We are drifting into the later stages of the summer here in
the Test Valley and August is currently blessing us with blue skies and burning
sunshine. This weather, alongside the
summer holidays, has brought the people flocking to Mottisfont Abbey where the
still waters of the Test run cool and the towering Plane tree’s spread their
shade for hot families to dwell in. It
always amuses me when I walk through the stable yard to see the difference
between summers beginning and end; at the start of summer, everyone sits on the
chairs and tables that are on the sunny side, in order to capture that first
bit of summer warmth; by July and August, they have swiftly flocked across to
the shady side because the heat is too intense!
It has been a good two months since I last wrote, namely due
to how busy we are across the summer (despite winter being our ‘full on’ work season
with felling and so on, summer seems to get busier every year!) but also
because when the weather is this glorious, its very hard not to be outside in
it instead of typing at a desk; today I have compromised, and sit typing under
a tree in the Abbey grounds.
Our summer months have flown by in a sort of blink and you
miss it kind of way. The wildflowers of
Stockbridge Down have blossomed and bloomed in a technicolour fury and are now
going to seed. The sheep flock have
continually eaten their way through the summer vegetation and have just moved
back to the Leckford slope to begin the feast anew – needless to say, they are
a very healthy size at the moment, and when they come running to my call the
ground shakes!
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| The sheep doing their bit - NOM! |
Already September
looms up at us, as of next week, and here and there you can spot the first
small signs of impending autumn; the first leaves changing colour and falling,
the absence of some of our migratory species, the reduction in butterfly
numbers as each species dies with the ongoing season. We have been doing all our usual surveys
across the summer months, to enable us to see how our species are faring on our
sites, in response to our management as well as to nationwide trends. The glow worm surveys on Stockbridge Down
proved a success with a similar trends to last year – June being a more quiet
month with only a few specimens found, and July being the booming peak, with
237 juicy, glowing beauties found this year, the majority being females glowing
their little bottoms off in the hunt for a mate (not much of a hunt for the
female really, she sits and glows and the males come to her!). This topped our July total of last year and
so was very pleasing as a result, despite nearly losing two of our volunteers
who fell down a rather large burrow in the dark, which was also hidden by the
long vegetation (we managed to drag them out, so all good).
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| A quick photo of a glowing female glow worm - you can just see her glowing bottom in the torchlight |
On our heathland regeneration site in Foxbury the Nightjar
surveys have also come up trumps with 24 churring males recorded over the
course of the survey season. One of our
rangers Dave J happened across a nightjar nest by chance on site and managed to
get some brilliant camera trap footage showing this magnificent and slightly
weird looking bird.
This time of year also brings the Barbastelle bat surveys
with it, and in our woodlands at Mottisfont we have been walking the transect
routes recording bat calls which are then analysed on the computer to
differentiate the Barbastelle from the other bat species which were abroad that
night. Being that our woodlands are
designated as an SAC (Special Area of Conservation) due to the presence of the
Barbastelle maternity roost, our woodland management has to very thoroughly and
carefully tie in with this; whilst we manage our woodlands for conservation and
timber produce, we must also manage them for the bats in terms of ensuring that
none of our woodland work adversely impacts upon them, as well as managing for
the future – so choosing trees to become future veteran trees and future bat
roosts and so on. Of course, the bats
will still go where ever they like and roost in trees that do not appear to
display any sign of potential bat habitat (I have seen some of these roost
trees, small, skinny, no cracks or flaking bark…and yet they are used!) but we
must still plan ahead using what knowledge we do have of their preferred
habitat types and work towards this. To
this end, and as our Woodland Stewardship is soon to come to a close, we have
been working in conjunction with Natural England and the Forestry Commission on
our new woodland management plan for countryside stewardship that combines all
these features, from managing for the SAC and bats, to managing our timber
production now and for the future and potential to combat risks of climate
change such as spread of disease and loss of species. This plan has proven fairly colossal and both
Dave C and Ryan have put a huge amount of work into it to get it approved and
submitted in time for the deadline. The
future of our woodlands has been rewritten!
Another huge development which has occurred since I last
wrote features our smallest but no less loved site on the Hamble River. This is where we have our strip of ancient
woodland meandering alongside the Hamble estuary, complete with its salt
marshes and reed bed habitat all of which are of critical importance on an
international scale. As such the site
has just about every designation you can throw at it; SSSI, SAC, SPA, RAMSAR,
NNR (I will let you google all those).
