Wildlife in the Forest of Bowland A.O.N.B.

Our bullied blackrock is recovering well with most of its feathers having regrown and looking much happier.  The are all enjoying the milder weather and continue to have access to the vegetable plot while there is not too much there for them to damage.

The recent foggy weather highlighted these ground level spiders’ webs. They are suspended on the grass around the edges of our planted woodland. No actual spiders have been seen so not sure what has made them. Suggestions welcome.

BTCV  are running a series of conservation activity days at Forrest Hills for people aged 16-24. Activites include tree planting, bird and bat box building, woodland management and river bank maintainance. BTCV provide all equipment and training and sessions are on Jan. 30th, Feb 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th, March 6th and 13th. Contact Dave Turner at BTCV on 01772 250316 if you are interested in getting involved.

Our last blog regarding the sighting of the red back shrike by the delegates on the bat course was in fact a Water rail, which are fairley common around fresh water, and also at Leighton Moss.

On Friday 15th Jan, Gail Armstrong (’bat lady’) ran her first bat course at Forrest Hills. This course was aimed at experienced people and will hopefully be the first of many. See her website for details. While the group were in Conder lodge, they spotted a water rail. These are fairly common around fresh water and are seen at Leighton Moss bird reserve.

The snow and ice didn’t go down well with our hens. They couldn’t scratch the ground for grubs or get at their usual greens, they don’t like standing on ice and don’t much like the cold. As a result they either stayed indoors, perched in the hawthorn tree in their run or stood looking miserable on one leg. Unfortunately, they took out their stress and frustration on one of the blackrocks and pecked out most of its feathers.

We did consider isolating it but it would get bullied even more when it re-joined the group and the next in the pecking order would probably have been attacked too.

The good news is that as the ice has thawed and weather improved the group seems to have returned to its usual routine with all the hens getting on very well and the blackrock’s feathers growing back.

As well as liking to eat strawberry plant leaves, the deer are also partial to the new buds on our young apple trees. The main orchard will have deer-proof fencing put up this year but several trees have been planted out on the golf course and they each get their own protection. This will be just enough to help them get established.

In a previous blog we mentioned using human hair as a deer deterrant. This idea originally came to us from a friend and farmer Benni Melin from Sweden. Somewhat more dramatically, he used the hair to deter bears from attacking his sheep!