| Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage |
Site Map |
Contact |
HOME
 |
| Descriptions | Bookings | Other | More Cottages |
|
|
Wildlife Diary and News 2006 - notes from a small wood Observations from Groves Bank, Groves Dyke and Groves Coppice.
(Always click 'Refresh' for the most recent version, then scroll down): Click here for Wildlife Diary and News 2006 (July - Dec). 29 June 2006 Oh no - it's TDH again! My car says it was 21ºC on the way back from Whitby after lunch, and that's over 70ºF in old money. And it's only June. 28 June 2006 It's getting hot again so I just cut the dog lawn before I took pity on all the other lawns and decided to give them a week off. Then into the nice cool wood to strim the path and (finally) tidy up the edge of the very hot drive in the full midday sun. Followed by a light trim to the big hedge, this time still wearing the full face visor from the strimming AND a dust mask. Result? No hay fever and no sneezing fit! Wonderful - I must remember that little trick! After lunch the strimmer and I retreated to the back of Groves Dyke orchard (nice and cool again) and cut the long grass / Bracken / Rosebay Willowherb growing in the ditch, ready for the mythical dinky digger which has been due anytime since about Christmas... 27 June 2006 A dozy day of birding from the conservatory and listening to lots of BBC Radio 4. Very relaxing. Whole families of Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Greenfinch are visiting the feeding station most enthusiastically. 'Mummy, Mummy, can we go to MacDonalds again today?' I hear the youngsters say. Mums and Dads are quite pleased to have everything provided, but the nasty man only puts out enough food to last less than half a day, so the all have to go off and try to learn how to feed and survive in the real wild world. A Kestrel landed by the bonfire this morning to grab some small mammal. In mid-afternoon a young Rabbit scampered about on the back lawn and in the early evening a female Sparrowhawk landed on the cross bar of the feeding station, only to find it devoid of any tasty young birds. Sorry, young Sprawks, it's off to bed without any supper for you, this evening. 25 June 2006 Hot, so I settled for a genteel bit of low pruning on the path around the wood. It's all those leaves, you know. They weigh the branches down so far that they catch on my aluminium framed rucksack and try to knock me off balance every time I carry another load of firelogs down to the woodshed. Only a few more loads to go... 24 June 2006 The warm, dry weather continues... 22 June 2006 Today, on the other hand, is Culture Day with a visit to Castle Howard near Malton, film location of 'Brideshead Revisited'. Off to a good start with an excellent meal in their Courtyard Cafe: Castle Howard Estate Home Farm Aberdeen Angus Beef Casserole and Dumpling, followed by the most wonderful, old fashioned, as big as a good sized wedge of Wensleydale cheese, cheesecake - with strawberries and proper cream, of course! Followed by a long walk around the Arboretum (with links to Kew Gardens) and the Walled Garden, while the rest of the family visited the big house. Stocked up with Real Food at the estate's Farm Shop before setting off for home and a very restful evening. 21 June 2006 It said it was going to rain all day today, so the young anglers spent the compleat day on the river. But it only showered a little, so the fishing was poor, but the other half of the grass cutting was fine. And less grass to cut, as well, now that the anglers needed to dig up a bit more lawn every day in their search for worms! My new South Patio will be ready all the sooner... This light shower has been the only rain this month, apart from the 10-minute thunder plump of 10 days ago. The rain gauge now stands at less than ½ inch so far this month and the lawns are patchy brown with gaping cracks. Restocking with charcoal for the barbecue proved surprisingly difficult as all the Whitby shops and filling stations only sell 'imported' charcoal of doubtful origin. There was no locally produced charcoal to be found (it can usually be bought by driving to Dalby Forest, Pickering) in Whitby and the only shop that sold 'FSC' (Forest Stewardship Council) approved charcoal was Whitby Co-op supermarket. Good for them! Everything else tends to be made from mangrove swamps (natural storm and tsunami defences) or tropical rain forest (local wildlife reservoir, global carbon sink and international oxygen generator) - and probably exported illegally, too. No coincidence, then, that this evening's TV News showed pictures of devastating mudslides in Indonesia, with whole villages (and villagers) destroyed '...probably due to illegal logging on the hillsides above the villages.' For barbeque charcoal in the Western World, no doubt. 20 June 2006 What a perfect summer's evening to barbecue the two big Trout caught this morning in the River Esk nearby. One was almost 1½ pounds weight and the other just under 1 pound. Delicious. Good food, fine wine and a happy family reunion. I was wrong about the 1000 scooterists in Whitby last weekend. According to today's Whitby Gazette there were actually between 3000 and 4000 of them, all having a pleasant and relaxing couple of days in Whitby! Oh good. 19 June 2006 Half of my grass cut this morning, as well as a bit of light trimming to a couple of hedges. Lunch at Beacon Farm Ice Cream Parlour at Sneaton, near Whitby. We didn't attempt 'The Belly Buster' (8 scoops of your choice) but we all enjoyed the slightly smaller variations. I recommend the Cinder Toffee ice cream and the Shepherd's Sunsets and Rocky Roads were also appreciated - but we re-stocked the Groves Dyke freezer with 2 cartons of the ever popular Dairy Ice Cream, just to be fair to everyone. 18 June 2006 A lovely morning for breakfast on the patio, spoilt only by the incessant roar of 1000 scooterists (yes, that is what they call themselves, but I can think of a much better name) rallying in Whitby this weekend and driving up through Sleights this morning to Goathland. Soon put right by Sunday lunch on the lawn at the Horseshoe pub, Egton Bridge, enjoying their massive Brie and Bacon Baguettes beneath their even more massive Giant Redwood tree. Then off to Beggar's Bridge in Glaisdale before driving up Glaisdale Dale (yes, I know, but that is what the road sign in the village says), over the moortop to Hamer, Rosedale and Pickering. Twenty Smooth Newts (also called Common Newts, but that sound impolite for such delightful creatures) in my pond this evening. 17 June 2006 Barbecue weather this evening, with Radford's beef burgers, Botham's bread buns and a whole cabaret of newts. Wonderful! 16 June 2006 Where better to enjoy a massive gammon steak and fried egg than sitting outside the pub at Runswick Bay, watching over the bay as the waves lap on the beach just below and the night creeps in? 14 June 2006 Cut all of Groves Dyke grass and half the woodyard this morning, rolled two big Poplar forks down to the entrance gateway as bollards (I am never going to be able to split them and 'Bollards!' was what I thought when I tried!) and then split and / or stacked the rest of the newly delivered Poplar. Except for 2 big drums which I am saving as a treat for my nephew on his next visit. I'll make a lumberjack of him yet! Spent a very pleasant afternoon pottering on my patio, improving the sun screen of Hazel poles laid across the raftings and generally tidying up. Pleasantly warm, dry and enjoyable and now my daily sundowner will be even more enjoyable. A post sunset (and sundowner!) Newt hunt in my pond produced 15 of the little darlings, the highest count for the last 10 days. I'm glad it was an odd number, if only to prove that I wasn't seeing double! 13 June 2006 This evening a Sparrowhawk called in at the feeding station for a Chaffinch Supper, but left without. Then from the kitchen window I watched a lovely pair of Bullfinches as they fed their way through the trees from woodyard to pole barn. 12 June 2006 Some cloud cover today and back to only TDH again, so I strimmed half of my half of the lawns, as well as the path around the wood. After lunch I waited for the local tree surgeon to deliver a lorry load of local Poplar tree, as the thunder rumbled around and around the dale, sending poor Flag into a shivering shadow of his useful extrovert self. After a couple of hours the thunderstorm broke and the heavens just opened. Rain pounded down and the guttering down pipes gushed full bore for a full 10 minutes. Then the rain stopped, the thunder rumbled off into the distance and the air was cool and fresh and pleasant for the first time in many days. See - I told you those Extreme Fire Risk signs on the moortop would do the trick! Two tons of newly felled and very wet Poplar arrived in late afternoon, so I spent the rest of the evening splitting and stacking the bits of the right length, or just moving the longer pieces aside to be sawn at a later date. After a couple of hours, I decided that 1 ton was enough for 1 day... 11 June 2006 TDH bordering on TBH. This morning I settled for a little bit of high pruning to let the 2 young Rowan Trees see through the encroaching Sycamores, followed by a visit to Hollywood, where it was almost pleasantly cool. The dense shade of the mature Holly trees and the coolth of the beck flowing beneath made it bearable. By sunset this evening the maximum thermometer had been up to 88ºF (almost 30ºC), which was quite uncalled for. If you agree that this is inappropriate weather for the North York Moors, do visit www.stopclimatechaos.org and if you want to reduce your own contribution to the problem, then try the government funded www.est.org.uk for the Energy Saving Trust. 