The site is prone to pressure from encroaching development which knocks
at its boundaries and also from sea level rises and higher tides, already
evident, which are slowly eroding away the woodland edge and resulting in the
loss of some impressive veteran trees.
Last year a chance came up for us to help safeguard the site and try and
relieve some of the pressure on this woodland.
After many months of consultations, project boards and application papers
as well as a lot of hard work from all involved, we finally got the go ahead to
purchase a parcel of land that had gone up for sale bordering the woodland,
using project Neptune funding (this is a fund source the National Trust set up
to help buy areas of coastline/estuary that need safeguarding). With this funding we were then able to
successfully buy the land and got full ownership of the area in July this year
– much to my beaming, excited, bountiful delight! After all the months of uncertainty as to
whether we could get the funding or whether someone else would buy it out from
under us – it’s ours! We have not just
bought a land parcel; we have bought a chance to prevent the habitat here from
succumbing to the pressures of increasing population and climate change. The new parcel of land can be allowed to
regenerate and turn into woodland, with access through it which will help take
the pressure off the current woodland area which is suffering badly from soil
erosion and excessive runoff. Increasing
the woodland will help counteract the runoff that comes with the nearby
developments, and provide more space for people to roam without all hitting the
same area too hard. It will also be the
woodland of the future, as the current one is lost to the rising estuary; it
now has a chance to extend outwards and survive. I find it mind boggling to think that this is
the beginning of something that will stand for centuries; long after I am gone,
this special place will remain. A huge
thank you to everyone who put their heart into this project and acquiring this
piece of land, including Peter Nixon, Richard Henderson, Paul Cook, Dylan
Everett, James Taylor and other members of the board – take a walk through the
Hamble woodlands on a summer’s day like today, look out across the historic
estuary and feel just how precious an area you have helped to protect for the
future.
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| Looking out at the estuary from our woodlands - stunning. |
And so our work goes ever onwards with the seasons, always
fighting to conserve and manage the land we own and safeguard it for the future,
whilst always opening our minds to new opportunities and chances to save more
land from the clutches of urban sprawl.
This is the time of year when I begin to count the last few signs of a
fading summer, a season I love so much for its vibrancy and light and life
(although the brambles, nettles, horse flies and ticks do get a little
tiring). The Turtle Doves have long
since flown from Stockbridge Down; their purring calls have fallen silent.
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| The backside of a Turtle Dove! Best shot i could get...apart from some decent film footage which is too large to upload here. |
However the weather is glorious and there is
still life in the old girl of summer yet, with the swallows dancing crazily
around our farmyard, still very much with us, and, more importantly, the very
promising looking start of the foragers harvest….blackberries, sloes, hazelnuts,
walnuts are all popping out and, most importantly of all – the apple
harvest. My beady eye has already
clocked the ripening apples on trees across our estate including our orchard,
carpark and woodland apple trees. Very
soon now I will begin the scrumping and pillaging ready for my annual cider
making mid-September. Definitely one of
the highlights to summers end!
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| Mmmm..not long now my lovelies, until i pulp you to juice... |
I shall leave you with a selection of photos that detail the
sights and sounds of working in the countryside over the summer months far
better than my words (and if you only ever want the photos and not the words
then follow me on Instagram, username: swhantsnt). Enjoy!
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| Chalkhill Blue butterflies emerged in their hundreds on the Down |
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| Golden Ringed Dragonfly |
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| Hornet Robber fly on Stockbridge - a rarity! |
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| The Curious Cattle of Stockbridge Down, lurking in the undergrowth |
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| Ryan modelling a Comma butterfly |
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| You know you have improved on your wildflower ID when you can tell these three apart - L-R = Mouse Eared Hawkweed, Smooth Hawksbeard and Rough Hawks Bit....i think... |
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| Synchronized bumbling |
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| Wasp spiders on Stockbridge Marsh - this Shelob caught and wrapped a bush cricket before my eyes! |
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| Flag Iris seed pods - whopping! |
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| The Harebells of summer |
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| Common Blues mating |
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| The Curious Cattle of Stockbridge assaulting my truck - again |
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| More new Juniper babies this year! So teeny! |
PS: Working in the current heat levels is helping me to
acclimatise for my Sahara trek in November (and making me realise just quite
what I’m letting myself in for!). If you
wish to donate towards my 100km challenge, in honour of Water Aid, then please
click the link below – thank you!
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