Wednesday 17th December

 Hi all,

The contractor has cut the central hedge on one side and today will have finished cutting back encroaching vegetation along the permissive path. 

By cutting the central hedge we are maintaining dense thick cover from the spring/summer regen, particularly in the the lower regions of the hedge which will be move favourable to yellowhammers, which tend to nest low and favour hedges 2m and below. The other side of the hedge has been left for spring/summer nectar sources and winter/autumn berry availability. By cutting the hedge on a rotation we create habitat variability. 

Next job is to cut back the footpath along the railway line. Access gets quite limited when the brambles take hold in summer and getting a tractor down there is tricky when cutting the paths. We will widen the track to improve access for the tractors but also for people. 

Because not much of the site has been cut back in the past we are doing a fair bit this year. In future years we will do less on a longer rotation.

On another note I noticed the electric fence energiser was dead, I've replaced this. Please on your rounds check the energiser is working. Its the black box at the end of the electric fence line, it has a light on it that pulses, no light/pulse means it is completely dead, red light/pulse means it is dying, green light/pulse means it is working. Please call me if the green light is not on, it is an internal fence so not urgent but if the line is not live there could be a risk a cow/deer will get in contact with the line more and potentially get tangled (just to caveat it is very unlikely).

Thank you all for your support,

Sam