10 June 2006. TDH again, so I have added (with a lot of help) 14 new photos of Groves Dyke, showing interior room views (the walls are really just plain magnolia!) and the new approach to the front door, not to mention the conservatory, the decking, the new patio furniture, etc, etc. To see them click on Descriptions (above) then on Photographs and then on 'No. 11 More photos, added in 2006.' Better still, just click here... I have now had the current rash of St George's flags on vehicles explained to me: it appears to be a new Department of Transport road safety campaign, to warn other road users about those drivers with the lowest IQ and hence the most chance of being involved in an accident. The lower the IQ of a driver, the more white flags with a red cross they must fly from their vehicle. What a good idea! 9 June 2006 TDH again. The North York Moors National Park staff have put up 'Extreme Fire Risk' signs on all the moor roads but it is only a matter of time before some thoughtless idiot chucks a fag end or drops their BBQ and destroys another square mile of heather moorland. Or putting up the sighs could have the same effect as last year, when it provoked a downpour within a week! What we really need is a Minister for Drought, just like we had in 1976. That not only provoked a downpour way back then, but so heavy and prolonged was the rain that the poor man had to convert himself into the Minister for Floods within a few days. St George seems to be very popular at the moment, with his flag flying from lots of houses, shops, cars and lorries. It's not St George's Day, is it? Or has everyone just noticed his medieval murals inside the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Pickering? (No, I have no idea what he was doing there, in amongst the bible stories). Or is it something to do with football? If it is something to do with football, then at the termination of the diurnal period I will be above the lunar orb when the whole silly hype is over. This evening I see that my Max & Min thermometer (which is on the North facing wall of Groves Dyke and never gets direct sunlight) has now been up to 82ºF since the beginning of the month - which is more than TDH. Twelve Newts by torchlight in my pond this evening. 8 June 2006 I know it sounds very ungrateful and I know England has just had the coldest and wettest May for hundreds of years, but the fact remains: today is just too damned hot! Sorry. Pausing at the top of Blue Bank and looking across to Littlebeck it is wonderful to see the field boundaries all etched in white again, not with snow at the hedgebacks, but this time with all the Hawthorn hedges cloaked in absolute masses of white blossom. Magnificent! But it's still TDH (too damned hot). 7 June 2007 Despite the heat, any lawn that didn't get cut on Monday did get cut this morning. This rotational mowing seems to be working well, with only half the lawns being cut in any one week (except Groves Dyke lawns, which get cut every week). This way the flowers get to flower for 2 weeks instead of 1, the wildlife benefits - and so do I. A real songster of a Blackbird has taken up near permanent residence on top of the telephone pole near the woodyard and sings almost non-stop. Why isn't he off feeding his young, or something? The sooner this brood of youngsters are all fledged and gone, the sooner I can start trimming the hedges... 6 June 2006 First a bit of firewood sawing, but it was too hot for much of that. Then a bit of front lawn digging up and wheel barrowing to the back, but far too hot for that, so I just spent much of the morning on genteely weeding the patio by Weed Wand, followed by painting the Groves Bank raftings in Cuprinol's finest Topiary Green. As I did so, a red bodied Damselfly dashed over the pond and landed briefly on the wall. The first Yellow Flag Iris flower opened today on the margin of the Groves bank pond. Driving back over the moor top at 5.30 pm my car told me that was 21ºC, which is just over 70º in real money - I thought it was hot! A pair of Curlew glided across the heather and gave their hauntingly beautiful bubbling call. 5 June 2006 Two hours of strimming this morning was more than enough, but it did get most of my lawns cut, a section of the beck, half the woodyard and all the path around the wood. Phew! 4 June 2006 Too hot to do much in the wood except cut back the Sycamore from the two young Rowan trees, as these seem to be the only Mountain Ash in the wood. Not to mention their traditional role of warding off all evil from the property. This evening a torchlight Newt hunt in my pond at 10 pm revealed c20 Newts, one still tail-curling and tail-quivering at a potential mate. 3 June 2006 Warm, dry and very, very sunny. A Green Woodpecker yaffled from the field above the wood this morning, but no sign of any deer. I was surprised and delighted to note that the maximum thermometer, reset just 2 day ago, has already reached 80ºF (26ºC) and the high pressure system over the UK is forecast to stay put for several days... I think this must mean that finally SUMMER IS HERE AT LAST!! What a lovely afternoon to stroll across the road to Perry's River Gardens and enjoy a cold drink and a homemade sticky bun whilst seated by the coolth of the River Esk. Isn't summertime wonderful? 2 June 2006 By 11 am the kitchen shop in Whitby which supplied the new kitchen had delivered a brand new replacement glass from a brand new identical oven and it was fitted straight away. This is an infinitely better way of dealing with the situation than the traditional 'You'll have to phone our call centre to report the fault, then post them the Guarantee Registration form and the original receipt and then somebody will contact you in a few days about sending a courier with the replacement part...' ...which is no use to me and even less use to all the guests in my holiday cottage over the next few weeks and months! Anyway, everything was back to normal well before lunch. By lunchtime the rain had stopped, the sky had cleared, the sun was shining and the Whitby car parks were full. Maybe it really IS summertime? This evening and for no good reason, the brand new glass panel in the door of the brand new oven in the brand new kitchen cracked. The outer glass panel remained intact, so everyone was ok, if a bit startled. I wonder how the shop which supplied it will react, when I tell them tomorrow morning?
The two Roe Deer are still in the field above the wood, but this morning they just lay in the long grass and watched, vaguely interested, as I walked past with Flag. Strimmed almost all the lawns this morning and then took some photos for the new Groves Dyke postcard, this time showing the new picture windows (have I ever told you about just how well Everest 'Fitted the Best in this particular case? If not, do click here...), the new conservatory, the new decking, the new garden fence and the much bigger trees than appeared in the last postcard of some 12 years ago. Many thanks to the HOR family for interrupting their holiday to pose for the new postcard. Then I wasted the lovely afternoon in preparing the Groves Dyke paperwork for the accountant. Shame. Still, even the owner of one small holiday cottage has to pay a nice accountant (he is) to prove to the nice taxman (not so sure about him) that one really is not involved in international money laundering or any other major organised crime... I suspect it is all a bit like the old and long defunct Dog Licence, which every UK dog had to have: each licence only cost the dog owner 7 shilling and 6 pence (= 37½ new pence) from any Post Office - but the admin cost involved was well over £10 / licence issued! In other words, just not worth the candle, but you just try to convince the civil service of that... This evening there was great excitement amongst the Groves Dyke House Martins, with one bird sitting on a nest and another 2 spending several hours flying around and around the house, as if in some kind of aerial dogfight. Very odd. [Next morning a broken eggshell was found below the nest, so perhaps all the excitement was caused by this joyous and imminent hatching?]
