Horse-logging

The Harvest Fair and Uncovered weekend was a massive success! Two days of glorious sunshine and fascinating demonstrations, along with tasty freshly pressed apple juice and two sturdy ponies, meant that there was something for everyone to enjoy. I spent my weekend in the Deer Park playing assistant to Barbara Haddrill as she and her two cob ponies, Billy and Tyler, drew the crowds with demonstrations of horse logging. Before tractors, timber felled in woodlands would have been extracted by horses and the tradition continues today - horses can cope with sloping terrain, low branches and tight spaces to work in far better than tractors in some cases. We have recently widened a path through Repton's Wood and Barbara and her team pulled the timber out ready for our timber crane to load up and take away to the wood stack. When they were not hard at work, Billy and Tyler posed for photographs and a good fuss from everyone, even winning over a lady that had been afraid of horses for most of her life - it was a wonderful moment to see her joy at touching them.

Tyler working solo

Billy, Tyler and a very happy warden



 Working as a pair, these two sturdy ponies can pull up to a tonne at a time on flat ground - impressive!

This week we spent a day preparing a hedge at Duncote Farm for laying, cutting out the side branches and any dead elder and looking at which way to lay the pleachers. There are several young oaks in this hedge that we will leave to grow into standard trees, and I noticed a few of the leaves were covered in spangle galls. Each of these tiny discs contains a single gall wasp, Neuroterus quercusbaccarum, which fall to the ground over autumn and winter and emerge as adults in April. These spring emergers are all female and are 'agamic' or able to reproduce without mating. They lay their eggs in the buds of oak trees, forming currant galls on the catkins and leaves, which emerge in June as males and females. They then mate and lay their eggs on the underside of the oak leaves again and form the spangle galls.

Spangle galls

Parades... and pumpkins

The weekend before last included the annual Carriage Parade event. Unfortunately the weather was against us on the day with gales and rain predicted, so only seven teams took part and the route was shortened to end early. The weekend wardens were on hand to help man the gates on the front and back drives as the horses moved out and in, as well as a spot of cow herding to ensure that the cattle and horses remained as far apart as possible. Despite the miserable weather our hardier visitors still turned out to watch the parade and to meet the heavy horses on show by the mansion. The horses looked fantastic and the event really helped the imagination to picture how the park would have looked with carriages coming to and fro as they did for so many decades.

For the last two days I have been at Charlecote Park in Warwick attending a tree safety course. Trees in public and heavily visited areas have to be regularly monitored and managed to make them as safe as possible so I have been learning how the Trust carries out these surveys and what to look for. Its a long and sometimes complicated task but absolutely essential, so I hope to be able to assist my manager in future surveys to further my knowledge and experience until I am ready to take them on myself. Charlecote is a beautiful property with some wonderful veteran trees (and another herd of fallow deer) - I would thoroughly recommend a visit!

 

 

We are now busily preparing for this weeks big event - the Harvest Fair and Uncovered weekend. The harvest fair will be based in the walled garden and orchard where there will be stalls, displays and apple pressing - at the moment it is worth a visit just to see the amazing array of pumpkins and squashes that the gardeners have been busy growing! Uncovered weekend will give you the chance to see what produce is made and taken from the whole estate and explores the theme of sustainability. There will be timber milling and horses pulling timber from the woodland, talks and demonstrations, guided walks and 'deer unmaking'. Curious? Then come along this weekend - see the main website for more details.

 

 

Finally I would like to say a few words to two of our team who have finished their time with us, at least for now: Milly has returned to Harper Adams University to complete her final year and Craig has finished his Passport To Your Future training. We hope that we will see them both again soon, and want to say a massive thank you for the hard work and dedication displayed by both - it really isn't the same without them, and they are sorely missed!

 

 



The new season begins

Chilly air, hanging mists at dawn and wardens wearing fleeces can mean only one thing - autumn is here. It is my favourite of all seasons (although it does hail the end of the dragonfly season, which is sad for me but good for anyone that has had enough of the endless photographs!). As the season changes, so do our tasks. Over the next few weeks we will finish fencing, mowing and monitoring flora and fauna and begin the autumn and winter tasks of planting, hedgelaying and coppicing.

For now though, we finish the last of the summer jobs. The deer fence repair is now complete, using a combination of new and reused cleft oak - it will take a while for the fresh oak to weather and fade into grey. The volunteer team did a great job finishing off the pales so thank you!

Over the last few weeks, Chris Wittles has continued with his bird ringing on various sites across the estate, sharing his finds with us to give us a better picture of the species and their populations that we have here. He has been experimenting with using recorded bird calls to see if different species respond to them and when I arrived (very) early last Thursday he had just caught and ringed three Black caps - they had been seeing and hearing them fly by for weeks without actually catching any in the nets. The recording seemed to work that day! Once ringed, the little birds were immediately released and went soaring back down the river.

