Martin WW

Scrubbing up.

Yesterday saw our first public volunteer day of the new year. We were working in the lee of some woodland which kept the cold north-westerly wind away and we also had a bit of sun for company. We are currently short of ’scrub’ on the Cluster. It is a very valuable habitat and our aimContinue reading “Scrubbing up.”

Natural Flood Management (NFM)

Earlier today we had a very interesting and illuminating online meeting with various partners to talk about our plans for NFM work on the cluster. We are working with Durham University to model the outcomes of proposed works and we saw a presentation of how any measures would affect peak flows in the area. TheContinue reading “Natural Flood Management (NFM)”

Volunteer Days 2022

Here is a list of our volunteer days for the next few months. We start at 10 am and will be providing hot drinks and soup (always vegan but we can hopefully deal with other likes/dislikes/allergies/intolerances etc, let us know) and cake. 27/1. Hedge planting 5/2. Tree shelter removal 17/2. Exclosure moving/building 28/2. Exclosure moving/buildingContinue reading “Volunteer Days 2022”

First Work Party of 2022

Yesterday saw volunteers from Sustainable Swaledale and Operation Raleigh Alumni tree planting and creating a new hedge line. An enjoyable day was had by all apparently. The new hedge was planted close to a dry stone wall line that was completely washed away in the flood in July 2019. Rather than re-wall, it was decidedContinue reading “First Work Party of 2022”

‘Calling all volunteers!’

Winter is in full swing and we’ve finally sat down together and planned our list of volunteer days for the remainder of the season. Between the end of January and the end of April, there are plenty of exciting tasks to get involved with, along with the ‘mundane but necessary’. All are incredibly beneficial forContinue reading “‘Calling all volunteers!’”

FISHY…FISHY…FISHY

Wednesday June 16th dawned bright and clear. A good day for playing in rivers. We hosted the Wild Trout Trust with Prof Johnny Grey and a happy band of volunteers. We were split into three groups, electro-fishing, water chemical analysis and invertebrate sampling, and then spent the next few hours enjoying the attention of midgesContinue reading “FISHY…FISHY…FISHY”

‘Yoof….’

Prince’s Youth Trust Visit 14th June Today we hosted a visit with some young folk from Darlington. The day didn’t start well with the bus driver being told by his ‘masters’ to drop them off at the wrong place. But through good luck and gravity (they were dropped off upstream of the cluster) we allContinue reading “‘Yoof….’”

The pitfalls of wildlife recording.

June 13th. Warm, muggy and now decidedly midgey. Whilst we were having a wander around yesterday, a kind gent was trying to install some ‘pitfall’ traps to sample creepy-crawlies. I hope you appreciate my technical terms? Pitfall traps are designed to catch insects, spiders, flies etc so they can later be identified. They do killContinue reading “The pitfalls of wildlife recording.”

Bird ringing demonstration…nah another walk around.

Sunday 13th June. Very warm and sticky. Part 1. Sadly no one had booked to come on our bird ringing demonstration walk. So we reorganised and had a wander around with a chap (and his wife) who had expressed an interest in the project and who is the Director of the Wildland Research Institute. FindContinue reading “Bird ringing demonstration…nah another walk around.”

A good mooch around.

Saturday 12th June. Saturday was the first day of our BioBlitz (or BioSkirmish as is my preferred name). We had arranged to meet a group of folk, many local, to show them around the cluster and explain what we are attempting to do, how we will attempt to do it and why we will probablyContinue reading “A good mooch around.”