Hello!
So it has been a while since my last blog in September so I thought I would just give you a wee update of what I have been up to since.
So the biggest event that happened in the early winter was that my supervisor Simon left in October for a new post as site manager of Corrimony reserve in the Central Highlands! A really magic job for a really magic guy..though I will miss Simon I have been ‘adopted’ by the Assistant Warden Danni as my new manager, and so am quite happy I still have a home here with another great supervisor!
Workwise much of October November was taken up with monitoring of the newly purchased Raphan plantation, which is now finished. Surveys involved work on vegetation under the standing trees, tree crop and peat depth. John came up for a day in October and gave us a hand with this one day; after an awkward start where I got lost in the forest for a while (we have seen those trees before im sure!).The data is now being used to plan more detailed research into felling methods (removal of forestry plantations to restore peatbog being a major activity at Forsinard), looking at carbon flux, water quality effects and the recovery of the native bog flora.
The other activity which has taken up much of the fieldwork time is drain monitoring. In order to restore peatbog many dams have been installed in drains that were originally designed to modify the peatbog for forestry/agricultural and/or sporting use. We monitor water levels, structural integrity, and vegetation colonization of the re-wetted drains. This is an ongoing project on a 5-year rotation over the winter.
In December I also got the chance to install some dams on drains which was great fun! Basically getting plastic dams and bashing them in with a big heavy rubber Mael in a curious Timmy Mallet/world of warcraft scenario! Very tiring but very fun.
And now it is Febuary and outdoor work at Forsinard has been hampered a lot by the snow and frozen tracks..we cant get out so much and people are getting a bit twitchy and suffering from a bit of cabin fever, I may yet attack someone with my big rubber hammer.
Actually that paragraph is a little bit extreme! I am very happy! its quite nice to catch up on a lot of planning and data entry (I am currently planning the building of a bridge and a fence, I never realised how much thought goes into keeping a horse in a field!) and Forsinard in the snow is very gorgeous; I have taken up woodcarving and have spent a lot of time sitting on the doorstep watching the landscape and drinking lovely tea!
Spent a week in Abernethy recently to do some Chainsaw training; which was lovely. I don’t think I am a natural tree surgeon though I only broke a few chainsaws and I haven’t cut off my nose or anything so I am quite happy with what I learned and hope to get some practice in soon!
Went to an interesting meeting last week about common Scoter; a duck which we survey here on the reserve. Heard a bit about what the new freshwater invert apprentice might be up to which all sounds quite amazing!!! Was also great to hear some of the analysis of work we were doing in the summer and I look forward to getting out and doing some more duck watching when they come back from the sea!
Anyway this week I am off to the RSPB staff conference in Pitlochry and next week I am off on Holiday to the RSPB reserve on Oronsay for a couple of weeks! Which is lovely…
Byeee!!!
P.S. Still no photos so here is another poem!!
On Winters Margin
On winter’s margin, see the small birds now
With half-forged memories come flocking home
To gardens famous for their charity.
The green globe’s broken; vines like tangled veins
Hang at the entrance to the silent wood.
With half a loaf, I am the prince of crumbs;
By snow’s down, the birds amassed will sing
Like children for their sire to walk abroad!
But what I love, is the grey stubborn hawk
Who floats alone beyond the frozen vines;
And what I dream of are the patient deer
Who stand on legs like reeds and drink that wind; –
They are what saves the world: who choose to grow
Thin to a starting point beyond this squalor.
-Mary Oliver