I have got so carried away with shaping the wood that I have neglected the blog so here is what’s been going on since my last post.
The nest boxes I built where a bit of a disaster with only 3 I made being used, my mistake being that I didn’t know the larch would shrink and crack allowing light into the box, which the birds rejected, later on in the year I will make some planks and make more using more traditional methods which should be good for next season.
Loads more wild flowers are appearing along the verge and in the wood, some I can Identify others not yet, if anyone knows what the little whites one are please let me know.
Click on the photos for descriptions.
Nearly all the trees that I cut down and coppiced have burst into life, I had hoped to bring the canopy down to ground level and get the wood into several different life cycles, so all going well.
Here is how it is looking now.
With lots more light now getting in the south east corner more and more species are appearing with Golden ringed, Southern hawker, Brown hawker dragonfly been seen recently and Marble white, large and small white, speckled wood and a fritillary species seen (12 species of butterfly seen so far this year), so all looking good on the butterfly front.
The 4 buddleia that I planted last year has just started to flower so hopefully more butterflies with come to the nectar.
I have made more paths around the wood so as to not walk on anything that I have planted and make it more pleasant to wander around.
The recent hot spell we are having might kill some plants but all my water butts are full with the recent rain so anything wilting will get a drink.
I have built new structures in front of the main and morning hides out of logs to act as a table of sorts on to which I can put photogenic logs or stumps etc which will be eye level from inside the hides.
Here’s the main hide table viewed from inside the hide.
This is how I leave it when I am not photographing the birds, feeders up and a couple of logs for the woodpeckers to feed from and when I am shooting the goal post structure can come down or I can hang feeders from it as they are not in the shot, it looks messy in the photo but works well.
One of the best things is getting to meet interesting people who come to use the hides or have a lesson and when no one is here I continue with work, so much to do but what a joy.
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