EuCAN and Kingcombe Meadows

Well, time has flown by and once again I need to make apologies for the radio silence. Work manages to keep me surprisingly busy, and we are in the middle of the hay-making season just now which is a whole different ballgame!

Anyway, I really wanted to write about the fantastic weekend I had down in Dorset with the European Conservation Action Network (EuCAN). For those who don't know of this organisation, they work hard to encourage partnerships across europe for the benefit of conservation, and help to train up budding environmentalists. I travelled with EuCAN to Hungary in 2010 to work with one of their partners, Aggtelek National Park, on a working conservation/training/cultural experience trip. I believe this experience helped me to gain my first paid, permanent job in conservation.

The organisation also run training events within the UK. The weekend I attended in May was a chance to learn some butterfly and moth Identification, catch up with Nigel Spring (who established EuCAN in 2007) and revisit a beautiful part of the country. For my girlfriend Tash, not previously involved with EuCAN but trying to gain employment in the conservation sector, it was an opportunity to gain some valuable skills and knowledge to that end.

Friday, May the 18th. Ensuring we had the last of our things packed, Tash and I hit the road for the journey from Essex to Dorset. Tash had wheels and elected to drive us there, so I did what I could in the way of petrol money, DJing and ebullient camaraderie to ease the burden. Our route took us near to Stonehenge, and as I'd not seen this national monument we chose to break up the journey with a sightseeing stop. It was fey and fascinating, and a choice spot to eat lunch!

Stonehenge, our choice of lunch stop

 We arrived at the Kingcombe centre in the afternoon, and after settling into our room there was tea and cakes in the conservatory which was a good chance to meet some of the other people attending the weekend. We also took a walk through the Kingcombe Meadows nature reserve (managed by Dorset Wildlife Trust) with some of the other attendees. This was lovely, as the meadows really are quite special and we were walking with some knowledgeable people. Some of the sightings included a number of orchids, and hayrattle, which I learnt is parasitic on grasses so it can open up the sward (hence farmers don't like it, and conservationists do!). We then proceeded to drinks and introductions in the barn, followed by supper in the conservatory. The food was a delight, as always when eating with EuCAN! To finish the evening, we had a presentation from Nigel about the previous trips and the other activities of EuCAN, featuring lots of photos. I even featured in one photo of the Hungary trip!

After a restful sleep in our pretty room within the barn building, Tash and I rose for an early walk to survey for breeding birds with Nigel and many of the weekend's participants, in spite of the 6.30am start. This was before breakfast, so there may have been a few stomach rumbles in addition to the birdsong that morning! Some members of the group were very keen birders so I managed to pick up a few identification tips even before breakfast. The early bird gets the worm indeed!

Breakfast was large and well-earned, and was followed up with an examination of the moth trap which had been set out the night before. For those who haven't used one, they are much friendlier than they sound! A trap entices moths in at night with light or food, and the cunning design means they have trouble flying out again so you can sample the local moth population at your convenience the next morning.

To someone starting out on moth studies, there is an extraordinary array of exotically-named species! Saturday morning saw us bandying about names such as "brimstone", "pebble prominent", "brindled beauty"; many of the moths were beautiful or outlandish in appearance too when closely examined, but even with the seemingly dull and inconspicuous varieties there can be a poetry in their naming.

Enthusiastic people gathered around the moth trap

At this point Tash and I parted ways; my lovely lady joined a group of brushcutter inductees who were to be trained and certified in the use of that noisy yet useful machine. In fact, they used their new-found skills on Alners Gorse later on in the day, which gave them added experience and helped to maintain this scenic area as an open and scrub-free habitat (to the benefit of butterflies!).

I attended brushcutter training on my previous visit to Kingcombe, a preparatory weekend before the Hungary trip over two years earlier. This meant I had time to visit another moth trap with other participants, so it was with a head full of moths and their eloquent english names that I headed out for the day's main activity. I elected to join the plant identification group on the saturday, which left butterfly identification for the last day of the weekend. Saturday's botanising was led by Dominic Price (who recently established the Species Recovery Trust) and also considered the role of the local flora as food plants for butterflies and moths.

I learnt that Devil's-bit Scabious, one of the wildflowers found at Roding Valley Meadows, is depended upon by the Marsh Fritillary butterfly. This plant likes two very different types of habitat: very wet acidic bogs, and very dry calcareous grasslands, two extremes of the wet/dry spectrum. I also discovered that "ale-hoof" is an alias for Ground Ivy as it has been used as a substitute for hops for making beer, and that the leaves of Meadowsweet smell rather like cucumber!

