrapped up in fleeces and dodging hailstones, the next minute melting in the hot sun! Other jobs have included burning brash, fixing a few gates and reopening the WWII walk with a new and improved route - now the walk goes through the alcove where previously visitors could not go, and avoids the wet area at the top of the deer park near the tip of Reptons Wood. There are yellow-topped posts and arrow posts to mark the route, so have a go and tell me what you think!

Ravenwatch Part Three

We have flight! On Wednesday we first saw them flying a bit further afield than their tree, and today all three ravens were flying in wide circles and calling with their distinctive 'cronk cronk cronk'. Getting a picture was almost impossible but here is a bit of proof:

The wardens have been helping the garden and events teams this week in setting up for Spring Fair, putting up the marquees and the May Pole. We have also been clearing timber from the old ash plantation near the walled garden with the timber crane, mulching a hedgerow, cutting logs, investigating some old drainage tunnels, planning some new wildlife monitoring methods, repairing our composting toilet, clearing up the masses of litter dropped on the flood meadow as the water receded and three of our team have been doing their chainsaw course on the nearby Dudmaston Estate.

Horse chestnuts are nearly all in leaf now

The weather is warming and the Estate is springing to life: there are birds everywhere, the trees are bursting into leaf and wildflowers are popping up and daubing the landscape with colour. In the deer park the bucks are dropping their antlers - we collect as many as we can to use with our education groups and local schools as well as for props on guided walks. The herd is also starting to split up into different social groups - the older bucks tend to have their group, then the younger ones have theirs while the does start to hang back in the sanctuary areas in preparation for giving birth next month.

This little robin has been making quite an impression with us lately - it hangs around the trees by the deer park bridges and is so inquisitive that if you stand quietly enough with a little treat in your hand he jumps right in! Here, volunteer James has a close encounter - such a shame about that railing!

The wildflower bank near the clock tower at the back of the mansion is coming into bloom with the snakes-head fritillary looking particularly good - last year the rabbits nibbled off the heads before they could come out but this year our pest control is proving successful and the checked purple and white flowers can be seen cropping up all along the bank:



Ravenwatch part two



Photo by Sean Hattersley



All three of the young ravens were out of the nest today but sticking close to it as the branches swayed in the breeze. Looking through binoculars you can clearly see the fuzzy down of their feathers. Even at this young age they are sizeable birds!

Photo by Sean Hattersley

Ravenwatch

A few days ago Senior Warden Colin Morris spotted a ravens nest on a quiet part of the Estate. Just about visible were three young peeking out of the nest. I went to see them yesterday and again today to see if they had fledged. Today one remained in the nest while two others explored the branches of the Scots pine around them, stretching their wings but not quite daring to fly. We'll be keeping a close eye on them over the next few days to see if we can watch their early flights. I managed a few pictures on my little camera but volunteer photographer Sean got some good close ups that I will add as soon as I get them.

The ravens nest and one of the fledglings exploring his new world

Common ravens (Corvus corax) are the largest bird in the crow family - a fully grown adult is around 25 inches in length (thats 63 centimetres - well over half a metre!) with a wingspan of 40-48 inches (101-120cm). They can live up to 20 years and the adults mate for life and defend their own territory. They are omnivores, eating carrion, grains, insects, berries, fruits, eggs and small animals. They have a distinctive croaking call and their massive size makes them very recognisable from their crow, rook and jackdaw cousins. I'll keep you informed of their development!

The 100th post!

I meant to write this one a lot sooner but moving house and a busy Easter at work means I am several weeks late in writing my 100th post on this blog! Thank you for reading everyone. The good news is that a lot has gone on in the last month and there were plenty of pictures taken so lets dive straight in and see what we have been up to...
 We have been monitoring the pitfall traps along the inside of the newt fence every day, and now that temperatures are starting to rise we have been finding newts and safely transporting them to the other side of the work site. Ecologist Ross Jones has been helping us to set up and monitor the traps as well as teaching the staff and volunteers a bit more about them, including the importance of having a licence to handle them - hence here he is, fully licenced!


