NESTBOX WEEK - weeks 7 & 8

 

This past week has been one of our favourite weeks of the year, our annual Nestbox Week. We've been running this event for over ten years, always in the February half term, and over time it's grown to become by far one of the most popular events we run at the lighthouse. It's always really well attended, and this year was no exception, albeit with a slight variation to our usual routine! After successfully running the event at the lighthouse, this year we decided to give it a try and have a day at our newest property, Crook Hall. As we've never ran any events at Crook before we had absolutely no way of gauging whether there would be any interest at all, so we went in kind of blind. Fot this reason, we took 100 boxes with us just incase we had a huge turnout and didn't want to run the risk of running out. We needn't have worried 😀. As I arrived at Crook, the sun was shining and the temperature was mild so the decision was made to have the event outdoors. I began to set the tables up and lay the timber out (with the help of the lovely Vicki) and everything was looking good. And then the bombshell came. My sidekick, my partner in crime, my other 'other half', big John Brown was not going to make it in. Oh cack. There had been a genuine honest mix up with travel arrangements which meant John was stranded in Sunderland and not in Durham by my side. Did I panic though? I mean, a little bit, yeah. What was I going to do if the turnout was huge? I had a similar day at Souter last year and it wasn't a pleasurable experience to say the least. Thankfully though, the day went really well. We had a nice steady stream of visitors which meant the day was quite manageable. Numbers wise, we made 22 boxes, not a huge figure but a very nice start and a good introduction to a new audience. I have absolutely no doubt that things will quickly grow at Crook and visitor participation will continue to increase as word gets around about what we offer. I've got a few more wildlife events planned for the site this year which will see interest grow and one day, maybe we'll be as established there as we are at Souter. Speaking of which, our other two nestbox days were back at the lighthouse. And thankfully I had John back beside me as both days were absolutely heaving! In the two days we made just under 130 boxes, a massive difference to the event at Crook and a vastly more intense experience. It's no exaggeration to say the days are really exhausting, not just physically but most definitely mentally as well but it's still really really good fun. And the real bonus was, other than a huge blister on my thumb I actually got through the week relatively unscathed! For me that's a miracle.

How it began 

How we hope it ends! 

The other highlight of the week saw the Ranger team visit Hamsterley Forest to attend a course on Deer and Grey Squirrel monitoring and management techniques. It was a really interesting day, half in the class and half in the field, but obviously the latter bit was the best. It was interesting to learn what to look for to indicate if there are deer on your property, and which signs relate to the different species etc etc but to be honest, the real highlight was just being out and about wandering in the forest. It's a gorgeous place, and somewhere I don't go to nearly enough, so the whole day was just an absolute pleasure. 

The Willow Tit Project with our friends at WWT Washington is still going strong. After five weeks at the small feeding station we've now relocated to two new sites. We want to cover as much of the property as possible and don't want to stay in one place for too long, so changing sites is necessary to collect as much data as possible. And the great news is the change of location worked immediately! The third Willow Tit of the project was caught at the site next to the amphibian ponds within the first hour of the day, and given the colours red over blue. Even better is there is another unringed bird hanging around with this one so that means there's at least two pairs. Hopefully we'll catch the unringed bird in the coming weeks! 

Willow Tit number 3 

One more thing of note was I managed to grab a look around the Coastal Conservation Centre while I was at Souter. Its definitely moving along at pace now and has changed significantly since my last visit. The main structure is looking great, especially as the windows are now in place, and from inside the building there is a cracking view of the lighthouse. Despite the delays the contractors are pretty confident that they'll be finished closer to the original date than they feared a couple of weeks. Either way it'll look fab when it's all done. 

WORKPLACE WILDLIFE CHALLENGE 

As expected, the many indoor sessions I've had in the last fortnight has meant very little opportunity to boost my total up. Despite this though, I've had two more firsts of the year - the first Butterfly of the year and the first Moth of the year (in fact, the first three!)! And I haven't even had the moth trap on yet so this was a nice surprise. 