This evening, about 10 pm, there were 32 torch lit Newts in my pond, not to mention lots of pretty big Tadpoles and a couple of surprisingly large Dragonfly Nymphs.
To the sound of steam trains working back and forth from Grosmont to Whitby, I sawed the last of the hedgelaying poles into 4 foot 6 inch lengths and added them to the new cord, which still needs a few more to bring it up to its full height of 4 feet. Perhaps I can split some of the thicker logs and add them, just to cap it off properly? Now that the Esk Valley Railway (Whitby to Middlesbrough) is being run as a mini franchise by our own local Community Railway Trust, it is much more open to letting the steam trains from the Pickering to Grosmont preservation line run all the way into Whitby. Another possibility may be to transport by rail the thousands of tons of pine logs being produced by Dalby Forest near Pickering to the new wood fired electricity power station next to the ill fated Enron gas powered power station at Teesside. Much better than having an endless convoy of big timber wagons crawling up and over the North York Moors for all eternity! An evening Newt hunt produced a mere 15 Newts, perhaps because it has got a bit cooler with this Northerly breeze.
This evening, about 10pm, I took a torch and went Newt hunting in my pond. Thirty of the little darlings still hanging around! Far more than I expected so late in the month.
As I wheel-barrowed each load of sods around to the back lawn (to fill in all the holes Flag has dug over the past 5 years, before I break a leg in one of them while grass cutting) I did think that, Yes, a dinky digger would do it in a tenth of the time - but since I have already waited a hundred times longer than intended for the damn thing to arrive, I might as well just get on with it myself. And if it does ever arrive, then it will have less work to do and so will be a bit cheaper. Either way, I will eventually have a new patio outside my rarely used 'front' door AND less grass to cut every week AND fewer holes to fall into. The new patio will, of course, include a gravel surface and a permeable and weed suppressing membrane, to reduce runoff and flooding. After an hour I went to check up on Flag and his dig, only to see no sign of any dog. I called and, seconds later, a big yellow tail (still wagging furiously) reversed out of a completely new tunnel nearby! Oh good. Another hole to fill in again...
The embarrassed Goldfinch pair have returned to to the sunflower hearts feeder, pausing only to perch on the Niger seed feeder as a staging post. Silly birds, Niger seed feeders were designed specifically for Goldfinches! A couple of Greenfinches were equally perverse, perching on the Sunflower heart feeder before feeding from the Niger seed feeder. Just how their big wedge-shaped beaks were able to reach into the tiny ports to grab and manipulate the miniscule Niger seeds, I have no idea. No more idea than how the tiny tweezer beaks of the Goldfinches could cope with the large Sunflower seeds. Have none of these birds read the text books? By the middle of the afternoon I had finished strimming everything in sight (all the remaining lawns, ⅓ of the wild flower bank, ½ the top pond, ½ the woodyard (yes, I know it's the wrong half, but I was getting tired by then) and the path around the wood. Flag, on the other hand, went back to work while I recovered. When I woke up and went to investigate, he had completely disappeared down the newly created tunnel system in the nice soft very well composted soil, but reversed out proudly and with his tail wagging furiously when I called. Now I know what my first job is for tomorrow morning: take spade to very ancient, very large compost heap and collapse the roof of his tunnel from above - before he does it from within and suffocates himself! A pair of Siskins, the first I have seen for many a month, frequented the Niger seed feeder.
Having said that, it was dry last night and a very warm and sunny morning soon dried the Groves Dyke lawns enough to catch up on 10 days' grass cutting. Flag was safely tied to a tree in Dyke orchard, but I had forgotten about the Blue Tit nesting in the box nearby. The calls of the hungry young within were just too much for the poor dog and he has scratched a fair bit of bark off the tree as he tried to climb it to investigate!
Random thoughts from my holiday include: Alnwick Gardens are just getting better and better (and the new Pavilion is now open, too); Aberlady Bay National Nature Reserve (NNR) has lots of nice birds (even when there aren't thousands of wintering geese), including Bar Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Red Breasted Merganzer, etc); The Stand Comedy Club is very good; the Garden Level cafe under the National Gallery is excellent; the Scottish Storytelling Centre (next to John Knox House on the Royal Mile) has excellent free storytelling sessions at 2pm every day; the cafe on Marine Drive has been re-opened by Mark and he is single-handedly rebuilding the loos and (eventually) the gallery and seafood restaurant (keep up the good work!); the Scottish Ornithologists' Club has just opened the new George Waterson Birdwatching Centre which is built entirely of Scottish wood, contains an ornithological library / loos / info / hot drinks and has a superb view across Aberlady Bay; Cramond has an excellent harbour-side Bistro where I was lucky enough to be the guinea pig for their new line in traditional gingerbread (highly recommended!), as well as lovely walks along the shores of the Firth of Forth, inland to the weir on the River Almond and offshore to Cramond Island (mind the incoming tide!); The Seabird Centre at North Berwick is wonderful; the smooth white top of Bass Rock is really 50,000+ Gannets (but the boat trips are weekends only, so I missed the chance of a circumnavigation); Tantallon Castle is magnificent and its stone windows frame the nearby Bass Rock perfectly; John Muir Country Park at Dunbar commemorates the birthplace of the founder of the modern environmental conservation movement (he took US President Teddy Roosevelt hiking in Yosemite and convinced him to declare it the world's first National Park - he also canoed into Glacier Bay, Alaska and was the first non-native-American to describe its spectacular beauty); Mama Mia is very good (but a bit loud); Holy Isle is well worth the detour, with hundreds of Ringed Plover and summer plumaged Dunlin; the mainland shores of Lindisfarne Bay NNR can be reached from various very minor roads off the A1 and there are even a couple of very well hidden hides; try having lunch up a tree at Alnwick Gardens (I recommend the Northumberland Sausages with Mustard Mash and Red Onion Gravy in the Treehouse Restaurant, with Eton Mess to follow); stay a bit longer at Alnwick Gardens and avoid the 5pm rush hour / linear car park that is the A1 for a couple of miles either side of the Metro Centre in Newcastle; etc; etc.
This evening, about 10 o'clock, I went Newt watching by torchlight and found an amazing 41 in my pond! I have never seen 41 Newts in one pond before - but then, I'm not sure that I have ever looked at the right time before...
The paths are slippery again, so I had a restful morning snipping the occasional brambles from the paths. The first Early Purple Orchids, all 8 of them, are now flowering in Bank Orchard, where all the Daffodils are gone over. A couple of Bluebells are in flower there, as well as the first Lesser Celandine and first Lesser Stitchwort.
