Usually seen at night on my trail cameras today our local fox came to see me just after lunch and sat by the pond for 10 minutes.

Many thanks to David Noble-Rollin for securing a grant from the Dickinson fund enabling us to obtain 50 bird boxes (25 for this year, see pic, and 25 boxes for next year). This fund is managed by the Natural History Society of Northumbria.

I am told we will be supplied with a squad of students to put these bird box kits together, which will save me a bit of time. Before this happens we will survey the site to determine the best sites for these boxes. The long skinny boxes you can see are for Willow Tits which are on the ‘red list’ of birds at risk, we have a healthy little colony to it would be great if we can encourage a few more. Also one of the key reasons for being successful in the grant application was the fact we were able to show a positive improvement in the tree sparrow population ( a bird also ‘at risk’). Hopefully the increased number of safe homes will improve this even further.

Today we had a visit from the Natural History Society of Northumbria, there  photography course participants came to the bog on a field visit to do learn the art of bird photography. The course was led by the renowned ornithologist David Noble-Rollins, a Morpethian.

Here we have my efforts while watching the group using our hide for the first time; a Blue Tit, Great Tit, pair of Long Tailed Tits, Tree Sparrow, Dunnock, Bullfinch, and Chaffinch.

I was up at 5am to see if I could capture an image of the blood moon over the bog, here is my best shot:-

I was at the launch of ‘Discover our land’ at Close House yesterday. It’s a new social media initiative by Northumberland County Council to promote the County of Northumberland. We were fortunate enough to be chosen as one of the first set of ‘stories’ to be told.

If your interested not only about Clarks Bog but also other hidden gems of Northumberland then checkout the web address below:-

discoverourland.co.uk

We had a bit of reclaimed stone, so I was trying to decide where it could be best used. I decided to create a living wall.

We have chambers in the wall for our little furry friends, embedded logs which have been drilled for insects ( such as solitary bees), and soil placed in the top will be planted in the spring. Let’s see if this works😜.

Work began back in The summer of 2018 to replace the straw bale hide that our local rats had taken up residence in. It’s been a long road but we are nearly finished. Only the roofing felt, screws and paint have been bought all the other materials are salvaged, my little triumph for recycling! So we now have a comfortable wildlife watching hide with insulation and padded seats, luxury😀. Much thanks goes to my co builder John Bell for his time and patience working with a complete novice builder!

Our latest project is putting in a wheelchair friendly(hopefully) ramp to the entrance to hide 1:

Not quite finished yet but we are getting there.

One of our Princes Trust team came back for a weeks work experience. Alex got stuck in with building an observation mound with rustic seating. Although its not finished yet he made a good start.

Lots of lively little froglets have left the pond, mind your feet!