Regularly sightings of the Kingfisher are confirmed!
as if we needed proof….
Jolly Japers
In spite of the inclement weather, the team were out there working today.
Hats off to them.
Further work @ Pytchley Marsh
For details of the latest work carried out on the Marsh,
Jollys Field – Progress Report
For detailed information on the Healthy Living Walk project,
More Marsh Activity
More areas are cleared this week
Six go to Malpass
Despite the snow, six hardy volunteers (Cyril, Phil, Tony, Malcolm, Margaret and Steve) ventured out for a few hours to look after the habitats on Malpass.
This was a work party run by Butterfly Conservation to maintain these important grasslands and a rare habitat for Warwickshire of a chalk bank. Loads achieved and the orchids and twayblades should benefit as well as a host of wildlife species.
Spawning Frogs
Frogs turn up to spawn despite the cold spring.
The first are thought to have moved in to pools near the Pytchley Bridge over the nights of 4th & 5th of March, both had been sunny days and temperatures a bit higher. We first saw them on Thursday 7th as the weather cooled again. Others have arrived since and one of the pools had 86 clumps of spawn by the 9th.
Despite this numbers are well down compared with the same time last year, so it may be a long drawn out breeding season.
See Ashlawn Frogs 2013 for more detail
Nature Force & helpers
Nature Force volunteers spent the day helping Butterfly Conservationists to clear trees and scrub but also tactle other jobs. They were able assisted by a group of supervised ‘pay-back’ personnel.
There were 3 bonfires on site to feed and man. Tree cutting, raking, and brushcutting tasks along with the erection of both Bat & Bird boxes in the small copse.
Ashlawn future plans
We hope to do some more work on Pytchley Marsh, there are some more trees to be felled. This is planned for the week commencing 10th March as we need to finish before the birds start to nest. We are seeking funding for this which will then bring in here the new regularly seen species. It has been great to see Redpoll and Grey Wagtails regularly in the Cutting recently and several sightings of the Kingfisher have been reported on the Marsh.
We are purchasing wildflower plug plants and seed which will likely be planted during April or May. The new scrapes we’ve done recently will hopefully have some frogs in very soon. Keep your eyes and ears open.
Later this year we are hoping to find funding to scrape out the Station pools.
Here’s one frog this week –
‘Jolly’ update
The ‘Healthy Living Walk’ is taking shape. We have to thank RBC for their hugely generous contribution and support of our efforts, and indeed Dave Whitlock the contractor working in very difficult circumstances with all the wet. Currently we are waiting for it to dry out a bit more before we move on. Still a few challenges as to how we get the path more friendly to walk on, as we haven’t got any more chips for the present.
The next step is to sort out the drainage pipes and remove some of the debris, and sort some of the deeper ruts, but all this needs to wait until the ground becomes more manageable, so it maybe a few weeks before there is more activity, and this will likely be manual rather than heavy plant. It will be great when it all starts to green up and look less like a bomb site.
We have obtained funding for wildflower plugs and seed for the Cutting, mainly on Jolly’s Field. We hope to plant/sow this April/May time which will greatly improve the look and add interest.