So nice a day that I took Flag to Runswick Bay for a walk and picnic on the beach. Sadly, he enjoyed it all so much that he forgot all the common sense acquired over the last couple of years and just ran up and down, chased every ball and stone, played with every child and had a great time. I abandoned the picnic, caught him up (eventually), put him on a lead and marched him back to the car. Never mind, it was still enjoyable. In early afternoon I glanced into my pond to see how the Newts were doing - only to discover that they were 26 of them, all in twos (and threes!) and all courting or just hanging around in mid-water.
I disturbed a 15 inch Slow Worm on my lower terrace and then a Roe Deer ran off up in the wood after lunch. After a long and luxurious bath, a stroll on the beach at Sandsend produced half a dozen Terns fishing just off shore (sorry, I couldn't see which) plus a small gaggle of small kids throwing small stones into the sea - which Flag enjoyed much more than the Terns.
Note to self: It really is so much easier to carry a 15 foot length of young tree over each shoulder than it is to carry the same timber pre-sawn into 20 firelogs, each 18 inches long! Please remind me never to pre-cut any fallen timber on site (eg the big Sycamore storm-thrown in Jan 2006 on the far side of the wood) and then spend the next 18 months carrying all the thousands of 'little' 18 inch firelogs back home... A Swallow (my first near home this year) flew past Hard Struggle Cottages on Eskdaleside this afternoon, with an abundance of midges swarming in tall mating spirals in the sun.
A Peacock butterfly struggled against the Stickery window, having over-wintered within, until I moved it to a sunny place in the doorway.
In my pond the Tadpoles are no longer clumped together, possibly because there are 11 or more Common Newts all hanging around together on the pond weed and on the edge shelf. Those 2 Goldfinches are back again and they are still up to something... but I have no idea what. A Collared Dove, the first I have seen here for several months, flew up from the front lawn. Tried to take Flag on the beach at Sandsend, but that 'cooler wind' at the bottom of Sleights turns out to be a very fresh onshore breeze at the coast, driving big breakers onto where the sand was at low tide, with occasional big waves crashing across the road in a cloud of spray in the village centre. So we walked around the woodland car park at Grosmont instead, where I was surprised to see that only a very few trees were in leaf. It just goes to show that where I live it is a lovely warm, sunny and sheltered little spot, compared to the more exposed surroundings.
A pair of blushing Goldfinches came to the feeding station and gorged themselves on the Sunflower hearts. A rare treat, but what on earth have they been up to?! And where were they a couple of years ago when I invested in a big bag of Niger seed and a special feeder, without attracting a single Goldie for months on end?
A male Sparrowhawk lay dead just outside my lounge window, presumably risking his neck to catch a reflection by mistake. Jays are noisy and a Roe Deer ran across the field at the top of the wood. The Blackthorn spiney near the NE corner of the wood is now in full flower, looking like a frothy foam when seen from across the valley in Ugglebarnby. 24 April 2006 The wildflower bank by the Stickery now has 5 Cowslips in flower.
The lovely weather continues and today was the first time this year when I didn't need (or want!) the wood burner lit while I was working in the Stickery.
I added some planks to the raftings above the deck (and immediately under the House Martin nests), ready for the rush screening to go up in a few days. There are a few fresh droppings up there but I still haven't seen the Housies flying around here this year...
Talking of which, there are now Wood Anemones everywhere, in between the still flowering Daffodils, Dogs Mercury, Primroses and Dog Violets. The Tadpoles are massing near the disintegrating spawn, a Newt showed them some interest and a pair of Sparrowhawks displayed over the woodyard. So that's alright, then.
Back home again and everything has dried out. The drive is dry, the lawns are dry and even the path around the wood is dry. What a vast improvement!
By late afternoon my lawns had dried out enough for the first grass cutting of the year. I could have cut them all (honest!) but decided that half was enough for my first attempt.
Is it true that the SE of England STILL has a water shortage? And is it true that in East Anglia HUGE pumps work night and day to remove all that nasty freshwater from the field drains and throw it over the sea wall into the sea?? Has anyone even considered the possibility of pumping it towards London, instead... ...or would that be a different government department, and thus utterly impossible???
6 April 2006 One Woodcock flushed by Flag at the top of the wood this morning.
While I was working in the woodyard the Great Spotted Woodpecker 'tchick'-ed from the big leaning Ash, the Green Woodpecker yaffled from the wood, Blackbirds, Dunnocks and Chaffinches sang all around, a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly flew past and Dog Violets and Lesser Celandines flowered, while Flag rolled on his back and just enjoyed the sun.
31 March 2006 More rain overnight. A single frog called in the pond, but the party is over, chum. Near St Oswalds Pastoral Retreat a Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard drumming and 3 pairs of Lapwing were giving their distinctive display flight alongside the road to Goathland. By midday it had brightened up and the smoke of a last swiddening fire on the moortop drifted across the dale. 29 March 2006 A fine sunny and dry spring day, with the 1st Woodcock (2 of them) flushed at the top of the wood. The Chiffchaff continues to call up there and a Green Woodpecker was also heard. Lots of Frogsong last night and again this morning, with enough spawn now to fill two 2 gallon buckets (anybody want a bit?). The triangle of 'tame' Daffodils in Groves Dyke garden is now in full flower, with a few others on the lawn just opening up. Groves Bank orchard is full of the little traditional 'wild' Daffodils all flowering beautifully, with the 1st Wood Anemones in flower, too. Lovely drying weather, so this afternoon I gave Groves Dyke's new utility room door and door frame a proper coat of paint, as well as the front door and the laundry and larder window frames. On Sleights Moor a Lapwing gave its first aerobatic display flight, which means:
27 March 2006 Its wet again but at least the rain is warmer! More Froggy activity in the pond, with 2 large blobs of spawn, each composed of 5 or 6 smaller dollops. Enough, all told, to fill a 2 gallon bucket (if I wanted to, which I don't). 1st Chiffchaff of the year calling at the top of the wood this morning. Dry by afternoon and my first House Martins were seen over the beach at Raithwaite Beck, near Sandsend, but these don't really qualify for the Groves Dyke First Arrivals list. 26 March 2006 Felled 2 young Ash trees trying to grow under the leccy wires, which had almost escaped detection. The potential cordwood was carried to the woodshed. Then I started carrying the other young Ash down from the top of the steps, only to be interrupted by more noisy Frog antics in the pond. The 1st Frogspawn has now appeared in the pond, but the number of participants has dropped to a mere dozen. 25 March 2006 Spring! Yes, its SPRING!! It's bright, it's dry, it's warm and it's actually SUNNY today, and a whole 10 ºC warmer than yesterday (my car says it is 13ºC this afternoon, compared with just 3ºC yesterday). This morning dog and I carried all the sawn branches from the fallen Apple tree from the orchard to the pole barn and, as I passed by the pond with each branch, I sometimes wondered if I had just heard a possible Frog... Lunch was taken in the conservatory, but with the door wide open for the first time this year. Then coffee was enjoyed on the patio by the pond, basking in the sun and watching the odd high cloud heading east (for a change) and yes, that WAS a Frog calling! And another. And another and another. And another, as the sun shone and the water warmed up. Yet more little triangular snouts sticking out of the pond, the occasional 'plop' as a newcomer threw itself in to join the orgy, more purring from more and more little snouts until almost 30 Frogs splashed happily around the pond. 24 March 2006 There was ice on the pond yesterday morning. It is raining today and there were 3 Curlew in the middle of a Goathland field this afternoon. 