Have you ever felt like the Universe is trying to tell you
something? Over the last few weeks I have
started to feel like I have the wrong name….I have received no fewer than 5
emails, all from unrelated people on unrelated subjects who, having written in
my email address (which has my name in it) have then gone on to start the email
‘Dear Caroline…’. If this wasn’t bizarre
enough I also received a Christmas card through my letter box from ‘neighbour’
(no name given) also wishing ‘Caroline’ a happy Christmas. So what to do? Find Caroline? I can only continue to sign my name Catherine
in large letters and hope the universe backs off in its quest to rename me.
Now back in October, some students from Southampton
University came to film a bushcraft event I was doing with children, for a film
they were making about the National Trust’s scheme of ’50 Things to do before
you’re 11 ¾’. If you haven’t heard of
this scheme, look it up as its great fun and basically all about getting kids
out the house and enjoying everything the outdoors has to offer – all free
things that only require enthusiasm and imagination. I've found the adults seem to enjoy it just as much too.
Anyway the finished film was put up on YouTube this week and
if you paste the following link into your internet address bar you can watch
it. Myself and my colleague Ryan both
feature in it from minute 6 onwards – we watched it between our fingers as
I hate hearing what my voice sounds like and Ryan thinks he has a face for
Crimewatch!
But putting aside our
own insecurities it is a nice bit of filming and the students have done a good
job of getting the message across so thanks to them for including us. One minor flaw – they got my name wrong! Not Caroline this time, but they have put me
as Catherine Hadley (not Hadler) so now everywhere I go at work people are
singing Spandau Ballet tracks at me….but hey, what’s in a name?
Now, on February 16th,17th, 22nd and 23rd, we are hosting a wild snowdrop walk, from the grounds
here at Mottisfont. This walk takes
people across our parkland and fields and into a private woodland off the
beaten track where a beautiful secret lies hidden within. This woodland hosts a sea of wild snowdrops
that carpet the floor and make you feel like you’ve wandered into Narnia. I walked the route the other day to check for
any problems or tree damage after the storms and I was struck by artistic
looking remains of this tree that I came across – it is literally the very
outer shell of a tree, all that is left after years of decay and it has been
smoothed by the wind and the rain until it resembles a undulating, flowing
river of wood and bark.
I spent last weekend in the Isle of Wight doing Dormouse
habitat work with PTES (People’s Trust for Endangered Species). This is an annual event and always good fun
and a chance to see old faces again.
This year managed to bring me a first for my adulthood, in the form of a
real live wild red squirrel – the first I had seen since I was a child. We got a good look at it as it pirouetted its
way through the trees above our heads and I was struck by how much lighter they
move than their chubby grey counterparts.
This red squirrel barely seemed to touch a branch when it skipped between them,
whilst when you watch a grey leap into a branch it sways and wobbles.
The Isle of Wight has no grey squirrels, no deer (so no deer
protection needed on coppiced woodland) and, due to their dislike of crossing
water, no Tawny Owls! Now there’s a fact
that might win you a pub quiz one day.
 |
| Pretty Squirrel Nutkin (photo sourced from NT archive) |
Great post Caroline, I never knew that there aren't any Tawny Owls on the Isle of Wight. I'm heading over to Brownsea Island on my TOIL days for some Red Squirrel watching.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there were no Tawny Owls either! And what's in a name..... I worked in a bakery when I was 15, and every Saturday for a whole year a man came in for a ham and egg sandwich and always called me Rosie.No matter how many times I told him otherwise, that is what I became. And I often get called Rebecca.
ReplyDeleteI stop trying to correct people now.
Haha well I'm glad its not just me! But you didn't put a name so i cant name you correctly or incorrectly!
DeleteHello Catherine,
DeleteThe Forestry Commission have recently clarified a misleading impression that they may have given about the Isle of Wight having a deer free status.
To quote Simon Hodgson, CEO, Forest Enterprise England :-
" This is of course a relative term which compares the minimal deer numbers on the Isle of Wight with significant populations on the mainland".
Unfortunately this has previously led to many people erroneously believing that there are no deer on the island and it would be more correct to say that woodland biodiversity on the Isle of Wight benefits from the presence of a low density wild deer population.
In fact we have had wild deer on the island since the 1970's or 80's and there is a small breeding population of Red deer, last year Roe tracks were also discovered here.
Best wishes,
Tim
Hi Tim,
DeleteThanks for that, i was under the impression that the only deer on the IoW were escaped herds of Reds- so its interesting to learn you do have your own wild populations. I must mention it next time i go coppicing over there - they may want to start thinking about deer protection! Although the nunmbers are obviously low enough not to have an adverse effect on regrowth.
Thanks for reading!
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the "they are only deer farm escapes ploy" I think that the public authorities probably dreamed that one up some years ago to keep people off their backs when they decided that the Isle of Wight should become an experimental deer free zone.
Sadly some conservation groups have been drawn into supporting this extermination campaign, even though deer were once found in Borthwood and Parkhurst alongside the Red Squirrels and Dormice that can still be found there.
Deer remain at low density on the island so coppicing using the traditional practice of depositing light brashings over the cut stools may well suffice for the foreseeable future.
Best wishes,
Tim
Hi Catherine,
ReplyDeleteA growing number of people are showing an interest in the Isle of Wight's wild deer population so I have set up a wordpress blog site and a flickr album to help to keep everyone informed.
http://timbrayford.wordpress.com/.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/121124273@N04/sets/
Please feel free to view, contribute and share.
Best wishes,
Tim
HI Tim,
ReplyDeleteYour blog is very interesting and i shall pass it onto the group i work with on the IoW when we do dormouse surveying in summer and dormouse habitat work in winter - funny how the rumour about 'escaped farmed deer' was so well known! The coppice work we have done over the past few years has not suffered deer damage so they must indeed be in low numbers.
I shall keep an eye on your website, thanks for giving me the link.
Cheers,
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you found my blog interesting. I understand from the IW Steam Railway that deer have been seen from their trains. The line passes adjacent to important dormouse habitat so I presume that somewhere within these are also some deer which are causing no problems.
Incidentally I see someone has asked why there are no Tawny Owls on the island. Curiously enough Flowerdew and Ellwood in their research "Impacts of woodland deer on small mammal ecology" link this to woodland vegetation being too dense for the owls to hunt key prey species such as Wood Mice and Bank Voles. Deer grazing can open up some areas to allow the owls to hunt on the edges of these areas.
Best wishes,
Tim