Hope and experience

September 2018

At the lower turning circle close to where Snipes Dene meets the River Derwent, we came across three Comma butterflies. For us it was an exciting find – perhaps not a rarity, but not an insect we see often. We mentioned our sighting to Ranger Phil at the end of the day. “Was that down by the lower turning circle?” he asked. We have come to expect such a response: there is very little that this man of nature does not know about the flora, fauna and landscape of Gibside Estate. He knew, too, about the Holly Blue feeding on the nipplewort the week before in an otherwise near desert of felled trees in West Wood.

Comma butterfly

Holly blue butterfly

Speckled wood butterfly

The daunting task of clearing the leftovers from the felling in West Wood continues in preparation for planting native species come winter. Close to half has been cleared, but it seems unlikely that the whole area will be ready. It’s hard work, and tedious.

Brash before the great clear-up in West Woods

Hard at work

After the clear-up

A well earned break

By way of change from the toil of removing the West Wood brash, some went off to thin out trees by the Octagon Pond; others cleared the blocked drainage channels on the nearby track. We two, along with Terry and Mary, set about an end of season visit to our grass snake monitoring sites. At each we made a final check under the ACOs (That stands for Artificial Cover Objects. Artificial cover objects are bits of corrugated iron), and stacked them out of sight until next year, then sorted through the nest heaps for any evidence of grass snake activity. Of course reader, as you will have worked out for yourself by now, they are not really nest heaps because nothing ever nests in them – well, certainly not grass snakes. Still, we live in hope even if experience gives us no reason to do so.

Hunt the ACO at the Lily Pond

There were other creatures making good use of our tins though. The ACOs often shelter toads, ants and field voles. They’re not what we’re looking for but seeing them is its own reward, and brings a little excitement to our day. It would be nice, though, if someone were to slip in a few grass snakes. Reintroduction we would call it.

Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne

A repair job

August 2018

The strimming had been finished by the time we got there, which was a good thing. We avoid mechanical noise when we can, though some others on the team love the gadgetry of strimmers and mowers and the like. The walled garden and its surroundings had become a bit overgrown, despite weeks of heat, sunshine, and little rain. At this time of year, the pond has to be left alone so as not to disturb the wildlife – in particular, the large population of great-crested newts. For the same reason, the surrounding vegetation has to be left long and dense enough to maintain a safe understorey - if that’s the right term to use.

Raking

We raked up the cut grass, willow herb, thistles and brambles and dumped them out of sight down a steep bank in nearby woods. We had also cut back willow shrubbery where it was encroaching on the pond, but that was to be put to good use.

Filling the bags

Tackling the willow

Uphill from the stables, on the fringe of the West Wood, is the Playscape – a woodland area of things to play in and on. The recently added feature of a woven, living willow dome had died. We mocked the skill level of the rangers who had constructed it, but that was, perhaps, unfair given this summer’s weather. A nearby willow tunnel, constructed by your bloggers two years ago with help from volunteers Terry and Mary, is thriving.  But that’s probably not so much to do with our weaving skills as being well-established and sited in a near-permanently damp hollow. We used the willow cut from the walled garden to strengthen and green it – this time with help from Lorna and David. It’s not the best time of year to do it but, with a bit of moisture, willow usually takes root.

Repairing the dome

The finished job

Whilst we were doing that, some of the team planted willow cuttings in the collapsing banks of the stream that runs through the trees, and others replaced decayed rails on the log bridge that spans it. Children gathered, eager to be the first to cross.

It was another warm day. Jobs done, we took our lunch beside Octagon Pond and sat watching common darters (a species of dragonfly) come and go, and a little grebe repeatedly dive, surfacing only briefly. Apart from observing the wildlife, it was interesting to study the contents of lunch boxes. Clearly visible was beetroot in buns, and someone even had olives.  Thought people only did that sort of thing in Mediterranean countries; maybe it’s the weather.

DO NOT DISTURB!

Male Common darter

Female Common darter

Harvest time

French beans

Globe artichoke

Surplus produce awaits a good home

A riot of colour in The Walled Garden

Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne

Snipes Dene

July 2018

Snipes Dene is thriving. It must be some eight or nine years ago since much of the valley was laid waste by the removal of the Forestry Commission’s timber crop. A large part of that crop was western hemlock – a fast growing North American import. That’s good for business perhaps but, for Gibside Rangers and us volunteers, it’s just another non-native, invasive species to control. And that’s a battle. Over the intervening years, we must have pulled up tens of thousands of western hemlock saplings. There will be more battles ahead, but it’s safe to say the war is won.

Snipes Dene regeneration

In the summer of 2011 we selected a section of the Dene to survey and, over the next few years attempted to monitor its regeneration. At the start, this was a leisurely enough pursuit. The ground was largely free of cover, and provided with some substantial tree stumps on which to drink coffee, eat sandwiches, and study nature. Our survey area was roughly demarcated by a few oak, beech, birch and sycamore which had been left standing. Along with existing holly and alder, all had soon produced saplings. Broom, gorse and rowan were early colonisers too, together with patches of stinging nettles, red campion, ling, bilberry and lots of foxgloves. For the best part though, the ground remained bare, its decaying wood seemingly only populated by hordes of spiders. Quite what they were eating was a mystery; there wasn’t even an ant or woodlouse to be seen.