Now that the children have gone back to school we have been doing some maintenance in the play area on quieter days. The large log pile has been repainted with grip paint and a new layer of woodchip spread around it; the climbable 'cube' has been restocked with wood and new rope attached; the vehicle gate has been covered with mesh to prevent little ones from climbing over. Next jobs will include more grip paint on the balance logs and repairing the fence where a tree has fallen over it - so far it has provided a wonderful climbing frame but the time has come for a tidy up!

Keep an eye out as you walk along any hedges with Dog Rose growing in them - the Robin's Pincushions are starting to turn scarlet, another sign of the oncoming autumn. I spotted five on one plant earlier today. These beautiful abnormalities are caused by the gall wasp Diplolepsis rosae which burrows in to the stem or leaf of the dog rose plant and causes the plant to react by growing excess cells into these wispy little balls. There are some growing on the Ice House roses too so keep an eye out for them.

Finally, one last dragonfly to see you through the winter - a male common darter on the Mile Meadow pond. I promise no more for a while!

Another sunny day in the Deer Park

It's September already but the summer is holding on with another day of sunshine. Today the team donned their high vis vests and continued the deer fence repair, digging in the oak posts and fitting the rails that our cleft oak pales will attach to. The ground in this area is packed hard and full of stones, so digging in the heat was no easy task! Tomorrow I expect us to finish the whole job, though it will take a while before the oak ages and blends in with the rest of the fence.

While we measured by the posts for cutting this little beauty landed next to me and posed for some pictures - I believe it to be a teneral (immature) female common darter but if anyone knows better then please let me know - I'm still learning!

 

Our new walk opened on Sunday as part of the  Great British Walk - Attingham is proud to be one of 10 properties offering a 'secret' walk to a previously unreachable location. The wardens played a big part in getting the walk ready and have even starred in the photographs and interviews that you may have seen in the Times, Telegraph and Daily Mail. Feedback so far has been great - have any of you seen where it takes you yet?

 

Finally, has anyone else noticed what the bees have been up to on the side of the mansion? This has been steadily growing over the last few weeks on the east side, near the Orangery. My little compact camera couldn't zoom enough to get a decent shot (it's very high up) but luckily our volunteer photographer Sean took some great close ups - I can't wait to see how much  bigger it gets!

 

 



 

Last week of the holidays

Just a quick update on what we have been doing over the last week or so. The bank holiday was very busy again here at Attingham, with archery, canoeing and Trusty Tuesday club bringing in the crowds. The wardens have been keeping everything running smoothly in the car park, juggling tents and events, and also continuing with the small mammal monitoring that Jess wrote about in the last post. This week we have been concentrating on two new projects - repairing the deer park fence where it was damaged by a car and  creating the new coach park area as part of the stables and visitor reception regeneration. Path preparation will also be a focus for the next few days as the Great British Walk starts this weekend, so come along for a chance to see some different spaces!

Small mammal monitoring

 Jess and Paige (our student research intern) have been busy setting up a survey and monitoring of small mammals in the Park. Such monitoring is important as it allows us to observe rises and declines in populations. Currently there has been an alarming 75% decrease in small mammals across the UK - we need to find out if the same trend is apparent on our land. Small mammals such as voles, shrews and mice are important species and an indicator of habitat health - a decline in their numbers could have a big impact on other species such as the Barn Owl, which depends on them for food. Surveying is carried out using live trapping and the animals are released back into their territory as soon as we record the species.

The traps are filled with hay to make comfortable bedding for the night. Small mammals (and especially shrews) need to eat every few hours due to their high metabolism so several foods are also included in each trap - blowfly pupae (for the carnivores), a seed mix for the vegetarians and some chopped apple to provide water.

When emptying the triggered traps to see what has been caught, a large bag is used to stop the creatures escaping before we can identify them.The species, age and sex is noted. They are handled by a method called 'scruffing' - it may sound rough but it is simply holding them by the back of the neck, much like puupies and kittens, to examine them.

Above is a male field vole Microtus agrestis, identifiable by their large hind feet, short tail and grey/brown fur.

Above is one of the three common shrews Sorex araneus we caught. They have small eyes and a pointy, mobile snout. We also foudn a pygmy shrew, which is darker in colour and smaller than the common, but with a tail longer in proportion to its body.

Thank you Jess and Paige for the insight into their work! The monitoring will continue this bank holiday weekend.

Canoe fun!

Fancy a paddle along the Tern? Over the next few weeks you will be able to hire canoes or take part on a guided river tour on special days, all starting on the new jetty that the wardens built this week. On Thursday 8th August you can hire a canoe for £10 per hour, between 11am and 5pm; all equipment and safety instruction will be given by Drummond Outdoors. It will be first come, first served!

We build the jetty in stages. On day 1, a team built the frame and treadboards. On Monday Jess and I donned our chest waders and cleared the riverbank of reeds and weeds, then I used the JCB to drive chestnut posts into the riverbed to fix the jetty to. Finally on Tuesday we lifted the jetty into place, drilled and bolted it together, then built handrails to help people to step down onto the platform. Finally, some of the team tested it for sturdiness - it passed!