Work Party on Saturday a bit of frost, but the sun was out and five hardy souls reported for duty. Mostly spent time attacking emergent scrub dotted over the Lower Meadow, but grandson did a tour of the fence posts marking loosish ones with the red spot, but only two so far are in definite need of replacement, but more fence posts to go before final tally. Thanks to Martin who bought along some Bakewell Tarts.
Now in possession of four replacement nest boxes (thanks to South Notts for funding) plus two to reinstate and hope to get them up next week, weather and cordless drill driver permitting. That should see us back up to a complement of 18 boxes before the nesting season really starts.
Still have some sections of fence post to check and then I can let the Estates Team know so they can replace where necessary, hopefully not to many, but don`t want to be chasing sheep around the site later in the year !
On the sheep front Notts Wildlife Trust have got funding from Rushcliffe Borough Council for two large water tanks. The last two years, with the hotter summers, have been rather fraught in terms of keeping the sheep supplied with water and it is expected that these will make this a lot easier to support the little beasts on site.
I have also purloined, from a passing son in law, a roll of roofing felt so I can now think in terms of more ambitious plans to check various locations on and around the reserve for Sloworms in the spring/summer. Presence or absence it is all good intel.
The other bit of good news is that RBC have requested NWT, under the Service Level Agreement, to draw up a Managment Plan for the created species rich grasslands either side of the tramway. This area is owned by RBC (despite being in the city !) and represents both a useful extension to Wilwells habitat and also a good link to the Fairham Brook wildlife corridor (linking both to the Silverdale Local Nature Reserve and the Fairham Brook Nature Reserve. It is also one of the areas our Sloworms are venturing into.
Gordon the Warden