It’s good to be back. It’s been a poor summer, and something
of a disrupted one for this blogger. Not only has there been no Blog, but the
usual weekly survey and recording of Gibside’s wildlife was limited to a few
days. At least the grass snake sites had their monthly visit – not that there
were any snakes at home when we called.
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| Autumn Mist |
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| Misty Pond |
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| Autumn Colours |
Grass snakes, in one way or another, have been the focus of
much of the Wednesday Conservation Team’s work over the last few years: creating
a suitable environment generally and eight areas of specific habitat around the
Estate intended to encourage nesting and basking, and to make it easier for us
to spot them. Except that we haven’t spotted any. Maybe that’s because there
aren’t any to be spotted. Still, our work also helps other fauna and flora:
toads and voles are often in residence under the corrugated iron sheets.
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| One of the corrugated iron sheets |
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| A Common Toad found under one of the sheets |
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| A spider with egg-sac on top of one of the sheets |
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| Grass Snake heap covered with tarpaulin |
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| Agapanthia villosoviridescens |
Today, we were cutting back cherry laurel from around the
overgrown Quarry Pond, letting in more light for a healthier pond. Grass snakes
like to hunt in water – especially if there is something there worth eating,
and native plants will have the opportunity to thrive now that they are free of
the invasive, colonizing laurel. The laurel is now tucked away in the woods in neat
piles where it will offer nooks and crannies for woodland creatures, and slowly
decay with the help of fungi and other plants and animals.
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| Mike cutting back cherry laurel |
For seven out of the last eight years, Wednesdays could be
relied upon to be fine and bright, even in the depths of winter. That certainly
hasn’t been the case this year, but today was a good one, just as it should be.
We had both our coffee break and lunch in the sunshine, sitting on the ha-ha in
a nearby field. Not even Rangers Phil and Liam chain-sawing trees nearby
troubled our leisure. And, at the end of a hard day’s work, we took the rare
opportunity to rest on our laurels.
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| The Team resting on their laurels |
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| The Quarry Pond cleared of laurels |
Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne
