For our last meeting before the summer break we did a final clear of of the nestboxes. This was to check for unhatched eggs and any chicks that didn’t make it to fledging. We only found one dead chick fortunately, it was the small one in box 4 that we were worried may not make it at the time that we ringed it. We had to read the ring number to confirm that and add to the ringing records.
After clearing out the nest boxes, leaving those which had tree sparrow nests, in case they were planning further broods (tits are limited in their nesting time to one brood to coincide wit the caterpillars on the first flush of oak leaves) we headed up to the woods to do some more bracken control.
We concentrated on clearing the bracken from the areas we had planted oaks over the winter to ensure that there was enough light getting to them – we ended up freeing 10 saplings that were completely swamped with the bracken, they all looked healthy and we hope they’ll grow better now they have more light.
We also did a bit of Himalayan Balsam pulling – this is an invasive plant that you often see alongside rivers and watercourses in Scottish cities – there is a huge amount along the kelvin. It has explosive seed pods which means that it spreads far and wide. They are, however, easy to remove if you get to them before they seed. They are shallow rooted and easily come out when you pull them. There is a small amount in the woods and we worked out way through an area where they are getting established. We’ll need to go back and do another sweep when the plants that are too small to spot are bigger. Eventually I hope that we will get rid of them altogether.
While we were doing that we saw a roe deer up above us on a slope. Only about 20m away she turned and looked at us and only then did we see that behind her was the tiniest fawn. One of the young people shouted out ‘she has a baby’ and we all watched entranced as she, with the fawn in tow trotted away. The youngster must have only been a few weeks old, it was tiny with legs far too long for its body, hopping over the ground behind its mother.
Upper Woodburn 