On Saturday 1st (our first weekend volunteer day on the reserve) Harry and volunteer Liam cleared part of the green lane side of the Pennsland Lane fence ready for replacing the rotten posts and repairing the fence. A flock of about 70 mixed finches were in the North Park hedge/new crop on the 5th. Mainly Chaffinch and Linnet with smaller numbers of Goldfinch. A flock of 30 Redwing were over the Main Field and a small unidentified bird of prey was chasing pipits/finches in the Main Field. A Crest/Tit flock was in trees around River Ashburn and a Kestrel hovering over the old crop. 2 voles were seen under the corrugated iron sheets. Volunteers Steve, Tom and Issy joined Harry to continue clearing the green lane side of the Pennsland Lane fence.
On the 6th there were 20 Chaffinch plus smaller numbers of Linnet and Goldfinch in the trees and old bird food crop near Pennsland Lane. A Goshawk circled over the neighbouring clear-felled plantation and North Park. There were Stonechats on the old crop. When new Administrator Sarah had her inaugural tour of the LLP the sun came out for a while and the Bee’s in the Mandarin Duck box on the Tractor Shed were really active, there was also a Barn Owl roosting in the Kiln Close Field Shelter where the windfall apples are being stored for winter feeding.
A Grey Heron flew up the valley and over the orchard to the ponds in the endless rain on the 9th. The river was in spate. On the 10th Harry put the final touches to the 3rd and final Field Shelter in North Park and confined the goats to do some concerted grazing in that field. By the 10th we had some rain every day and had totalled 88mm. Harry began clearing out the 1st Field Shelter in the Main Field ready for laying the slabs. Two of the goats, Archie and Alfred had got out of North Park into the orchard, fortunately as Annie hadn’t got in too, they were very happy to be taken back out to join her. Harry replaced some missing staples on the fence posts.
On the 11th Mateo led the first Bird Walk of the Winter, there were just two visitors but they were very enthusiastic. It was windy, with only 14 species seen: Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Chaffinch, Siskin, Meadow Pipit, Redwing, Blackbird, Wood Pigeon, Raven, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Sparrowhawk and Herring Gull. On the 13th Harry began strimming the top of Forde Orchard leaving a 2m area around each tree to avoid hitting the windfalls lying on the ground. The Bees in the Mandarin Duck box on the Tractor Shed were really active during the sunshine at midday. With help from volunteer Jane, on the 14th Harry cleared the stream bed between the two ponds and started clearing the bramble growth on the higher wall in Forde Orchard. There was a Field Vole nest under the corrugated sheet near the 1st Field Shelter in the Main Field.
On the 17th volunteer Steve and Harry started laying the slabs in the 1st Field Shelter, they got 7 out of the 9 rows done. There was a flock of around 15 Redwing feeding on Holly in trees along the Ashburn by the Apprentice Path. Harry finished the slabs on the 18th. There were around 15 Goldfinch, 20 Chaffinch and 20 Linnet on the new crop, mainly perching in trees along the Pennsland Lane boundary and a Kestrel resting on the long telegraph pole in the old crop. On the 20th Archie and Alfred had got back into the orchard. flock of about 100 Linnet were in the new crop on the 21st, feeding on fodder radish seeds. Also 30 Chaffinch and 20 Goldfinch, many moving between the North Park hedge and the crop. There were also Stonechat in the crop, a small group of Fieldfare moved along the Pennsland hedge, there were Song Thrush in that hedge too. There was ice on the water trough in North Park and in shady areas the ground frost stayed around all day. Harry and volunteer Tom worked on the fence line in North Park where the goats are getting into the orchard, raised it by 18 inches and added batten to hopefully stop them getting in. It didn’t work! On the 23rd Archie and Alfred were discovered in the orchard again! There were 200+ small birds flying up from the new crop in small mixed flocks
On the 25th Harry strimmed the top of the lower stone wall in the orchard and then started to cut the lower part above the ponds.
The cold snap towards the end of the month had increased to activity around the feeders in the orchard, with a near constant stream of finches and tits coming into feed. Over a dozen Blackbirds had begun to feed on the fallen apples, which had such a good crop this year. To provide this fruit throughout the winter and into next year, we have reserved and stored a lot of the apples in the Kiln Close Field Shelter. Winter thrushes, small mammals and insects rely on this food resource especially when others are hard to come by, so this reserved fruit will be placed out for them when the current food is running out. 38 birds of 7 species were ringed during a short session on the 28th, including 2 Marsh Tits. These diminutive birds are proper woodland specialists, caching food and utilising their knowledge of food resources to get through the winter. They stay on territory throughout the whole year, unlike Blue and Great Tits which will venture further afield.
Dartmoor National Park Youth Rangers arrived on the 30th, there were 23 of them plus adult helpers, they started laying the hedge in Kiln Close, just up from the remnant hedge and they also cleared the whole fence line, pushing the scrub back up to the fence on both sides.
November was a wet month with 26 days of rain totalling 204.6mm. Our 20-year average is 150.9mm however our last 3 Novembers had more rainfall with 2022 coming in at 347mm. The mean temperature for the month was 9.4°C, higher than our average of 8.9°C.