After a fruitful day of learning, the budding botanists were reunited with the lepidoptera learners and the brushcutter trainees back at the Kingcombe Centre. There soon followed a lively evening of barn dancing, in the barn naturally. In the interval everyone segued to the conservatory for a hearty meal of venison goulash, and a few toasts with the Hungarian fruit brandy 'Palinka'. After much arm-linking, twirling, and breathless laughter, I slept very soundly indeed!

Sunday dawned on the Kingcombe Centre and the final day of the training weekend was begun. We ate another slap-up breakfast, and then those who had attended the botany training the previous day had a chance to learn about lepidopteran identification and survey skills. Having completed her brushcutter training, Tash joined me for a roam around the Dorset hills in search of lepidopterans, with Nigel Spring and some butterfly nets.

Nigel led the lepidopteran group around two different upland grassland sites, one at Lankham Bottom and the other near the Cerne Abbas giant. I felt priveliged to see so many different butterflies (and daytime moths!) out in the field, and to be with knowledgeable people willing to share what they know. Findings on the transects ranged through the lifecycle, from a wood tiger moth caterpillar, to six-spot burnett moths in cocoons, through to adult marsh fritillaries, a green hairstreak, and a narrow-bordered bee hawkmoth. The later was a startling beast: a large bumble-bee at first glance, with a small moth-like face. A moth masquerading as a bee!

The narrow-bordered bee hawk moth!

The training weekend wound down later that day, with various individuals and groups of people departing as the afternoon went on and the evening came in. My lady and I had gained permission to stay an extra night, planning to travel back the following day as we had both obtained the day off from work. We were the only ones to stay the night however, so we were able to experience the centre and its surrounds in a more peaceful and introspective manner, reflecting on what we had learnt and discussing it with each other. As the training weekend had officially finished we repaired to a local pub for our evening meal, recommended by Nigel. So it was we spent a happy hour or two at the Marquis of Lorne in nearby Nettlecombe, a pretty and cosy pub tucked away in the middle of the Dorset countryside.

The remoteness of the pub had no detrimental effect on the quality of the food or the sheer numbers of people coming in through the door to eat that food! Tash ordered the Boudin Blanc, which was a white chicken sausage served on pearl barley and butternut squash risotto. I opted for the Roast Belly Pork, which was accompanied by creamed potato and a green apple puree. The portions were large, the dishes prepared with panache, and the side of vegetables were delicious and all locally sourced (or grown in the pub's own polytunnel!). I washed my meal down with a pint of Copper ale, and we discussed how amazing our weekend had been so far. Then we returned to the Kingcombe centre, where the centre manager Nick had invited us to join him on his bat count that evening.

Nick told us that the BBC were coming down the following week to film some footage for the new television series Secrets of Our Living Planet, and he wanted to check what types of bat were around and in what numbers beforehand. So we accompanied him and assisted the counting of pipistrelle bats emerging from Beech Cottage, and checked where they flew out from. We counted over 20 bats emerge between us, before heading off on a walk through the high moor and along a stream to find a possible Myotis bat using the bat detector. We went to bed very happy from our nocturnal experience, having seen and heard up close some exciting wildlife.

Monday morning, and we took one final walk on the meadows up above the centre. We heard blackbirds, songthrushes and wrens singing, saw birds of prey in the air, and took photos of the flowers. Then we ate a cooked breakfast, prepared very kindly by Nick himself, before packing our things into the car and hitting the road. Tash drove through Cerne Abbas on the way, and we stopped off to see the 180-foot 'ancient' naked giant, cut into the chalk hillside above the village - a very different kind of monument to Stonehenge!

We stopped to eat our lunch at Stonehenge again, as it was en route. While we parked up we saw an army tank with a learner sticker on it, doing manoeuvres next to us! We finally made it back that afternoon, tired but very contented after our weekend of learning and adventure. All in all, I would highly recommend EuCAN to anyone. If you can make it along to a training weekend, or even get involved in one of their trips abroad, jump at the chance! You can find their website at www.eucan.org.uk.

Spring Update

Well I haven't had much opportunity to blog for some time, but after an incredible weekend down at the Kingcombe Environmental Centre down in Dorset I feel I need to write something about the weekend at the very least. It also seems like a good chance to write a brief summary of occurrings at Roding Valley Meadows and the like, so I'll talk about general happenings first in this summary.

