The holly, the digger and the hedgehog hope

This week we have been down in our beautiful woods in the Rusland Valley. We are trying to make these woods more resilient and ensure that the features of Atlantic rainforest that we have, are enhanced rather than threatened.

A big part of this is to minimise the impacts of invasive species, which are here, largely holly and some beech and sycamore. You would not think holly could be classed as an invasive but in these woods it is spreading rapidly and this causes overcrowding and shading. This means other natural regeneration will not happen and it can also damage the growth of bryophytes and lichens (key temperate rainforest species). So we are removing some of it and clearing space around the larger trees.

We were joined on site by our local Plantlife Rainforest Officer and our local Rusland expert Marion who found some lichen we did not know we had and started helping us out with a future monitoring programme.

There was also a section of fence to repair to stop the sheep getting in and the volunteers were just amazing carrying in fence posts and a post knocker up to site to do the job. No mean feat and a special thanks to Andy for working out what was needed and making a special trip to High Borrowdale to get the equipment.

Defra are currently funding a lot of work into Atlantic or temperate rainforest. Not only did they fund the two year project we were involved in with Plantlife but a lot of research is going on. This is covering things like trying to find out the previous extent of temperate rainforest, predicting the likely impacts of climate change on rainforest lichens, effective rainforest restoration techniques to maximise carbon and biodiversity, the carbon and greenhouse gas sink potential of rainforest lichens and bryophytes and the cultural heritage value of rainforests.

It is fantastic that this special habitat is now starting to get some of the attention it deserves. Time is running out for our rainforests unless we learn more about how to manage them and also then actively do manage them. Hopefully all our work will help do both these things.

Dam Mire new bridge work

Over at Dam Mire Wood Dan and Sam have also been very busy building the new bridge. The abutments went in last week, with the concrete for the pads that the steel girders sit on being done just before the rain started.

The steel girders were delivered to site on Tuesday. Dan hired a 5 tonne digger to help get them across the beck and into position. The wood for the decking on the bridge is cut and ready and the next stage will be to get the wooden base fitted to the girders and the sides of the bridge built. By the end of next week we should have a bridge which will be amazing.

Walling gang at Mike’s Wood

The hole in the wall gang have been back out to Mike’s Wood this time. Whilst we didn’t have any gaps that were down and letting stock in, we were likely to have very soon. They have been at work fixing dodgy bits of wall, more to do though as it is a big job. The jobs turned out to be a bit bigger than first anticipated so a return visit will be needed to finish the job! Thanks as ever to them for their hard work and time.

In the news this week, researchers have found out that our beloved but declining hedgehogs can hear high frequency ultrasound. Road deaths of hedgehogs are one of the main reasons for their decline so scientists are now looking at ways that ultrasound repellers could be fitted near roads or on cars to deter hedgehogs from them. How clever is that! Meanwhile in the New Forest a curlew has just broken the longevity record for the species – she was ringed when first born back in 1992 so is just shy of 34 years old….