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