22 March 2006 This morning dawned bright, dry and sunny (but don't anyone mention it - you know what happened last time) so dog and I trimmed-up the young self-sown Ash trees which the Leccy Board felled several months ago for daring to grow underneath their wires. Quite a useful volume of cord wood all in all, once I had carried it all out of the brambles. It is now propped up off the ground and I can carry a bit down the steps and into the woodyard over the next few weeks. A single Goldcrest worked its way along Groves Dyke's front hedge, flying out to grab a flying insect before landing back in the hedge. This is the Spotted Flycatchers' technique and it looked rather odd to watch a Goldcrest doing it - but at least there are flying insects to catch, so perhaps Springs IS due to arrive next week, after all... 21 March 2006 A couple of light hail showers saw me off on my way to York. There is just a light rim of snow left around the edge of the Hole of Horcum and then not a sign of winter anywhere en route. Lunch at Betty's Cafe was excellent as ever, but I wished I had brought sandwiches, as the waiting can be a bit excessive at busy times (ie meal times - but then it is a cafe, so shouldn't they expect to be busy at mealtimes)? It was only while I was queuing on the stairs (this was at Little Betty's, in Stonegate) that I noticed for the very first time that each and every wooden wall light bracket in the whole cafe boasts a mouse - the trademark of Mousey Thompson, the famous woodcarver of Kilburn, near Helmsley. (Follow the link from my Mr Whittaker the Gnome Man page). 19 March 2006 Damn! I spoke too soon and Spring has gone back into hiding. Grizzly Bear returns to den... A little bit of out-of-rotation coppicing at the First Coup produced enough long thin Hazel rods for 'heathering' (no, I don't think it has anything to do with heather and I have no idea why it is called that) the far end of the newly laid hedge. By twisting three of four rods at a time into a 'rope' to link the tops of the hedging stakes, the laid branches are prevented from springing upwards and the whole length of laid hedge is given a nice 'finished' look. Then a couple of heftier bits of Hazel were used as pegs to rope the young fruit trees into rather more vertical positions. 18 March 2006 Could this really be a proper Spring day? Shushhh! It's dry, mild (ish), calm and occasionally almost sunny. The Blackbird, Dunnock and Great Tit all sang in the wood and three Robins got a bit stroppy with each other at the feeding station. This week the laundry stayed on the line and actually got drier instead of wetter. AND it didn't freeze. With such success in mind I even began to tidy up a bit, cleared out the dog end, sorted the accumulated tools in the conservatory and gave put the odd lick of paint on the utility room doorframe. This must be how the poor old Grizzly Bear feels when it finally gets out of its den for the first time after a long, long winter. Flag surprised all three of us by catching a young Rabbit, which proceeded to squeal the place down until I rescued and released it unscathed. In fact, the noise was so chilling that I think Flag and I were more scathed than it was. Then off to sort out the laid hedge in front of Groves Dyke, de-brambling and de-Cherry suckering back and front, until there were two tarpaulins full of endless brambles and dozens of mini Cherry trees, all to be dragged to the back of the orchard for yet another bonfire, once it has dried out a bit. 16 March 2006 'Occasional flurries of snow' it said, but they were few and far between. All the snow has gone, except for the odd patch on the moortop. Moved all the potential firewood from the hedge laying to the main stack in the orchard, well away from the wasps' nest (once multi-stung, twice super-shy). Then lit the bonfire in Dyke orchard, which kept me warm and dry until a late lunch. The BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol got in touch to say that the rushes* were 'really superb' and were just what they wanted, which was very good of them. If the clips* of the birds on my feeding station in the snow survive the editing suite* (and it now sounds as if they might) it will be aired* in October 2007, as part of Alan Titchmarsh's 'The Natural History of Britain'. *Us media types always say that. 15 March 2006 Dry and calm today, after yesterday's afternoon rain (not snow). The rain gauge now reads 1¾ inches so far this month, half of that in the last 48 hours. A nice stroll on the beach this morning, with a flock of 63 Oystercatchers by the water's edge. 14 March 2006 More snow overnight, but just a light dusting in Sleights and none in Whitby. The woodland car park at Grosmont was, according to my car, '-0ºC' and an inch deep with slushy snow, but the dog enjoyed a good soggy scamper in the woods. The ford showed 1 foot deep and a Grey Wagtail wagged its tail on the gravel bed just upstream of the road bridge. More snow forecast for North Yorkshire later today, so time to head for home and put another log on the wood burning stove... 13 March 2006 A dry, sunny morning and blowing half a gale (ie Force 4) from the west, so I loaded up the washing machine and refilled the wood pile by the door. By the time the laundry was out on the washing line it was blowing a whole gale (ie Force 8), with various items of clothing snatched from the line and tumbled across the yard. Replaced on the line with more clothes pegs, the same thing happened again. And then again, before I finally gave up and put it all back in for another wash. By the time it was re-laundered the wind had dropped to a fresh breeze and the whole wash then dried nicely on the line by late afternoon. The other job was to replace a roof tile which had slipped in last week's snow and then replace all the overturned patio chairs. 12 March 2006 Overcast, cooler and with a constant but sparse fall of tiny snowflakes which just melted away on contact with the ground. So light were these flakes that they wafted from side to side as they fell, thus even the car underneath the pole barn had its bonnet and roof an inch deep in snow, while the lawns were still green and the tarmac was still black. Very odd. The leccy board have only cut the trees under the high power leccy wires, so this morning I dropped a few young coppiced sycamores from the top of the slope immediately above the woodyard - and immediately below (only just) the low power leccy wires. 11 March 2006 Today was probably the last chance to burn all the lop and top from the Groves Bank hedge laying before all of the wild flowers are up. Remember that bonfire which just refused to burn a few weeks ago? Well, it got its come-uppance today, with the help of 3 weeks' worth of cardboard and a couple of very ancient wooden fence rails! It tried to snow a bit this morning, but failed almost completely. The bonfire went well for several hours and eventually devoured all the branches from the far corner of the orchard. All that remains now is a laid hedge, a tidy orchard, a burnt patch of grass, a good stack of cordwood to carry home - and a very, very, very muddy path from the far corner, through the poor trampled Dogs Mercury flowers, to the burnt patch. Almost as muddy as the dog! At lunchtime a 15-minute bird count from my conservatory revealed: Blue Tit 5, Chaffinch 5, Long Tailed Tit 5, Robin 3 (and no squabbling), Blackbird 2, Dunnock 2, Wood Pigeon 2, Coal Tit 1, Great Tit 1, Marsh Tit 1 - and Bank Vole 1. (1400-1415, 3/8 cloud cover, bright, dry and sunny). Shortly afterwards a Greenfinch visited the feeders, the first I have seen for a few weeks. 9 March 2006 The snow has all gone, apart from the odd rapidly melting drift in some shady hedge back. One of those which I passed today was still a good 2 feet deep. 6 March 2006 1. The thaw has begun! 