We had an unusually dry Winter over in Roding Valley, and it was the first Winter that the river didn't flood for at least six years. This seems to have been a setback for some of the wet-loving plants in the lower fields, such as Marsh Marigold. The Warden thinks it will also have knocked back the grasses and make for a stunning display of wildflowers this year as a result, but it won't be good for the reserve long-term to have such unusual weather.
However, Murphy's law asserted itself as soon as a hosepipe ban was declared in Essex as a result of the dry conditions. The latter half of April and first half of May has seen rain falling almost every single day! A particularly heavy rainfall event led to the Roding river finally bursting its banks out of season towards the end of April. It was nice for me to finally see what a floodplain meadow is all about! This flooding will have been too late for some of the plants that like damp conditions, but should still help other plants like the Southern Marsh Orchid to put on a good show later in the year.
The staff and volunteers over at Roding Valley Meadows made use of the dry weather over the Winter to get an extraordinary amount of work done. We continued work on the car park area (which was polished off last week with the installation of some rustic oak bollards) and also threw ourselves into construction of gates, rails and steps elsewhere to make the reserve more visitor-friendly. We filled in potholes in the track, and also repaired fencing ready for the cattle to return to the reserve come the Spring. Looking back I find it hard to believe how much we accomplished over the Winter months!

We also started our Spring grazing trial back in March, and the cattle this year were a lovely bunch. A conservation grazing herd consisting of 6 cows of various breeds, they were very content to get on with their job of grazing some of the lush grasses and so make more space for the herbs and wildflowers on the meadows. This should make a real difference to the grasslands that have been grazed, and also means less haycutting will need to be done - less machinery noise, better for wildlife, and less stress for the Reserve staff!
The Spring grazing trial had to be put on hold with the unseasonal deluge and consequent flooding on the reserve, as the ground conditions were becoming too wet. The cattle returned to the grazier whom we had leased them from, and luckily this happened before the fields they were in became flooded with water. I don't think cows like being underwater much! We are hoping that, if the dry weather continues, we can bring the cattle back to graze another field or two before the haymaking season. Although this means extra pressure for staff and volunteers, as cattle need checking and watering daily, it will be worth it in the end when the grasslands benefit. Watch this space for beautiful wildflowers ;)

Overwintering

Jó estét!

So, thanks to my lack of updating since the start of October last year, I am now faced with summarising the past four or five months. Contrary to my previous post, I'm departing the chronological summary in favour of an ordering by theme. I'll begin!

I've been keeping busy working at the Nature Reserve with Essex Wildlife Trust, so I'll talk about some of that work to start with. October saw the start of the winter works programme, so we progressed from haymaking to hedgelaying, woodland maintenance and construction work! Myself and my boss had planned a big project to renovate the car park area, and we got stuck into this in October. We resurfaced the car park itself, and also cleared back some blackthorn encroachment, laid a hedge along the bank that was thus exposed, and planted up some primrose on the bank. We rebuilt the steps going up the embankment from the car park, which had been rotting away as well as getting overgrown; this meant constructing heavy-duty (and durable!) steps, backfilling them with material, edging with wood, constructing a handrail, and planting up trees for a hedge alongside. Quite a big project, and this kept us busy through until recently - we finished the majority of the work a few weeks ago, and officially re-opened the path going up the steps! (The path closed around Christmas while the steps work was being carried out).

Finishing off the steps, which re-opened to the public on Feb 1st 2012

Besides that project, we have been tackling a variety of other jobs around the reserve with the volunteers, including cutting back blackthorn encroachment in some of the fields, planting trees, hedge maintenance... We had some fun on the reserve with the snow, and we still had a good turnout of volunteers for the work parties - this just goes to show what a great bunch of volunteers we have!! My boss and I have also been furnishing the new office, getting to grips with a Green Flag Award application for the reserve, updating our website, and other things that I can't even remember off the top of my head. I also have my own personal project - setting up an Education programme on the reserve. We intend to bring in local school groups to the reserve for field trips this year, so I have been working out what is needed, how to run things, what to teach, etc.

Snow on the reserve - brrrr!

In other news, we moved into an office in November, in the newly-opened Grange Farm Pavilion building next to the reserve. There were no facilities for reserve staff here previously, so with the hire of an office and workshop and toilet facilities in the new building (managed by the Grange Farm Centre Trust) things have improved dramatically! The building was officially opened to the public later that month by HRH the Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward), so I also got to shake hands with royalty. (see a page about it here) Another "achievement" was getting an article published in the EWT magazine, Essex Wildlife!

The Grange Farm Pavilion, where EWT now rent an office and workshop

Apart from work, what have I been up to? Well, Volunteering. I've still been volunteering a little (infrequently) at Epping Forest Field Centre. So more work! And in early December I took some time off to... head out to France for a week, with my father and a couple of friends, to... work! We went out to work on my dad's property and make the grounds and lake look a bit neater, and being conservation-minded we also put in a hibernaculum and did some wildlife-watching. Although I've been working a fair bit, I've been doing enjoyable work with fun people, so what's to complain about?

