Bird feeders

Last week I spent some time in the hide watching which birds go to which foods at the feeding station and I put some old apples from work down on the ground as well as pushing some onto nails about a metre off the ground. When I got there today I was surprised to see that all the ground apples had gone completely; no evidence left whatsoever, so I am assuming foxes took them - apples on my lawn stay for weeks! But the apples higher up have just been pecked or nibbled only around the nails.
The pheasants have definitely gone mad for the peanuts I dropped all over the floor; one photo caught 9 in the same shot, male and female. The seed I left in a channel carved the length of a log had gone, as well as most of the peanuts in the standard bird feeder, but the "globe feeder" was still more than half full. The tall seed feeder was empty again - so they have at least worked out how to eat from that now too which is good. What's not good is quite how quickly they devoured the lot - can only have been 5 days.
I smeared more lard on the bark of an alder as that had also been gobbled up - in fact by the time I had walked only 10 metres away, two woodpeckers were fighting over it again! I've set two camera traps at the feeding station. One pointing at the lard and the other along the length of the feeding bar, both over a metre off the ground as I was getting a little tired of trawling through endless videos of pheasants. I also want to know just how many different woodpeckers are coming to the feeders.
The Acorn camera seems to be misbehaving at the moment and cannot make up its mind if it's taking photos or ten-second video clips - not sure if it's the cold or if it's broken - but it keeps randomly switching between the two settings. The Bushnells (my new one) has had a few test runs at home in the garden, and is now spending its first night in the wood. I will go back Wednesday to see how it's performed (and to fill the feeders again no doubt - not sure how long that 25kg sack of feed is going to last!).
I made some lard, seed and nut cakes in old butter tubs too, but completely forgot to put them out, so they are keeping cold in the back of the Landrover right now. Will probably try wedging them in the forks of trees, as I'm still keen to get a nuthatch at some point. Nuthatches are one of my favourite birds, but one I've yet to see at Rais - they are apparently the only British bird to walk headfirst down tree trunks. Loads of Coal tits still and plenty of Jays, Woodpeckers and Robins but no Treecreepers or Woodcocks either. Plenty of time.

Still going for the last few days of 2014

Today we arrived at Rais late morning to tackle the tangle of bramble at the entrance which is to be our parking area.

before

after!

It looked a little daunting when we arrived, but nowhere near as bad as it would have been if we'd tried to clear it in the summer. First job of course was to get a fire lit so we could dispose of them once we had got them out the ground. Despite being covered in frost, the sun was shining and the ground not as hard as we expected, so most of the roots came out relatively easily.
By half two we had almost cleared the lot - the only worry I have is for the poor bunnies who had made their home underneath the bramble cover. There is naturally plenty of other places they can go, but I managed to destroy quite a few entrance holes with my size 5s (not to mention nearly breaking my neck at the same time!).
It was also a surprise just how uneven the ground was underneath - its going to need some serious leveling out before we can safely drive a car onto it. Raymond will be ok but there's no chance my car will get up there. A job for another day.

Retrieved the camera today.... our first Muntjac captured on video!

New road repairs

A quick visit to Rais today and I was surprised and pleased to see that the woodlands.co.uk team have now repaired the lane to the East of the wood and even used the leftover material to create me a clean, off road place to park the car - bonus.

Autumn Construction

So the kitchen has had some more soil added after another digging session now that the clay has softened enough to move. The suitable height has nearly been reached now, so just the "sideboard" to go on and then a roof/shelter to keep it dry-ish. We have taken down the tarps and moved them down into the Alder carr where it's less windy. Ant covered the two new storage boxes with roofing felt and so now things are looking pretty tidy in the wood.

The last few weeks of wet weather and high winds have also taken their toll on the temporary wood store we had made using an old plastic garden furniture cover... so I decided to try to make a simple frame covered in chicken wire that we had pulled from the wood (old pheasant runs!) not sure how or if it will work but it was good fun trying to find the right lengths of willows whips to feed through the "roof".

Lots of Rain!

Shocking how fast the water is now flowing through the wood.... the stream is now fairly deep in places and the gyhll is gushing with a torrent under the two new "bridges". Possibly enough to generate some hydro-electric power given the height it's now falling!

Also noticed the "bathroom" log we had placed at the edge of the water  to allow us to sit and wash in relative comfort has lodged itself in the downstream gap and dammed up the bath so it's now a good 5ft deep! Not sure I would ever want to get in it at the temperature it currently is, but at least we know the work we did clearing the stream this summer was well worth it. Only a few more yards to go and we will have the entire lower section done. Going to wait until all leaves are down though and the edging plants have died back as the last stretch is covered in brambles and so we want the best visibility and access possible to attempt it. Especially with the mud that currently covers absolutely everything!

Autumn Sunshine

It's amazing just how much light reaches the woodland floor now - most of the leaves are down allowing the sun to reach the fungi and the fallen harvest. I didn't manage to get up there directly after the rains had been, which would have shown the fungi in full fruit, but there were still some colourful subjects to get soggy knees for (and test out my new waterproofs). 

The chestnuts were also not large enough to eat, but a quick visit with Bob and Rita next door told me I missed the best ones which were on the Eastern border... better luck next year.
The new hide is actually pretty comfy and I spent a good couple of hours inside reading a book and watching the great spotted woodpeckers retrieve peanuts from among the leaves on the floor. I tested out noises; the odd cough and loudly turning pages and it seems they weren't too fussed which was good, but I didn't attempt to put my lens through the webbing just yet. If there's one thing I learnt about hide discipline in Brazil it's that you absolutely must get the wildlife believing it's safe to come down and eat before you start shooting at them with a noisy camera. The birds seemed to have worked out all but one of the feeders now and the ground feeders are a winner with the pheasants and squirrels. Work has taken me away quite a lot recently and so things are going to take a little longer than hoped in terms of getting hides in place for the winter months, but so far, the first one is definitely on the road to success. The birds know where it is and call to each other when I arrive and replenish. The blue tits are quite happy to perch in the bush above the hide whilst I fill the swinging containers a few feet away.
I took a walk around the cleared areas to see how the Rhodies had responded to their harsh "haircuts" and by god do they sprout! even in this damp dark weather they have put on a good few inches in new shoots at ground level. So by the time spring comes, they should be ready for a good session with the Round-Up sprayer... I feel I am going to enjoy that a little too much. whilst walking around the clearing in front of Rai, I kicked the ground by the fire and unearthed this jaw bone which I am assuming is from a deer with a row of massive teeth still in tact. Gruesome, but awesome at the same time. Couldn't find anything else around the area though but will keep a look out next time we are working in that space.