Time Flies

I'm desperately trying to catch this blog up to date.  The children have returned to school so our activity list has doubled whilst our amount of freetime has decreased accordingly.  Which means very little time to work online.  Regardless, we've been really busy at the woodland. Things are so new and exciting I am tempted to skip straight to the current news, BUT, this would be defeating the object of keeping this record of the project.

Here are just a few more things that have taken place between then and now....

Scattered haphazardly around the land are a lot of raspberry canes and blackberry bushes which we will eventually (possibly) transplant to a more organised spot.  Similarly, the thought of planting other fruit trees is quite appealing so...

We have planted our first fruit tree on the meadow.  This Apple was grown from a seed by one of our children, about 6 years ago, and has been happily residing in a large planter in the garden until a more permanent home could be found. TA-DA! I wonder how many trees constitute an orchard?  My mind is already wandering to scrummy recipes of fruity jams, pies and puds. 

At the moment, I like the way these four Ash trees (just visible behind the apple tree) appear to have seeded themselves in a line across the meadow, creating almost a partition or natural division, so I plan to leave them where they are; at least for the time being.

Look at that face, priceless! Proof that size isn't
everything!

Our 10 year old son, a very keen and competent fisherman, has pulled his first fish from our stretch of the river.  A Perch (apparently).  We were all extremely pleased, not only has this spurred him on with his fishing attempts, but this is such a positive sign for a river which, over the years, has seen less than optimum conditions for wildlife.  Surely if there is one fish then there will be more?

Sticking with the nature theme, we have had several exciting sightings recently.  Late into one afternoon a red deer sauntered past on the opposite bank.  There was a small group of us sitting at a favourite fishing spot, not being particularly quiet, when one member spotted the deer.  Wowzers!  There are tales galore describing sightings of deer within the area but I have never, despite extensive exploring, been witness to this myself.

  

We also had a surprise find when clearing away some rubbish and overgrowth.  We picked it up, and handled it  only for the purpose of this photograph and then very carefully placed it back where we found it. It's definitely a newt!  We've also seen a shrew scurrying across the meadow and the odd glimpse of what we think may be a bank vole-though we haven't been quick enough to capture these On photographs!