2. The Big Lottery announced today that it has accepted our application for £50 million to rebuild Captain Cook's Resolution in Whitby - whoopee! Now all we have to do is put the whole thing together in even more detail (public consultations, floating eco-centre for visitors and educational visits, improve Whitby's transport infrastructure, etc, etc), get all the relevant organisations on board, pass muster at a Lottery inspection in mid-April, chart a safe passage through to Phase 2 of our bid, then win the national TV phone-in vote in the summer (a la Restoration or Pop Idol), and then actually build it (that will probably be the easy bit)! Stand by your telephones, please... We all went to the North Tees Marshes today, rediscovered Saltholme Pools, Greetham Marshes and Seal Sands National Nature Reserve. The former is going to have a wonderful new RSPB visitor centre in 2008, and the latter was every bit as good as I remember. T and C and I enjoyed the close views of a couple of Slavonian Grebes, not to mention the dozens of gift-wrapped Shelduck, the 25 Common Seals hauled out on the sands in the middle of the bay, and the very distant Red Throated Diver by that nice nuclear power station built at sea level - when sea level was where it used to be! We came back the quick way, via the world famous River Tees Transporter Bridge, one of only two still working in the world. (Anybody know where the other one is? I don't). The platform slung below the bridge holds just 9 cars per journey and carried us smoothly and quickly to the other side for a mere £1. Far, far better than driving all that long way around by the A19 bridge! 5 March 2006 The compacted snow on the steps made getting down onto Sandsend beach a bit tricky this morning, and the concrete slope below the road was still snow covered, but a bright sun and good coats made for a good walk for us and a good gallop for Flag. The snow has melted away from some places (eg south facing roofs and black tarmac roads and drives in the sun) but not from others (eg north facing roofs and shady parts of roads and drives). Groves Dyke drive is easily drivable (with a little bit of snow shovelling) but the shady backyard still has a good 4 inches of loose snow). 4 March 2006 Snowing hard last night and again this morning - but only along the coastal strip, with no snow at all just a few miles inland. T & C arrived safely last night, but we began to fear that we might not be able to get to our reserved table at the Endeavour Restaurant in Staithes this evening. Oh no! When the snow eased and the sun shone after lunch we drove to Runswick Bay (1 winter plumage Red Throated Diver in the bay, as well as a summer plumage Cormorant) where we admired the snowy cliffs of Kettleness. The roads had been cleared so we had no trouble reconnoitre-ing Staithes, including a nice bracing (yes, good word: very bracing!) walk across the beck to the end of Cowbar Nab and along the west breakwater. Here the views of the snow-covered cliff faces were even better, with every individual strata picked out in an absolute geologists' delight. No more snow, thank goodness, and we had a truly excellent meal at the Endeavour that evening. 2 March 2006 Sunny with occasional snow showers was just what the cameraman wanted, and that was exactly what he got. The squirrel-proof feeders were swapped for new ones which didn't obscure the birds so much, and lots of little birdies did come to feed. Sadly the Sparrowhawk, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch all stayed away, but do look out for the Long Tailed Tit, the Marsh Tit - and the odd Golden Retriever. (Very odd). Still, it must be a nice change for the poor man from all those Golden Eagles... Filming was all over by late afternoon and he set off for North Wales and his next assignment. 1 Mar 2006 The cameraman from the BBC Natural History Unit arrived this afternoon to set up his hide on my back lawn, overlooking the feeding station outside my conservatory. It seems Alan Titchmarsh's next natural history series (to be aired next summer) requires shots of a busy garden bird feeding station in the snow - and snow is hard to come by thanks to climate change, so when there is any anywhere, they dispatch a cameraman asap! It seems the BBC researcher for the programme had found the references to snow and bird feeding in this Wildlife Diary and just picked up the phone. Isn't the interweb wonderful! Last time it was the Neville Shute fan club in Australia finding my reference to Stoop Brow and wondering where exactly it was. I wonder who is going to be next... More snow this afternoon and filming begins tomorrow...
Saved by an unexpected phone call from Bristol, so I went outside with a bottle of vinegar and a scrunched-up newspaper, to clean the conservatory windows . Doesn't everyone? Especially when it's snowing? All will be revealed...
26 Feb 2006 The new platform linking the conservatory and the new utility room was unveiled today - ie, we took the tarpaulin off, now that the rain has stopped and the concrete has set. It looks good and now means that there are just 2 steps up from the drive to the conservatory or the utility room - a no longer any need to go down 2 steps and then up 2 other steps to reach the utility room. Everything is neatly fenced with wooden railings, which also help to screen off the original dust bins and recycling corner. Took the poor bored dog to Sandsend for a walk on the beach - but nobody told this sheltered corner of Sleights about the strong Northerly winds and the heavy seas! It's at least two coats colder on the coast and there was more surf than sand. Even the surfers were sitting in their camper vans waiting for better conditions. We just had a quick gallop on the last bit of beach remaining, before driving into Whitby. The tide was high and the waves were even higher, rolling along the lower levels of the pier extensions. In the upper harbour a flock of c60 Redshank roosted on the pontoons of Whitehall Landing (or Alcatraz, as it is known to everyone hereabouts, thanks to its 5 barrack-like floors and its 40 foot high brick walls, which ensure that none of the houses behind it can ever see the River Esk again). My pond is almost full of pondweed, since it seems to have kept growing almost all winter. This is possibly the last chance to clear out the weed before the Frogs and Toads arrive to spawn, so I did. At the top of the wood a fine big Mistle Thrush sang his heart out in the teeth of a strong and nithering Northerly. "Storm Cock" is the traditional name for this big, grey thrush, as no other bird is daft enough to sing in such conditions! 25 Feb 2006 A better morning, so we completed the concreting just before the rain began again. The Nuthatch called from the wood all morning and a Woodmouse bounced back and forth to and from the feeding station all afternoon. It must be spring. 23 Feb 2006 Cold and wet and miserable weather. If only it was a few degrees colder, it would be a bit less damp. Not a good day for mixing concrete, but BL still managed to put up the wooden rails around the new platform. 22 Feb 2006 Mixed concrete for BL to cap the new platform linking the front door of Groves Dyke with the new utility room. Got about ⅔ completed before abandoning him to get to a meeting in Whitby. In Bank orchard there is a small drift of Snowdrops, over a dozen Primroses in flower and 2, yes 2, little 'wild' Daffs with unopened yellow flowers. The leaves of the Twigwam Willows are now out, but still I can't prune it back into shape until the dinky digger has been to clean out the ditch where the cut Willow rods are going to be planted... 19 Feb 2006 A bracing (very bracing) walk on top of Danby Moor, along the old stage coach road. Four Lapwings were seen flying past, but not displaying. A single Red Grouse flew off silently, but a Skylark was singing manfully in a brisk northerly wind. This afternoon, once the ice had melted, a Frog walked slowly and unsteadily across the lawn towards the pond. 18 Feb 2006 Took a nice walk alongside the river between Whitby and Ruswarp, past the old gasworks and, eventually, along the old monks' trod. Very peaceful and pleasant 14 Feb 2006 The builder's wagon just managed to get under the Apple trees (while I pushed up the down curved branches with a brush) and up the drive, to drop three 1 tonne dumpy bags of sharp sand, gravel and hardcore, as well as a pallet full of brick, blocks, cement and blunt sand. Most of this is required for the new steps and platform to link Groves Dyke conservatory to the new utility room. Dry today, but everything is still too wet (1 inch of rain so far this month) to attempt the bonfire again. I took Flag on the beach at Sandsend, where quite a lot of other people had much the same idea. Flag enjoyed the company and also decided it was time to lie down in the North Sea - not once, not twice but three times! Well, it is mid-February, after all, it's probably starting to warm up again... 