New Rowan trees

Two years later, we recorded many more touches of colour, and grasses, rushes, bramble and raspberry were well established. In the summer of 2015 we gave up; the site had become impenetrable. Elsewhere in the Dene the rate of regeneration had been patchy, and had been boosted by the planting of a good mix of native broadleaf. Although we still have to get in there and cut out the persistent western hemlock and rhododendron, today Snipes Dene is a fine wooded valley. And so it should be: along with much of Gibside, it is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Ladybird larva

Adult Ladybird

Common blue butterfly seen in Hollow Walk

Small skipper butterfly

A friendly pair of blue damselflies

Once again the walled garden is bursting with colourful blooms

Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne

Keep Gibside Tidy

April 2018

For a while now, the National Trust has been encouraging young people to get out and about, experience the countryside, climb a tree, dip a pond, spot an insect – that kind of thing. At Gibside, visiting groups of youngsters get to build shelters from branches and twigs, and sit on logs around a communal fire just like we oldies used to do. All good stuff, we think. Those of us who were in the Scouts and Guides used to cook inedible pastry things on green sticks to accompany our charred-on -the-outside pink-in-the-middle sausages, but it’s unlikely that that falls within the perceived safety zone these days.

A camp fire circle

Anyway, to get to the point: last week, by request, we worked in the Den Building Area clearing the  woodland floor of branches, logs and twigs, and made neat, graded piles ready for use in building dens. We quite enjoyed the work. We even made a path. And it’s not unusual to heave timber around to improve the habitat or prepare the ground for planting. But tidying up nature before the children arrive is a new one.

A den and cleared woodland floor

Finished

This week, we’ve been at it again. The Forestry Commission have clear felled and removed considerable numbers of trees from West Wood, leaving much of the ground strewn with brash. So that the area can be replanted, we have to clear it. As previously reported, we made a start earlier in the year. Now we’ve moved to another sector, and bit by bit West Wood will become re-established as native woodland, and thoroughly deserve its designation as a Local Wildlife Site. Maybe we could get some children to help us tidy up; that would make it fifty-one things done before they reach the age of eleven and three quarters.

The scale of the problem

Building a wall with the brash

The finished wall or perhaps a fence for horse racing!

The weather has been miserable for the last six or eight weeks, postponing spring. But colour is returning to our woods. Wood sorrel, wood anemone, golden saxifrage, lesser celandine, coltsfoot, and ramsons are all in flower. The sun is shining, and birds are nesting.

Wood anemone

Ramsons just coming into flower

Even the cut western hemlock has flowers

Golden saxifrage

Lesser celandine

Coltsfoot

Leapmill Burn

Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne

That was February

28th February 2018

It’s the last Wednesday of February, and Gibside is closed. Like much of the country, the weather has got the better of us. We bloggers quite like the snow, but working in it wouldn’t have been at all pleasant. Then there are health and safety considerations, I suppose.

A thin dusting of snow earlier in the month

The month started in a gloom of damp vegetation with little sign of new growth. But, it’s February. Soon birch, hazel, snowdrop and gorse were all in flower, with fresh hawthorn leaves providing a hint of green. We’ve had some very wet and windy Wednesdays, but some that have been perfectly still with an early morning light that has lasted all day. As so often happens as we work, robin and red kite visit to see if there are easy pickings to be had from us causing disturbance. Red kites drift off disappointed or uninterested; brave robins get a bite to eat.

Loading branches onto the truck

We’ve worked hard this month. One of our jobs is to move things from one place to another. Sometimes we move them back again. Recently we shifted branches from den building area to the Birthday Area, ready for den-building. That’s right, the Birthday Area. It seems not that long ago that we moved them from the birch wood (or Birthday Area) to beech wood Den Building Area. There’s a purpose to everything, I’m sure.

Building the "Great Wall of Gibside", a wall of brash

to mark out the boundary of a footpath on Skyline walk

We’ve had more fires in order to rid West Wood of western hemlock brash. Fire lighting and tending continues to be a little competitive. Consequently, we’re all getting better at it. Well, nearly all.  There is an art to it. Little tricks like knowing that birch bark lights whatever the weather, that feeding a fire by laying branches and twigs parallel, and not poking or otherwise interfering are key to success.

Lunch

Sunlight through the smoke

Last week, before the snows came, we were back in Snipes Dene – pulling out or cutting down western hemlock and larch. We ring-barked a few of the larger larch. That is, by stripping bark from a small section in a complete circle around the trunk, the tree will die off, still standing upright. And dead trees standing create a different mini-habitat to dead trees lying down. And we don’t have to move them anywhere.

Gorse in flower

Hazel catkins

Laurel flowers

Snowdrops

Auricularia auricula-judae

Western hemlock cones - seeds for future work!

Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne