What..? Nearly the end of May? Surely not already!

Hello!

Well I cant believe its nearly the end of the month of May and I also cant believe how the weather has changed! It scorchio today as I write and in my south facing yard I didn't manage to last more than 15 minutes in the sun before retreating inside!

Well again, its been a bust couple of weeks but mostly due to assignment writing. Habitat Management - Management Plan for Thurstaston Common Local Nature Reserve and an Academic and Professional Development Assignment. Well when I say an APD assignment what I should say is 4 tasks all rolled into one assignment = lots of work! I have also had an exam for Habitat Management which was absolutely fine. So all of that has taken up most of my free time and the rest of it has been spent either going up to the allotment to check on the plants or potting up courgettes, sweet potato and tomatoes in the back yard.

I have been continuing with the volunteering too at Tam O Shanter Urban Farm which has been brilliant. I'm loving it there and just wish I could work there more as there is so much, in terms of interpretation, tidying up that I could be pottering with but at the moment Mondays fly there and I dont really get chance to do much more than the day to day tasks of feeding, mucking out and getting the animals in and out. Its great fun though and lovely to meet such a nice bunch of volunteers.


So last night was I think the first night of 2012 that I put the moth trap out in the back yard! It was great and after only a couple of hours I managed to get some micro moths and the two below. I'm not a whiz at identifying them yet without looking at the book (cant imagine I ever will - there are soooooo many) but I think the two moths below might be a Scalloped Hazel (left) and a Buttoned Snout (right). Not bad for the first night of moth trapping in deepest darkest urban Rock Ferry.


Scalloped Hazel



Buttoned Snout?

I'm planning on putting the trap out again tonight and trying to work out how to put it out at the allotment without the possibility of it getting stolen, answers on a postcard please!

Busy weeks!

Well its been a busy week, nearly two weeks since I last wrote. The weather has been a bit all over the show but its still been kind enough to let me out on the allotment and have a great first day on the urban farm.

However the other Sunday, 29th April it absolutely bucketed it down for the walk I lead over at Llyn Crafnant. Despite the pouring rain I still managed to persuade about 25/26 people to come out walking with me, Tom and the mad mutt Archie, even Bailey the cute little dog of Sharon braved the elements on the 8 mile walk. Needless to say with all the rain I didn't manage to take any pictures. It was still a great end to my season leading walks for the Ramblers and I can now prepare for the Yorkshire 3 Peaks in July! Do I ever stop for a break? I wish I could say yes, but apart from the occasional slobbing on the sofa on a Thursday evening, I don't think I'm able to stop!!! Anyway if you are ever interested in going for a walk with some lovely people in lovely surroundings check out the Merseyside Young  Walkers Group that I lead for http://www.fillyaboots.org.uk/walks.html#May

Monday 30th April was my first day volunteering with Tam O Shanter Urban Farm up at Bidston. It was a great first day! I wasn't too sure at first, I was inpatient and wanted to do, do, do (now there's a surprise) but I soon got into the rhythm and loved it. My first day there included letting all the chickens, ducks and geese out of their sheds and collecting their eggs (so many colours of eggs I couldn't believe it), letting the goats out (they have some power to them) and giving them a bit of a brush. I cleaned the little Shetland pony's feet and led him out into the field and then got about cleaning and feeding. After break and lunch I got stuck into removing some sycamore from one of the hedges and refilled the disinfectant bucket for our wellies. The very end of the day I spent doing something I wasn't expecting, and never done before, I plucked a goose!!! Who would have thought that on my first day I would be doing that but a great experience. Injuries from the day included a right old nip from the male goose (not the one that ended up dead) and a Shetland pony hoof on a hunter welly ouch.

The Ranger there, John has been there for years and is so lovely and you can tell he enjoys what he does and is happy where he is at. The other volunteers I worked with there have been there between 9 and 10 years. Some have additional needs and are so good with the animals, I think its going to be a really valuable experience for me.

Saturday 5th May - Reaseheath Field trip to Weaver Park Way with Dave the ranger for the site but also our lecturer for Habitat Management. We were really lucky with the weather and it was great to see an urban fringe site and the considerations that you have to make about an area where its hard to engage local people in the park and respect it for what it is, Some pictures from the day are dotted around here. There was a good variety of habitats and so many ponds! Great for invertebrates really interesting place!

`


Sunday 6th May - was a super productive day on our allotment. Its just 10 minutes walk or so from where we live and the sun was shining so we made the most of it! We planted some courgettes, runner beans and strawberries and Tom did a fantastic job of planting some potatoes. When I find the labels I will make a note here of the spud varieties.






Saturday 12th May - Field trip to Formby. Another lovely sunny day spent on a Reaseheath field trip. Today we went to Formby to see the sand dunes, understand how they are formed and what management techniques are put in place to manage the dunes and the people that access them. Some of the plants / trees we saw included grey poplar, solomons seal, cranesbil, alder, crack willow. We saw a pond that had completely dried up, probably due to lack of management and how the rangers have managed to strengthen and encourage for formation of yellow dunes near the beach using chestnut fencing and old Christmas trees. Beach combing showed the usual suspects otter shells, razor clams, but found some piddocks and think I may have even found one of those Caribbean beans but it could also be a very old horse chestnut. I think its too small to be one of those beans that floats all the way from the Caribbean with the gulf stream, maybe I'll take a photo and post it here.

Sunday 13th - Another glorious day, which was a little but upsetting as I have an assignment to do, well quite a few actually but despite this I spent the morning up at the allotment sowing some seeds - today I sowed some runners, peas, beetroot and some pak choi as well as some wild strawberries. I pot ashed the fruit bushes and watered in some Swiss chard I planted yesterday evening after thinning them out of some pots in my back yard.