13 Feb 2006 The rain has stopped and the fire risk must be minimal by now, so I tried to light the bonfire - and failed. I tried the easy way (lots of cardboard), I tried the hard way (micro wigwam of tiny twigs) and I even tried cheating (gas fired weed wand) - but it just plain refused to take light. I struggled for a couple of hours and still it refused to go. I went on struggling until time ran out and still it just smoked feebly and then gave up. So did I. 11 Feb 2006 Dry today, but muddy and slippery underfoot. SA kindly joined me for a final day's hedge-laying and together we slithered out way to the end of Bank Orchard. By afternoon it was actually sunny and we completed the hedge before the rain returned in late afternoon. Now there is just one last, major bonfire needed to clear the site and all will be back to normal again in good time for the annual show of 'wild' Daffodils below the fruit trees. BL has also been busy over the last few days. Working in all weathers, he has managed to remove the door and doorframe from the new Utility Room, rotate and replace the doorframe and re-hang the door so that it now opens outwards. Wonderful! It makes the room so much bigger and also makes loading the washing machine or tumble dryer so much easier than before. So much progress!! 10 Feb 2006 More snow! Heavy snow! So heavy that the office rang to say "Don't even try driving to Goathland just yet..." After an hour it had eased and I got there ok, but the snow continued for much of the day, falling just a little bit faster than it melted away. By late afternoon there was over an inch of snow to scrape off the car windscreen and on returning to Sleights I found there was no snow at all but it had been sleeting all day, with over ½ an inch of water in the rain gauge. Changing the dressing on the back of my wounded finger this evening I discovered something more solid than a scab. Exploring it gingerly (and very reluctantly) with tweezers I suddenly found myself removing a massive thorn just over ½ an inch long (yes, that's a whole 12 mm). So proud and impressed was I that (when I had recovered from the queasy shock) I mounted the offending specimen on a card with full details of time, place, species, size, etc. Well, it makes a change from hanging stuffed fish or the heads of shot quarry on the wall! All I need now is a very, very small display case... 9 Feb 2006 It's snowing! Nobody mentioned snow in last night's weather forecast, but at least it melted away almost as fast as it landed. 8 Feb 2006 A little bit of overnight rain damped everything down and I decided to risk a one-and-a-half-handed bonfire of the lop and top from the hedging. It was a fine dry day, the fingers had begun to bend, the fire went well and and another few yards of hedge was prepared for laying. Very satisfying. 6 Feb 2006 Isn't it amazing how little you can do when all the fingers of one hand refuse to bend anymore? Everything from squeezing out toothpaste to tying shoelaces - and several things in between (no, don't ask). I decided it was rather too minor an injury to bother the Minor Injury Unit at Whitby Hospital with - and besides, they would only want to start digging to see if there was anything still in there. The compromise was to ask the pharmacist at Boots the Chemist for advice: put magnesium sulphate ointment on it and keep it covered. A much better course of action than digging! 5 Feb 2006 An easy morning of one-handed tidying up: stakes were trimmed to an even height and a heathering ('rope') of twisted Hazel rods now links the stake tops together and holds the pleachers ('partly cut stems laid at an angle') in place. All this dry weather has finally made the the muddy path around the wood inviting again, but has also increased the fire risk, so I won't light the new bonfire by the hedging site until it rains. More Snowdrops are now out in both orchards, the Daffodil stems are now c6 inches tall (but still in bud) and the Great Tit song is almost incessant. 4 Feb 2006 Another full day of digging holes / hedge-laying, with excellent progress until one of us put a thorn into the back of his finger. No, it was only a Hawthorn (thank goodness) and Yes, I had been wearing my leather gauntlets (but stupidly took them off to do something else a few minutes earlier). Luckily, the hole digging continued uninterrupted... 1 Feb 2006 Overcast and cold, but I continued preparing the next section of hedge - includes the big dead Elm tree which fell across the hedge and onto the orchard some 10 years ago. Most was removed at the time but the main trunk still lies across the hedge line and I think it will be easier to incorporate it into the laying process, than try to remove it. Eight Long-tailed Tit discovered the homemade peanut fat cake (grate peanuts with a rotary cheese grater, add to melted lard, mix & pour into plastic soup carton to set in fridge. Warm carton under hot tap to remove your very own peanut fat cake and hang in a net). This is almost as acceptable to the birds and a mite cheaper than buying them at almost £5 a time - especially when the rotten little beasts eat them at the rate of 1 per week!
30 Jan 2006 After 2 days of strenuous hedging (me) and 2 days of even more strenuous digging (Flag), I thought we both deserved a day off, so once the gas man had been-eth to fit the new meter (start reading: 99998.95) we went for a cold but sunny stroll on the beach at Sandsend. Followed by a swim (me, indoors, of course) and a sleep (Flag). All in all, a very enjoyable 3 days. NB: Did you know that 'British Gas' (as was) is now 75% owned by China and that we now get most of our gas from Russia - good thing we won the Cold War, then, eh? At least our strategic energy supplies are in safe hands... 29 Jan 2006 I did the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this morning from my conservatory. In the hour I saw: Blackbird 4, Blue Tit 3, Chaffinch 3, Coal Tit 2, Dunnock 1, Great Tit 3, Long-tailed Tit 2, Marsh Tit 1, Robin 2, Sparrow Hawk 1, Woodpigeon 2... not to mention 1 Grey Squirrel (Tree Rat!) and 2 Bank Voles. The rest of the morning (and part of the afternoon) was spent sorting out yesterday's produce: a bonfire for the lop and top while sorting out the better stuff for firewood. 28 Jan 2006 With invaluable help from NW, who wanted some hedging tuition, some real progress was made on laying lots more of the gappy hedge in Bank Orchard. This involved removing much of a biggish Hawthorn, so that the one remaining layable Hawthorn stem could be lowered gently into position - which itself involved the removal of much of a coppiced Hazel. At the end of a very successful day's work there was another 20 yards of laid hedge and a big pile of lop and top, with a fair amount of potential firewood to deal with later... 26 Jan 2006 Continued hedge-laying the very gappy hedge above bank orchard which, if the truth be told, is really more gap than hedge... 25 Jan 2006 With invaluable help from next door, a gutter was added to the roof of the pole barn, which will now keep the firewood even drier than before. Also today I received my nice 'new' aluminium framed rucksack (bought on eBay for £10), which will make carrying firelogs down from the wood much easier than before - especially on my aching elbows! A good investment, I think. 23 Jan 2006 No sun today, just grey skies and a cold wind. Collected the 2 Walnut trees and the Pear tree (no, no Partridge - sorry) from Rogers Nursery in Pickering and by lunchtime the Walnuts were planted at Aislaby. My car told me that the temperature was 0ºC up there, so it was only just suitable planting weather for bare-rooted young trees. The Conference Pear was added to the collection of traditional fruit trees in Bank Orchard after lunch, where the temperature was a whole degree or two higher and the first Snowdrop and the first Primrose are now in flower. 22 Jan 2006 Still bright, dry and sunny, but a bit cooler today. The Kestrel and the Sparrowhawk argued over who should sun themselves at the top of the leaning Ash and, after a bit of an aerial dogfight, the Kestrel won. A 15-minute count from my conservatory produced: Blackbird 2, Blue Tit 5, Carrion Crow 1, Chaffinch 3, Coal Tit 1, Dunnock 1, Great Tit 1, Kestrel 1, Long Tailed Tit 2, Robin 1, Sparrowhawk 1, Wood Pigeon 1. (2/8 cloud cover, wind Force 2 Easterly). A less energetic day of snipping brambles alongside the path in the wood, as well as trimming back the Rose Hip (now that the actual hips have been eaten) by the viewpoint at the top of the wood. No point in letting the 'viewpoint' deteriorate into a mere 'point'! Then a scramble down the Brambled-over ride under the electricity wires, only to discover that the electricity company's forestry team have been and gone (without warning) and felled the self-sown Ash trees which had appeared amongst the Brambles. That is no problem, but if I had known they had been, then I would have rescued the fallen trees for firewood before they lay on the damp ground for weeks on end. Never mind, all I have to do now is trim them up, drag them out, sawn them into cord lengths and stack them - for a bit longer to dry out than otherwise. 