Graham, Jenny and Dad by the lake in France, Dec 2011

It hasn't been all work and no play however, I have had down-time to recharge over the past quarter-year. Watching films, playing computer games, going for walks... A friend's Halloween party, fireworks at the King's Oak, orienteering on the Rodings Rally, a trip to Richmond Park, and some time off over Christmas catching up with family and friends. I met my fantastic girlfriend Natasha back in October and we've been getting on really well. Natasha and I are going away to Hungary for a holiday next month, and spending three days in Budapest then three days in Aggtelek National Park - should be fantastic!

In a hollow tree at Richmond Park! Natasha and me in top, and my friends Jenny and Jess in front, Nov 2011

Right-oh folks, that's all for now!

Summer Run-down

Howdy folks,

Just a wee update on goings-on at work and suchlike. Summer was a bit of a wash-out in the end, with the coldest UK summer since 1993! Still, it wasn't all gloom and drizzle. After the best holiday ever in June (walking the West Highland Way in Scotland - proving that Essex isn't the only way!), I started getting to grips with my new part-time job at my local Essex Wildlife Trust reserve. I continued volunteering when possible, although this was very difficult for the first month or so while I was trying to settle in at EWT. In early July, I headed back up to Scotland for a music festival, T in the Park - sadly the "summer" had begun to go head over heels by this point, and the weekend was a mix of sun and rain. Great music though :) The acts I saw included Coldplay, Jimmy Eat World, Brandon Flowers, Beyonce, KT Tunstall, Weezer, You Me At Six, Pendulum, Ke$ha, and the Pretty Reckless. Phew!

T in the Park, 8th-10th July

Upon returning to bonnie Essex, I went on a Tractor Driving course for work. Interesting is one word to use... Scary another word. The health and safety video you have to watch, with all the accidents that can happen? Horrifying! I began to use some of the skills learnt on the course at work, including helping out with haymaking on the reserve. July also saw me run 10km with the karate club (who were raising money for kids to compete abroad), and I beat my previous time from 2 years ago which felt fantastic.

Haymaking on the reserve

August saw us gearing up for some events at work - an opening event in September at the building where our office will be, and then an Autumn Fayre on Oct 1st. With average London temperatures of only 18c, it was certainly an interesting August. Haymaking was postponed a number of times due to rain, but there were plenty of other things on our plate! I continued with inductions at EWT headquarters, and worked on a display about the reserve for the September and October events. While mowing at an EWT reserve one day I was also attacked by wasps, stung 14+ times, and ended up in A&E, that was exciting. Plus, I was kept busy with my other commitments and interests: I went on a 3-day residential Mammal ID course in Surrey, led a Tree Walk with BTCV, and continued my volunteering with various organisations. And girlf and I broke up... 'Nuff said there.

Me on the Mammal ID course

September arrived, and wow! The sun made an appearance a few times hehe. I got the September event prep out of the way, which was a relief, and then ran a stand on the day to give people more info about the reserve and what EWT do there. Some of the highlights of the month included having lunch at my sister's new flat, helping out on a "Wildlife Presenter" event at Greenwich Ecology Park (BTCV), going surfing in Devon with some FSC friends, taking up Ballet (!), going on an FSC Badger course, heading out to Billie Jeans for dancing with friends, and passing my Trailer Driving Test (and gaining a new category on my licence).

Making wildlife films with the public - and yetis!

The first weekend in October... Yet another record, in a record-breaking year for weather. October 1st, day of the Autumn Fayre: hottest October day in Britain, on record, ever (or in 100 years depending on which articles you read). Hang on though folks, it's only the start of the month so who knows what might happen! It was certainly a glorious, if unseasonally-hot, day for an Autumn Fayre - 30c, "making it hotter" (on that day) "in England than in Mexico, Antigua and the Sahara Desert" [Sunday Mirror]. There were many different stands and activities, and a steady stream of people throughout the day. From archery and ferret roulette to steak burgers and a country/folk music band, I was certainly impressed with the event! The fayre was organised by Countrycare to celebrate their 25th anniversary, and was held in cooperation with EWT (as we manage the reserve where the event was held... though Countrycare own part of the site, just to make things confusing!).

Autumn Fayre on the reserve

Anyways, that's a rundown of life as a part-time Ranger, part-time volunteer on the border of Essex and London. Ciao for now :)