Vista Management

25^th January 2012

Another mild day with temperature of 9^o Celsius at 9am. The weather certainly has been kind to us volunteers so far this winter. There were two tasks to be completed today. Phil Younger set off to Snipes Dene with Dave, Lorna and Matthew to burn rhododendron prunings, whilst the rest of the group set off for the Monument to pull up silver birch seedlings on the hillside above the Lily Pond. The idea is that there should be a clear & uninterrupted vista from The Lily Pond up to the Monument.

When we arrived at the Monument a large number of molehills were noticed. Terry and Mike quickly got to work flattening them out (the molehills,  not the moles!), to improve the look of the area.

Flattening the molehills

More molehills to flatten

An A-board was then set up to explain to any visitors the nature and reasoning behind our task.

Keeping our visitors informed

The team then made their way down the hill, and spreading out across the hill began to work upwards removing small silver birch saplings, and any other saplings likely to obstruct the view. It wasn’t quite as easy as we had been led to believe; some of the saplings had been pruned in previous years and this meant that the new growth was on fairly large roots. We had, therefore, to revert to digging them out using garden forks.

The Team in action

Mary was given the additional task of asking any passing visitors for their views on our conservation efforts. So, equipped with a clip board (in true management style), she eagerly set about her task. I just hope the comments are favourable.

Laura takes a break in the sunshine

Another task completed we all headed for home, I wonder what's in store for next week?

A Tale of Two Teams

Wednesday 18th January 2012 was another mild day, if somewhat overcast.

Team Meeting

One team set off to clear the leaves from the Ha-ha which runs along the length of The Avenue. What is a Ha-ha? Well, a Ha-ha is a type of ditch in which one side is vertical and made of stone, while the opposite side is sloped and turfed. It allows an unobstructed view from The Avenue whilst creating a barrier to livestock.

A Cross-section of a Ha-Ha

The Ha-Ha Clearing Team

The leaves were loaded into large sacks
then taken away to be composted.

The second team set off for The Lily Pond. There was a fine drizzle of rain as we set off but this had stopped by the time we reached the Lily Pond. John began by scything tall grasses  behind the Pond, which was still frozen after several very frosty days. Laura (a European Volunteer from Moldova) and I began raking up the cuttings and adding them to the dead hedges at either side of the pond. Our peace was soon shattered by the arrival of Bruce and Mike with petrol driven strimmers!

One of the dead hedges topped with grass cuttings, runs

from the edge of the pond to the nearby trees.

The strimmers arrive!

Raking the longer grass cuttings, bracken, horsetails etc was fairly easy but the shorter grass cuttings were more difficult as the tines of the rake tended to snag on the tussocks of grass.

We were treated to shortbread biscuits at our coffee break which were kindly provided by Mike.

Once the scything and strimming  were finished we headed back to the walled garden where we had an early lunch break. After lunch, we collected more rakes and headed back to The Lily Pond to complete our task.

Laura takes a breather.

By early afternoon, true to form, there were breaks in the cloud and brief spells of sunshine - well it was a Wednesday after all!

Wednesday 11th January 2012.

Another fine Wednesday and mild for January with a temperature of about 10 degrees Celsius.
There were several tasks for the landscape consevation volunteers today. Matthew headed off to chop and bag logs, John took 2 "volunteers" to dredge weeds and some of the reeds from The Lily Pond. Phil, Dave and Johnny set off to strim the grass on the bank upto the Banquetting Hall, whilst the remainder of us headed off to prune laurel bushes.

A laurel hedge has been planted along one side of the ride down from the Banquetting Hall, it's purpose being to guide the eye down towards Gibside Chapel.

Dave Prunning

Mary Prunning

Whilst we got to work with the delicate task of prunning the laurel bushes, Keith began cutting up a larch which had fallen down. We used secateurs for our prunning (a change from the usual loppers and bow saws!), and tidied up the prunnings into sacks as we went along (another first for us!).
Hopefully the laurels will bush out sideways to form a nice looking hedge with the trees behind it.

After a coffee break and fortified by flapjacks and cookies provided by Dave & Lorna we returned to help Keith cut back a small holly tree and some hawthorn bushes to complete the vista.

Just before lunch we spotted a red kite circling overehead, it was probably just checking up on us!



Keith cutting back the hawthorn bush



The Finishing Touches

After lunch at the Stables, we headed off to the bank below the Banquetting Hall to begin raking up the grass which had been cut by the strimming party in the morning.

Dave & Johnny Strimming

Phil with strimmer, Mike raking

John Grundy appeared and asked for 2 volunteers with pitchforks to go and help clear up the pond dredgings at the Lily Pond. Terry and I drew the short straws. The dredgings were muddy & smelly. After we had loaded them onto the back of the truck we helped the others collect up some of the reeds from around the periphery of the pond which had been scythed by John and added them to the dead hedge.

John with his Scythe

Dave & Terry

Woodland Checks

This morning we were carrying out safety checks, making sure yesterday's strong winds hadn't blown any trees over, or left any branches hanging over paths.  During the rounds, John saw 14 roe deer, and I saw 12 red kites.

We had to close early yesterday because the gusts of wind reached 50 miles an hour, and it was forecasted that they would get even stronger.  It's not safe for visitors, volunteers and staff to be out in gusts that strong, because of the potential danger of falling trees and branches. 