21 Jan 2006 Today, for the first time in a long time, it is bright, calm, dry, warm and sunny - and a perfectly wonderful day to spend out of doors. Just perfect for lighting the bonfire of lop and top from the fallen Apple tree in Bank Orchard, which burnt relatively easily and was all gone by lunchtime. Lunch was taken out of doors as well, sitting on the patio, basking in the sun and enjoying a bowl of hot soup in vest and shirt (plus trousers and socks, of course!). Me, that is. Not the soup. After lunch I lit the other bonfire of branches and brambles, removed from the ditch behind the pole barn. It burnt easily as well and was dying down nicely by 4.30pm, when it began to get dark and 8 Bullfinches flew into the Hawthorn scrub to roost. Then I went back indoors at the end of a very satisfactory day - unless, of course, you are a very ill young Northern Bottle Nosed Whale lost in the River Thames. The drama in the Thames continued to unfold before the TV eyes of millions, until the inevitable happened and it died of natural causes in mid-rescue. Still, perhaps that huge level of public interest in the welfare of one small and misplaced whale in London will provoke our Thames-side parliament into putting even more pressure on Norway (which continues to kill Minke whales for so called 'scientific' purposes) and Japan (which is increasing its annual whale catch and flouts the International Whale Sanctuary around Antarctica on a daily basis). Perhaps... Visit the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society for more details: www.wdcs.org.uk 19 Jan 2006 That bloody annoying person who keeps appearing on TV to tell us all that 'Tax doesn't have to be taxing' has been much in evidence recently, as the annual tax deadline approaches. I certainly found it very difficult this morning to get all the relevant Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage dockets together for my accountant. Even my accountant says that he finds it taxing, so why does the government insist on wasting even more of our taxes on ads which try to convince us that it isn't really taxing at all? Perhaps, if you are the sort of genius who appears on Mastermind (as Alan Hart-Davies does), it isn't taxing - but for lesser mortals like me, it is one of the very worst jobs of the year. 17 Jan 2006 A sunny morning for a stroll on the beach at Sandsend, where Flag managed not to disturb a high tide roost of 39 Oystercatchers which flew past and then piped themselves ashore at East Row Beck. 16 Jan 2006 Grey and grisly weather again this morning and the whole path around the wood is slutch and glar (ie very, very muddy underfoot), so off to Roger's Plant Nursery at Pickering to order one of their very own young Conference Pear trees for the gap in Bank Orchard. Not to mention a couple of their young Walnut trees for friends at Aislaby, as replacements for the big one blown down in the January storm last year. A damp stroll around Thornton-le-Dale village on the way back produced not a single Dipper in the beck alongside the main road. But there were a few Mallard and a pair of Canada Geese on the pond by the car park. 15 Jan 2006 With the nice new bow saw blades I bought yesterday I dropped another Silver Birch - ah, so much easier than the last one! Both are now sawn into cord lengths and stacked onsite to dry. I wasn't the only one sawing in the wood today, as a Great Tit kept me company with its sawyer 'song'. 14 Jan 2006 The dry weather continues, with only ½ an inch of rain so far this month, so I strimmed Wasp Nest Corner at the far end of Bank Orchard. This was the site of the great Wasp Nest Strimming Incident of several years ago, so now I tend to strim it only in mid-winter! Mind you, I was half expecting the odd wasp, as there was a small swarm of midges dancing over the beck this morning and the first green Daffodil shoots are just appearing in Dyke Orchard. 10 Jan 2005 Sun! It was there all the time, apparently, but this is the first sighting I can remember since just before New Year. The low cloud cover has gone, the sky is blue, the ground is already drying and the temperature has risen by 10º F since yesterday and is now in the mid 40s instead of the mid 30s. The Kestrel sunned itself on the very top of the leaning Ash and a noisy Nuthatch called from further up the wood. Altogether a much nicer world, so I spent the morning in the wood and dropped one of the self-sown Silver Birch next to the Major Oak. It was one of the biggest, but with a butt diameter of about 8 inches, still only cordwood. There is one other of a similar size in the group, which I also plan to fell. This will leave the triple stemmed original to continue to provide seed, as well as another 20 smaller trees of assorted sizes. These will be dropped one by one for firewood as they reach a suitable size over the next few years and meanwhile the stumps will send up young shoots to single and coppice for years to come... 8 Jan 2006 Stickery doors stuck! All this damp, miserable weather has made the double doors swell so much that I just couldn't open them today! 7 Jan 2006 Good - the new page has arrived at last. That's because the ground is still sodden, the temperature is a couple of degrees above freezing, the sky is grey, the air is damp, everything is muddy and the rain gauge has already had almost ½ an inch of rain - ugh. So it's an ideal day to catch up with all those indoor jobs, like this one. Stories of the recent snow are now being passed around the dale. It got down to -15ºC at Egton Bridge (a well known frost hollow). Goathland, Danby and other 'high altitude' parts of the moor had a foot of level snow and many minor roads were neither snowploughed nor gritted for several days. The RAF Air Sea Rescue helicopter was required on at least two occasions, to airlift patients from places inaccessible to the normal ambulances and in weather conditions too severe for the Air Ambulance to fly. Who says we don't need a full Casualty Department in Whitby Hospital nor proper 'out of hours' GP cover? Answer: Scarborough Primary Care Trust, of course! Closer to Sleights, the story is still being told of the young man who tried to turn his car around when it couldn't climb an un-cleared road, but got it stuck broadside when he backed too far into a snowdrift. Well prepared (he thought), he took out his shovel and dug the snow away from his back wheels, got in, revved the engine, front wheels spinning (just polishing the snow into ice) and still going nowhere. So he got out again, shovelled more snow away from his back wheels, got back in again, gave it full revs again, front wheels spinning again, but still going nowhere. It was only when my friend pointed out to him that he appeared to be driving a front wheel drive car, so perhaps he should clear the snow away from his front wheels, instead...! Ah yes, sad but true. There just hasn't been a proper winter for so long (isn't Climate Change wonderful?) that young folk today just don't know what to do with a bit of cold weather. 5 Jan 2006 Yes, you're right! It's now 2006 and I should have started a new page - but I've been too busy dismantling that big apple tree. It is now in 3 parts: a large heap of small branches for a bonfire, a medium heap of medium sized branches for seasoning into firelogs, and the big stick waiting for somebody with a chainsaw... 4 Jan 2006 An unexpected trip to Danby church to say goodbye to Jean D. The old church is set in the centre of this magnificent dale, some distance from the village. So now her situation is reversed and the dale, with its hedge backs still veined in snow, is taking care of her. What a peaceful place to lie. 3 Jan 2006 Well, Bing - it wasn't a white Christmas, but it was a fairly white New Year. Now the snow has just about disappeared, leaving the ground wet, muddy and very slippery. Click here for 2005 (Jul - Dec) Wildlife Diary and News Click here for 2005 (Jan - June) Wildlife Diary and News Click here for 2004 (Jul - Dec) Wildlife Diary and News Click here for 2004 (Jan - June) Wildlife Diary and News
|
|