Great Crested Newt - they have a distinctive yellow belly with markings that are unique to each newt, a bit like human fingerprints (below)



We have planted up a new orchard on one of the Estate farms with over 60 apple trees, which will provide fruit for the apple press for future harvest fairs. We planted a good mix of cooking, eating and dessert apples to ensure that the juice will be a tasty combination of sweet and tart, and next year we plan to extend the orchard to include plums and pears (and if I get my way, quinces and medlars!). The snow was still on the ground when we planted, so our hardy volunteers had to scrape away the white stuff, dig the holes, fertilise the roots, carefully plant the trees, fill in, stake, rabbit proof and put a mulch mat on every one with some numb fingers but everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We had one extra in our group that day - the resident farm collie was determined to spend the day with us and continually brought us gifts of sticks and balls to be thrown. At least chasing him around kept us warm!

Hi Andrew!

Thankfully the snow was long gone by Easter and we actually had some dry weather! Thousands of people came to the park over the long weekend to take part in the easter egg trails, egg and spoon races and games. We also has an archery weekend which proved very popular with children and adults alike - some of the warden volunteers came in just to have a go. I have some photos of Phil, Jen and David - they will follow shortly (thank you Martin!)



The long cold winter has meant that the planting season could be extended so as well as our original 10,000 hedge plants we have also managed to plant another 2,000 hawthorn, blackthorn and hazel and 250 conifers - some of these extra plants have gone into hedges, some into future coppice and some into a plantation on the deer park which will provide cover and food for the deer in years to come. Now, the plants are coming into bud and leaf so the planting season is finishing - just the last few to go in tomorrow and Monday.

Hazel catkins



Sycamore buds





The new seasons jobs have started for the wardens already - down on the river meadows we have been clearing the flood debris off of the fences and repairing the posts and wires where the sheer force of the water has damaged the boundary. It was also a good chance for a litter pick - so many plactic bottles etc. get dumped on our land every years as the floods recede. This year my dog Max benefited from the clean up too - with seven tennis balls, two footballs and a frisbee all presented to him by the volunteers. A happier dog has seldom been seen!



Back in the park, work has begun on a new bird hide area in the woods at the north end of the Mile Walk with Craig leading small teams in making willow hurdles to screen people away from the birds. In time, there will be feeders and bird boxes to watch and if it proves popular, more hides could follow in the near future.

Sky lanterns

Last week I walked across the Deer Park at the end of the day, checking on some work that had been done and how the paths are withstanding the continued wet weather. I saw a patch of blue on the grass and went to investigate, finding a tattered Chinese sky lantern. These lanterns are very controversial - they are popular at weddings and New Year celebrations and last year it was estimated that over 200,000 were bought in the UK, but they pose severe threat to wildlife and livestock because they are made with thin, sharp wire and bamboo. The wire and bamboo can break and splinter and if ingested can cause internal bleeding and death - there are many recorded instances of this happening to cattle. Birds can get hit by them and caught up as they fall to the ground - barn owls have been found dead amongst lantern debris. Fires can be started if the candle is still flaming - hay barns etc are at risk. Stock and wildlife can also get caught up in the wire, which was my immediate concern for the deer. If a deer gets anything caught on its antlers - wire, plastic bags etc. - they panic and try to run away from it, causing stress, exhaustion and likely death. In other countries, these lanterns have been banned due to the dangers and farmers are calling for a similar ban here. Please discourage the use of sky lanterns, and if you come across one in the countryside then please pick it up and dispose of it safely - you could be saving something from injury or death.

We also had a working party from Natural England join us for an afternoon of hazel planting. The hazel will be coppiced in the future for hedge laying materials. We planted them under the new power lines so that we can control the height of growth and reduce the need for the power company to come out and cut trees growing through the lines. Despite only having a few hours together we managed to plant 150 trees as well as a good look around the area and walk to and from site - so thank you Natural England team!

Finally just a quick note to my fellow dog owners - the meadow in the middle of the Mile Walk is now closed as the tenant farmer, Mr Dixon, wil be using it again to graze his cattle and grow a silage crop.