Thunderstorms are forecast for later but 12 volunteers turned out to a sunny maze this morning. It was quite a physically demanding work task – shifting palettes, clearing some paths of stones and rolling some of the heavier ones out of the way. Some stiffness forecast for tomorrow I should think!
Thank you to everyone who came. We were surrounded by birdsong (I was trying out my new Merlin app) and there were lots of tadpoles and newts lurking in the puddles around the edge of the site.
We were making another drinking pool for turtle doves on our work task this morning, the ground was stony and there were a few troublesome tree stumps but this one was important to create as the doves return to the forest in a matter of weeks. The pool will be filled with water this week and while we were there we checked on the first pool we created last year and cleared the edge back to bare earth as the doves like to have walk in access to their water!
Thanks to all the volunteers who gave up their Easter morning.
The snow and ice stopped our planned task for December but the weather was kind today as the Friends of Dalby Forest gathered for the first task of the year. A small party worked at the Forest Garden brushing, tidying and cutting back, while the majority decided they were very happy to get muddy!
This second group’s efforts were focused on our Drinking Pools for Turtle Dove project and spent the morning removing reeds from former animal ponds up near Ebberston Common. Turtle Doves prefer walk-in access to water and they don’t like steep-edges. We did this in two areas as well as creating a smaller third ‘scoop’ which will hopefully fill with water with the next rainfall.
It was a very physical task to start the year off and it was not a day to worry about your clothes! Thank you to all the volunteers who came out to help including three new volunteers Colin, Diane and Mike. We promise tasks are not always this mucky.
The task next month will also be followed by our AGM at the visitor centre at noon, to which everyone is invited.
We had a great task this morning. We cleared vegetation (mostly pine saplings) off a section of one of the many scheduled (protected) archaeological features that sit within the forest. In this case, it was a post medieval enclosure/ boundary, which probably sits upon an even older pattern of land division dating back to the prehistoric period. The bank and ditch feature has not been excavated, so keeping it clear of tree saplings means the stratigraphical information it contains remains intact and preserved and is part of the long term management of the feature. Bit more of a busman’s holiday than usual for me this time since my day job is in archaeology!
Little frogs, beautiful clusters of fungi and birds’ nests provided some extra highlights.
We spotted this tweet by Andy Malley last week so we know that some turtle doves have already returned to Dalby. And so it was with some renewed vigour – the beautiful sunny morning also helped – that we made a start on another turtle dove pool, this time at Jerry Noddle. See our previous post as to why we’re doing this!
We’d no bowser this time so will return to fill the pool next week – as it certainly looks like it’s not going to rain any time soon. We make the pools deep enough that ought to mean they should not need to be refilled but it’s an exposed spot so it’s possible we might need to tend to this one a little more than others. This one will now forever be known as Jerry’s Puddle at Jerry Noddle!
It was a beautiful sunny morning in the forest as we embarked on our work task and latest project – Drinking Pools for Turtle Doves. Mattocks and spades were the tools of choice (it was quite stony!) as we made the first of a series of drinking pools.
The Turtle Dove is one of our most threatened breeding birds, and it has suffered a very serious decline in the UK. There are various pressures on them such as unsustainable shooting on their migration route, habitat loss in their wintering grounds but also a lack of breeding success here.
Once they return to the UK (usually from late April), Turtle Doves rely on water – much more than other farmland birds. This is because their chicks are fed a ‘crop milk’ of water and seed, so it’s important that they have access to summer-long clean water sources with walk-in access. FoDF will be making a series of drinking pools to support the population that we know returns to nest every year in Dalby.
We banked up unused spoil alongside one side of the pool and sowed it with wildflower seeds which should encourage some butterflies later in the summer.
Thanks to everyone who came along today! A brilliant effort!
A special shout out should go to all the bird watchers who took part in this year’s ‘Michael Clegg bird race’ which raised the funds to allow us to get the tools and materials for the pools and get the project off the ground.
If you would like to support our bird projects, then you can donate to our GoFundMe. https://www.gofundme.com/f/drinking-pools-for-turtle-doves-in-dalby-forest
If you are visiting Staindale this Easter, then you will spot the new feeders and bespoke frame which have been installed at the bird feeding area – we are lovingly calling it Seedhenge!
Working to a vague idea from us, the frame was designed and then beautifully crafted by Nigel Watson from Wood With Heart just down the hill in Ebberston.
