BEAUTIFUL BRANSDALE

My new role with the Trust means I have a lot of travelling to a lot of new places! Previously, when I was based at the Lighthouse the furthest I would usually travel would be to Whitelea Farm in Peterlee but now I go much further afield. One such place is Bransdale, in the North York Moors. Its a truly stunning area, a valley full of ancient woodland, becks and streams, dry stone walls and, of course, lots and lots of moorland. There's certainly no lack of greenery.  Its also remote. Very remote! Because of this there is next to no phone signal and absolutely zero mobile internet service. That might be heaven for some but hell for others. I'm somewhere in the middle. Thankfully the Ranger base at Smout House has wi-fi so you are not completely cut off from the world, but at times it certainly feels like you are. 

This past week I spent a couple of days working in the Bransdale area. The Trust own a number of farms in the region, and I began the job of meeting up with the farmers that are tenants on our land. We're currently working on management plans as part of the HLS Scheme, hoping to improve biodiversity and farm in more nature friendly ways. One of the aims is for every single field to have at least one thing that is good for nature, whether its a hedgerow, pond, trees or a wildflower meadow. Most of the farmers are absolutely on board and full of enthusiasm, but not all. And thats completely understandable! Its going against years and years of historical farming methods, and its up to us to help them to see that change is good. Not just good for nature but good for them. 

Whilst in Bransdale I stayed at the bunkhouse at the old Mill. Its a cracking place, not too far from the Ranger base but remote enough to feel like you are all alone in the world! Because of this, you are completely surrounded by nature. A number of birds are nesting in amongst the old and ruined buildings, including Blue Tits, Spotted Flycatcher, Grey Wagtail and Song Thrush. Dippers can be seen whizzing up and down the stream. Woodcock fly up above on an evening along with the majestic Barn Owls that are nesting in the old barn. As the night falls Bats appear in numbers, to the naked eye it looked like more than one species. Amusingly a hedgehog bumbled its way between my legs seemingly oblivious to my presence. I actually took my moth trap with me to see what was around but the weather was incredibly disappointing, cold, windy and completely cloudless - all terrible for catching moths. Unsurprisingly I only had 4 species, the best being a Poplar Hawkmoth. I mean, who on earth doesn't like a Hawkmoth!!!

 The undoubted highlight for me was checking the woodland nestboxes with Ranger Lisa. There are 50 boxes, and just under half are occupied. The usual Tit species dominate as they usually do, but a couple of the boxes were used by Pied Flycatchers and another box by Redstarts. This is particularly exciting for me as none of my hundreds of boxes have ever had these two species. It was a lovely treat and a nice little send off before I headed home.

A NEW START

 

                                           

                                            A NEW START

Welcome to my new wildlife blog! A blog all about wildlife and my love of it. I'm a very lucky person when it comes to connecting with nature, I see some beautiful places and encounter fantastic wildlife, in part through my job but also in my own personal time, and I wanted to create a space to write about it and share it with anyone that may be interested in reading what I get up to. But more importantly, I'm actually doing this for myself! This isn't my first blog, I started one about 10 years ago that at the time I thoroughly enjoyed. But, as is often the case, after a few years the posts began to dwindle as interest waned and priorities changed. And so the blog was relegated to the archives. That is, until last week when I stumbled across it completely by chance. I was searching for something on the internet, I can't even remember what it was, but out of the blue my old blog showed up. And as I started to read it nostalgia kicked in, and I absolutely loved reminiscing about all the things I'd done in the past. As I looked at all the old pictures and read the old posts I realised the old blog was a record of my life at that time, like a permanent pictorial diary, and something that I could look back on whenever I wanted to. So that's one of the reasons I'm doing it again, in years to come I want to be able to have a chance to look back and enjoy reading about the things I've done, the places I've been and the amazing wildlife I've enjoyed along the way. 

                                                          A NEW POST

This new blog has kind of come at a perfect time, as I find myself embarking on a new role with the National Trust. Anyone that knows me knows I've been part of the furniture at Souter Lighthouse since it was built in 1871 (only a slight exaggeration!), and I'll always love the place, but a month ago, at the start of April, I became the new Project Ranger for our region. And when I find out exactly what a Project Ranger actually is I'll be sure to let you know! In all seriousness its a really exciting role which sees me covering a huge area including South Tyneside, Durham, the Yorkshire Coast and the North York Moors! Its a very varied role that includes doing wildlife surveys, public events, normal Ranger work and of course, a number of projects! At the moment its only a 2 year role but we're all hopeful it'll turn into a long term position. Either way, I'm going to make sure I have fun and make the most of a brilliant opportunity.

                                                       A NEW PROPERTY

The National Trust recently announced they had acquired Crook Hall and Gardens, a stunning property on the outskirts of Durham City Centre. Its a beautiful old building with gorgeous gardens, and one of my first jobs is to survey the place to see what wildlife it has. One of the best finds so far was the nesting site of one of my favourite birds, the Robin. It had chosen to nest in a fantastic place, in a crevice in the old hall, next to a beautiful old door. Thankfully its not open to the public at the moment so there is plenty of time to get her clutch away in peace and quiet.