I've also been over to West Wood at Ebchester, another one of our sites, to do the post-storm checks there.  It is a small site, but the woodland there has been described as one of the best semi-natural woodlands of the Derwent Valley.  The variety of rock and soil types in the land sloping down to the river means that a good diversity of plants can grow there, a diversity that is unusual in a woodland of this size.

I like walking through the woods at Ebchester - the winding path has views down to the river, where we saw a water vole last summer, and there are some fantastic old trees.  The path crosses over bridges across trickling streams and in some places it's like walking through a tunnel of holly.



Oak trees at Ebchester West Wood

 

The footpath follows the Derwent River

Although it's quite dull and raining today, the gorse flowers added a bright spot of colour to a wintery day.  Different species of gorse flower at different times of the year, so there is always a gorse in flower somewhere.


Like the old saying goes, 'kissing is out of season when the gorse is out of bloom'






The wise old great tit



The bird ringing equipment - ruler for measuring wing length, tiny scales for weighing the birds, different sizes of rings and log books for all the results.


Richard was at Gibside again yesterday, carrying out more bird ringing at the stables.  We had a good day, catching a robin, blackbirds, a jay, treecreeper and a goldcrest.  Five great tits were caught, all of them recaptures (they already had rings on and had been ringed on previous sessions).  Richard recognised one of the ring numbers as quite an old one, and when he checked it out, he found out that the great tit had been ringed at nearby Lockhaugh Constant Effort Site on 11th July 2002.  That makes the great tit at least 9 years old!  The typical life span of a great tit is 3 years.

Since it was ringed, 9 years, 5 months and 9 days have passed, 4 years short of the record for great tits which is 13 years, 11 months and 5 days.

We can only find out information like this through bird ringing and recapture, and it is proving to give us some very interesting results.

Richard will be here again next Wednesday, and everyone is welcome to come along to the stables court yard to see the birds he catches and watch him ringing.



The beautiful colours of the jay's wing.



Escape the Christmas Madness!

I'm really not a humbug, I love Christmas - spending time with the family, decorating the tree, eating mince pies - but if you're like me and you've had enough of the shopping and traffic and crowds and daft songs that are all part of getting ready for Christmas, come along to Gibside and take a break from it all on the Skyline Walk. 


We added this path to the Gibside walks this year, to take in the farmland and the beautiful views up into Northumberland and the Cheviots, and west to the Pennines.  The walk leads you into Snipes Dene woodland, one of the most peaceful parts of the estate.


Part of the skyline walk along the route of an old waggon way. 
Not so many leaves left on the trees now though!

You'll need to put your boots on for this walk as it's quite a ramble, walking through fields and woodlands, not always on surfaced paths, and there are some steep hills and steps on the way.  It's worth the effort though, as the views, fresh air and peace and quiet will leave you calm and refreshed.  


You might still catch a glimpse of Santa as you walk past his grotto in the bothy, and there is a festive feel in the shop and tearooms.  But once you turn off onto the Skyline Walk, all you'll see to remind you of Christmas is ivy growing up the woodland trees, holly in the hedgerows, and the odd robin bobbing about.  I don't know about you, but I find that much nicer than flashing lights and 'I wish it could be Christmas Every Day'!


Follow this link for the Skyline Walk directions and map -
Gibside Skyline Walk

 For a refreshing start to the New Year, join our boundary walk at 11am on the 1st of January.  Apparently, this is 'a 5 mile guided walk to the furthest reaches of Gibside, uncovering the wildlife and stories that make this place so special'.  Sounds good!

Surveys 3 - Birds & Bees and the Rest

What else do we record? Well just about anything connected with wildlife / nature, if it moves we record it, if it doesn’t move we record it!

A day at Gibside is not complete without a sighting of a Red Kite. We can usually manage to see at least one Red Kite on most visits to Gibside. Red Kites have been reintroduced into the Derwent Valley since 2004.

Is it a bird? The workers stop to watch a Red Kite.

Red Kite - silouette

Little Grebes and Coots can often be seen on The Octagon Pond.

Little Grebe

Coot on nest - Octagon Pond

We record bee species. As Gibside has an abundance of wild and cultivated flowers it is very bee friendly. We have recorded the following bee species on the estate: honeybee, white-tailed, buff-tailed, red-tailed and garden bumble bees as well as common carder bee. We don’t have many photographs as they tend not to stay still for very long!

Common Carder Bee on Bugle Flower

Red-tailed Bumblebee

Some bee species build underground nests.
The two photographs below show the individual cells of an underground bumblebee nest

Butterflies are a common sight when we are surveying wild flowers.

Comma

Peacock

Red Admiral

Speckled Wood

Small Tortoiseshell

Small White

Five-spot Burnet Moth

During pond surveys we often see and record amphibians, in particular frogs, toads and newts.

Common Frog

Toads mating

Toads mating

Newt

We also record dragonflies and damselflies.

Dragonfly

Dragonfly which had been caught in our net.

 It was released unharmed a few seconds later.

Large Red Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly

And we haven't even mentioned mammals yet! Unfortunately we don't have any photographs of mammals but Gibside has several species of bat, foxes, roe deer, grey squirrels,badgers, voles etc.