Pond is filling already

The clay lining seems to be holding in the pond area and the new pipework doing its job perfectly. Fingers crossed for the start of a natural pond and solid dam over the course of the winter.
Feeding has started at the Hedgery with the fallen Oak providing the perfect perch to leave feed on.
Simon has been busy in the outdoor gym clearing the rest of the fallen limbs and starting to work through the Rhodies back towards the wayleave. I've been away on a weekend trip to Glastonbury and so haven't been much help, but judging by his photos, the place looks very different now and light will at last reach the woodland floor in the northern areas along the path.

Finally finished the kitchen worktop

Using 3 of the remaining clay sausages we finally finished the kitchen worktop all the way along on the left side of the fridge today - looks great and hopefully should make rainy days in the Yard Arm a little more spacious.
The existing shelves were moved to a more accessible position for the vertically-challenged amongst us and new shelves went up to store more utensils off ground.
The final set of clay sausages were used to line the pond where the new dam is well underway again with two new pipes being bedded in and some shorter up-stands attached to start filling again in preparation for the Autumn rains.

Who knew I would grow to bear carpentry!

Arrived to see some upsetting storm damage at the top of the wood. One of the twin oaks had dropped a couple of major limbs a few yards from the Hedgery. Not good and created a fair amount of work to clear, but it did provide me with some much needed twisted oak branches for my "tree of life" project at home.
Armed with loppers, a saw and a few nerves, Simon and I managed to clear enough fallen wood to free the poor Birch that was trapped underneath. It's lost the top third, but there is a good chance the bottom will survive. A very lucky Birch and will probably need a name.

Toggle closures on the inside for security

Hive windows made from old fencing

Once the oak was made safe, we started on the task we came for.... installing the hive shutters to provide both security and independent easy access for photography from any of the 4 windows. Very impressed with the end result - a bit of faffing getting the right hinges, mounted in the right place to allow them to be worked easily when alone, but all in all I think they look awesome and will certainly keep the weather out when not in use.

back from Israel... and "Hedgery Hive" is born!

Strimming the camping area

Crikey it's been a bit whirlwind lately, but we are back with a vengeance...
We have decided a much-needed investment for Rais would be a good quality petrol-powered clearance tool. So after a play with a borrowed Stihl one, we will be going for a fairly lightweight, interchangeable head job, starting with the brush-cutter and strimmer attachments only and deciding on the hedge trimmer and long-reach chainsaw as needed. It will at least help us keep the paths clear and should make light work of clearing the brambles in the southern way-leave section so we can at least reach the Rhodies there this Autumn. I can't believe I am actually looking forward to Rhodie clearance this year! Possibly because it's not clay-related and it makes such a difference in a short space of time.

Giving the Hive a woodland green camo coat

A few weeks ago Rais new Tiger shed arrived and we lugged it down into the new clearing, where it's been stacked waiting for a free weekend.  This one will be the bird of prey hide, situated on the edge of a clearing beside twin oaks, which we will eventually put a tawny owl box in. We have resident Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk has recently been spotted zooming through the trees at low level, so I have high hopes. It's going to take some time and the right feeding station, but the site seems perfect for birds, deer and rabbits, so I'm super excited about it.
This weekend, (with 40th birthday party hangovers), came the big dig to sink it into position on yet another slope on the northern boundary of the wood. A dig of about 2 feet!
The plan for Sunday was just to dig the base out, but of course with some awesome volunteers and a lot of sweating, we managed to get the base dug, the shed erected, painted and the roof felted in a matter of hours.

"waiting"

We started by raking the area clear of dead bracken and debris, which was going well until I raked away a bee's nest. A little unsure what to do, and not sure whether the nest had been built completely in the debris or in the ground, we left the area for a bit while we had a brew and a think. I didn't feel too happy about making a colony of much-needed bees homeless, and worried for the rest of the workers who were out foraging and would return home to their hive to find it decimated or worse ...buried. But after half hour, we decided we had no choice but to press on, the damage was sadly already done - they would have died off at the end of August anyway as apparently the colony only lasts 2 seasons. Still, I feel bad.
The digging took a little over two hours with four of us working at in and of course Flee is the equivalent of three people so in reality it was a fair amount of work to do. But we got there and laid down some solid wooden planks to keep the shed off the ground which was clay, bordering on sandstone.
The shed went up in no time and looks fantastic I now need to plan the inside and how the windows will need to be adapted for ease of photographic work. The bird perches and feed need to be thought out as well as their distance from the front of the hive itself. Lots to do and lots to get excited about. For the first few weeks though, I will not attempt to shoot, but bait and wait, then set the camera trap and watch.
Once again I can't thank the team enough - they never fail - and we always have a laugh doing it. So proud of all of us.

Bring on the pizza!

Tracey rowing with pizza paddles

Sorry for the delayed write up - had to fit in a quick trip to Africa!....
But the weekend before we left, Tracey and I managed to complete Cassius and were able to provide Flee with his first woodland pizza, as requested all those months ago.
Armed with not one, but two pizza paddles, made in two different materials by two different people, we set off for the wood, laden with pizza bases (yes, I know, pre-bought, but we all have to start somewhere) and a huge selection of toppings (think I might have overdone it a bit!).

The make-your-own selection platter

After a few hours firing, Cassius' thermometer was swinging between 170 and 200 and so we shoved in a cheap and cheerful, cheese and tomato mini to test him out with....We were expecting a black bottom, and possibly soot on top as the smoke level is quite low, but the sacrificial pizza looked so good we ate it! Cassius was roaring and so were we. The sense of achievement was immense; digging clay from the pond and turning it into something usable and "free" was fantastic. We now had the means to make roasties and bread, cakes and casseroles. So excited. But today's task was pizza for eight people. It was dark by the time the gang were all assembled, but with our solar lighting in the Yardarm it wasn't long before Cassius was in full swing and pizza after perfect pizza came out. The wooden paddle was great for getting them in and the metal one made light work of retrieving them - we didn't lose a single slice.

the first sacrificial mini

Everyone knows you can't have pizza without a movie, so we pegged out a pillow case over the woodpile to make a movie screen and all sat round the fire to watch "The making of Cassius" sent from a handheld projector mounted on a tripod - magic.
The journey has been longer than anticipated, and harder work than we could ever have imagined, but Cassius is a fully functioning thing of beauty and the aches and pains are now long forgotten.
We laughed, we worried, then we laughed some more. A massive thank you to everyone who made it possible, you're amazing.

PS: Flee, you can now have your pond back. We are well and truly done with clay.