The Friends are not yet back to volunteering as we are awaiting new guidance from Forestry England, so the frame was installed by rangers earlier this week, with the fittings and feeders added today in a family bubble.
We hope birds like it as much as we do.
This morning finally saw us return to the forest for a work task at the Enchanted Wood – the first task since February. The wind was gusting strongly first thing, so much so the rustling beech trees made it hard to hear my toolbox talk! We litter-picked, pruned, admired the fungi, built up some boggy paths with wood chip and rebuilt a section of wall with a stile.
It was definitely lovely to see some familiar faces after so long.
What has changed since the last time we met is that, for the foreseeable future, we will only have 6 people on our work tasks, tools are allocated for the duration of the task, not shared, and of course some tasks will not be possible if we are to maintain social distance – all of which make for interesting logistics for ranger and task leader.
It was something of a trial run this morning, but lovely to be back.
We’re not in a position to accept new volunteers just yet. I’d like to give all our existing volunteers a chance to return first but this is the first step towards opening up tasks again.
Like what we do? Please support our group – all our fundraising activities to keep us going have been severely affected by the pandemic. You can donate to the Friends of Dalby Forest via Paypal Giving or you can buy us a “coffee” (actually bird seed for the week!) http://ko-fi.com/dalbyfriends Thank you!
Thank you to all the volunteers who came along to the work task this morning. There were only 6 of us but it felt like we achieved a lot.
We laid a membrane to suppress the weeds in the area behind the cafe at the courtyard (it’s very stony so that seemed the best way to kill off the weeds). We will work in this area next year as it is technically also part of the forest garden. We have lots of strawberries and currants to plant there.
In addition, we built a bug house (hotel?) with some pallets kindly donated by Mark from the maze . There are so many insects in the garden especially ladybirds and beetles at the moment, so we hope they enjoy their new accommodation!
The Friends of Dalby Forest manage the Staindale lake feeding station and Lindsay Wardell takes on the bulk of the role . She recently became ill with a chronic pain condition and had to leave full-time work but this has given her time to come up to feed, study and enjoy the birds in this wonderful setting. Here is a little about what she does and what she sees there.
I re- fill the feeders once or twice weekly with food which the Friends purchase and have delivered to my house where I can store the food and take just what I require each trip. I have 30 years’ knowledge and experience in all things nature especially birds and have been keeping a yearly diary of all species I record around the area including Dalby. My notebooks span 23 years so there is a lot of information on changes and species specific to Dalby in them and I apply this data whilst looking after the lakeside birds.
Great tit, Staindale lake feeding station. Photo by Michael Hill
Over 2017, I’ve noted birds such as Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Nuthatch and Siskin using the feeders alongside Marsh Tits and Finches, other members of the tit family, and also Goldcrest which was a first record for that area last year for me. I have also been providing surveys to the forest ecologist on plants and butterflies, other insects, and birds in areas of the forest including the lake. I have noted changes over the years in species that have moved in notably the Dabchick on the lake who have successfully bred in the last few years and increased in number, I’ve also noted many more Willow Warblers with evidence of breeding which seems to be helped by the land management around the lake, where leaving certain areas of grass to grow results in wildflowers such as Meadowsweet, providing rich insect life for the summer Warblers to feed on. Last summer I witnessed 12 Willow Warbler fledglings helping themselves to a bounty of insects from these meadow areas alongside Common and Lesser Whitethroats which are also now in abundance at the lake. In the autumn, I also noted 10 Bullfinches, 4 adults and 6 fledglings, around the lake area. It is even more pleasing to be able to give this information to walkers on occasion who ask me what I’m looking at. I love to share what I see with forest users if they ask and it hopefully encourages and sparks their interest to the great outdoors.
At the end of the year, I saw Wigeons stopping over on our lake too, a first for me in all the years I’ve been recording Dalby birds. This thrilled me and shows the importance of the site to wildlife. Recently a lone Heron and Cormorant have set up residence there too and can be seen on misty cold mornings; the former, standing on one leg, and the latter spreading his wings widely looking almost like a flying dinosaur rather than a bird!
I can see clearly how the lake area is helping our wildlife and by feeding the birds every week I can make sure they stay well cared for. It’s been a pleasure so far to help out and I hope to continue in this role for many years.
Thank you to the Friends for entrusting this role to me.
The forest environment can help health and recovery, and the peace and quiet of the forest can be great for all health conditions. We hope you too can come and enjoy the forest and watch the birds and find some proper relaxation too!
Friends of Dalby Forest 