Thanks to Brian Harle and his crew for carrying out a moth survey on the reserve, over a couple of nights.
Over the two night they identified 31 different species and there is some photos of a few of them below.
Thanks to Hazel and Nick for doing a bat survey on the reserve on Monday evening.
I will update the post when I get the official results from Hazel but we did detect at least three different bat species on the reserve.
The pics below are Hazel and Nick scanning for bats and a Soprano Pipistrelle bat that hazel brought along for Nick to do a medical check.
I spent a while watching this female laying eggs all around my small pond, amazingly agile little creature.
Many thanks to our friends at IMMI, based on Coopies Lane Industrial Estate, who sent a working party around to the reserve today as part of their community program.
We had 9 workers doing various jobs on the reserve.
They got through a fair bit of work helping to re-chip our parking area, path maintenance, and a bit of wood and log moving. They saved me a lot of work for which I am very grateful, and they were a happy bunch too.
With the help of Conner from the Princes Trust, who made our letter templates, I have started to put up signage around the site. Still a way to go but we have started.
Our little friendly Robin had one brood predated but persisted with a second brood, this time hidden in our woodshed which proved more successful than the previous bucket next to the entrance!
Five eggs, five chicks, five fledged yesterday, Hurrah!
Now we have our woodshed back.
A big thank you to Francis and his team at the BAM construction site in Morpeth for their kind donation of materials. BAM are in the closing stages of building the new Goosehill Primary School next to County Hall.
John B and myself loaded several trailers of bricks and insulation materials that will be used for paths around the classroom and for building hide number 3 on the reserve.
The BAM crew were a very friendly and helpful bunch who took a genuine interest in what we were trying to achieve, thanks again.
Those kind folks at BAM have allowed us several more trips to their site:-
Many thanks again.
We made our final scavenging trip to the BAM school site at the end of last week as the school is due to open next month.
Once again BAM were very generous and we managed to obtain the following kit:-
10 chairs
5 tables
1 desk
3 noticeboards
6 pairs of wellies, one jacket, 2 high viz tabards, 6 pairs of work gloves
1 picnic table
1000 disposable cups
6 tubes of sealant
various signs
various packs of screws
stationary
Large glazed panel
Not a bad haul of goodies, so once again thanks to Francis and his team.
We had our first group of pond dippers on the reserve last week.
Goosehill Nursery sent a class of fourteen (plus three teachers) 4-5 year olds to discover what is in our pond. After a brief tour we tried our hand at pond dipping. The youngsters came down to the pond in pairs and each had a go.
It was great to see the youngsters getting close to nature and maybe sparked an interest in nature too!
Thanks to Holly and her team for bringing the youngsters, who were all very well behaved. We didn’t lose any in the pond, which is always a plus!
I can post some pictures of the beasties we discovered in the small pond:-
This week I have had 3 students from King Edward VI High School for a weeks work experience. I decided to give them a project to plan and execute over the week.
The project I gave them was to make and install gates at two points on the reserves boundary. These will allow us to more easily move materials in and out different parts of the reserve.
Thomas, Jake and Fin, with the supervision of myself and John Bell, managed to produce and install a couple of great looking gates.
After a couple of days work they produced the larger middle gate:-
Then onto the southern gate:-
The finished gate:-
Well done guys a job well done!
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