We have pretty well abandoned habitat management for the summer so we can now sit back and see the fruits of all our work in winter. I'm particularly keen to see what happens along the Heron Trail where we created layed hedges to try and give more cover to nightingales and other scrub species. Several nightingales are singing along the hedge so at least it looks like we didn't do any serious damage.
At this time of yerar we do a lot of work on paths for the public, and fences for our livestock. Soon we will have sheep in the paddock (next to Dodder Fen) and later we will have cattle in the Great Meadow. We are putting in more cattle fences in the great meadow this month.
May-June are the peak months for school bookings. This year, the Wildlife Trust is bringing school groups here as well. Our new crop of MSc students from Reading will arrive this week. I'll put their pictures up as soon as they have settled in.
We desperately need a bit of rain as our recently planted crops are not doing well. Some of our grassy banks are already turning brown. Of course, the sunny weather is lovely, especially for insects and we seem to be having a much better year for butterflies than for quite a while.
Nightingale Festival is upon us, so I expect I'll see a lot of you on the trail.
Jim
