Marking the path and putting up bird boxes at Bale. 31st January 2024

Gaining access to the Bale site proved challenging as the key which we had been given didn’t open the padlock on the gate. Luckily, the work party consisted of three of the younger, more supple, members of the Felbeck team and we managed to squeeze ourselves through the railings.

Our first task was to mark the path through the woodland which had been cleared in December. The route was pretty obvious until we met the precipitous slope near the pond. After some reconnaissance we found Peter’s path, a sensible diversion avoiding the aforementioned slippery section. 

As we progressed, we left route markers consisting of strips of Andrew’s boyhood sheets – this well-travelled bed linen has journeyed through various continents before ending up on a bush in Bale!

The next job was to erect ten bird boxes on the northern or eastern sides of suitably robust trees. Southern and western faces are avoided to reduce exposure to the sun and prevent overheating in the spring and early summer. Seven boxes were placed near the cleared path and a cluster of three was positioned in a group of trees near the pond.

There wasn’t enough time to embark upon a species list for this wonderful piece of woodland but we did flush a couple of Woodcock which are always nice to see.

Before leaving we gathered up a large number of plastic plant pots which had been dumped near the pond. These and other debris can be removed when we return to battle with the nettles which will be our main adversary when trying to maintain access to the woodland throughout the year.