078.  Song Thrush - Turdus philomelos 

079.  Red Thorax Ground Beetle - Calathus melanocephalus

080.  Micro Moth - Agonopterix heracliana ag 

081.  Micro Moth - Agonopterix arenella 

082.  Light Brown Apple moth - Epiphyas postvittana 

083.  Peacock butterfly - Aglais io 

084.  Nursery Web spider - Pisaura mirabilis 

Nursery Web Spider 

Peacock Butterfly 

Agonopterix arenella 

Agonopterix heracliana ag

Light Brown Apple Moth 

SIGNS OF SPRING - WEEKS 5 & 6

 

Ranger work has been very varied in the last two weeks, which to be honest is very much the norm in this job. We've been working across a few of our sites this past fortnight, including Crook Hall, and it's actually the first time I've been there this year. I do like it here, and I always love visiting, but it's one of our properties I don't get to see as often as others. Hopefully that will change this year and I can get there more regularly. So the task we were handed at Crook was to remove ivy from the main building. Some of the walls are needing structural surveys to see what condition they are in, but in places they ivy is so thick there's no access so it needs to come down. It's a painstakingly long and laborious job but as we've already uncovered a number of holes it's clear that's it's absolutely necessary. We've only had a couple of days on it and not gotten that far so no doubt we'll have a few more visits in the coming weeks.

We've also been continuing with the various tree felling needed at a few of our sites. The trees are either wind damaged or suffering from Ash die back, and even then we only cut them down if they pose a possible threat to the public. Once down we leave them where they lie (as long as they're not over a path) and let nature do its thing. While in Hawthorn Dene it was lovely to see the first Snowdrops of the year, a surefire sign that Spring is on the way!

We've also been busy putting together a new poly tunnel at Whitelea Farm. It's a lovely big, robust and sturdy construction which hopefully will help us be able to grow a lot of stuff on ourselves in the future. As we're busy doing other things at the moment we're only chipping away at this whenever we've got a bit of spare time so it's more than likely going to be a fair while til it's up and running but honestly that's absolutely fine!

Away from work, the Willow Tit Project at WWT Washington is going well. In four Sundays we've caught and ringed over 200 birds, including 2 of the target species, which is a pretty decent start. Hopefully those numbers will continue to grow in the coming weeks before we take a break in the nesting season. 

WORKPLACE WILDLIFE CHALLENGE 

Numbers continue to rise slowly as other Ranger duties take priority. Despite this there have been a couple of firsts, including the first Bumblebee, the first Ladybird, and even the first Bat of the year, a lone Pipistrelle species flying around the gardens of Crook Hall one very mild afternoon. But my personal highlight was one of my favourite species of spider, Stemonyphantes lineatus, which was found while working on the poly tunnel at the farm. Its one of the bigger species of tiny Money Spiders, but seen well the beautiful markings make it fairly easy to identify. Whilst on spiders, I also had a brand new species for me while working on the ivy at Crook Hall. Harpactea hombergi, or Stripe Legged Spider, is another small, well marked species, but not quite as pleasing on the eye as Stemonyphantes. 

SPECIES LIST 

065. Woodcock - Scolopax rusticola 

066. Reed Bunting - Emberiza schoeniclus

067. Woodmouse - Apodemus sylvaticus 

068. Pipistrelle sp 

069. Rabbit - Oryctolagus cuniculus 

070. Walnut Orb Weaver spider - Nuctenea umbratica 

071. Long Jawed Orb Weaver spider - Tetragnatha sp 

072. Lace Weaver spider - Amaurobius sp 

073. Stripe Legged spider - Harpactea hombergi 

074. Spider sp - Stemonyphantes lineatus 

075. Buff Tailed Bumblebee - Bombus terrestris 

076. Common Earwig - Forficula auricularia

077. Harlequin Ladybird - Harmonia axyridis 

Harlequin Ladybird 

Stemonyphantes lineatus 

Harpactea hombergi