Sherborne Brook wildlife update
What's happening along the valley.
Really as a follow up to the last post, a small number of matters to report and discuss.
Deer. Following the dialogue with Nigel the “Deer man” a couple of you have reported the odd behaviour of a white female in the pasture beyond the Broadwater. She doesn’t appear well, sits still for most of the day, apparently struggles to stand and when she does, she doesn’t move far. I’ve pinged Nigel and we’ll see what he has to say. The circle of life…
One swallow makes our summer. Three people have reported the first swallow of the year in the last 24 hours. This is a week before their “normal” arrival time here in Sherborne. You may recall they were late arriving last year. They tried but failed to successfully nest in my workshop last year (pic below) so I hope they succeed this time.
Last summer this nest failed to “stick” to the beam and tumbled, eggs and all. I’ve made a little platform this year to provide a “foundation” - we’ll see if they approve.
Barn Owl discussion. I had a chat with Anna, our local expert and I’m grateful as ever for her guidance. Seeing the Barn owls hunt at all times of the day is unusual. They won’t have laid eggs yet - too early and it will be another 6 weeks or so before they do. The female needs to get to 350g before she will lay. Often hunting during the day is a sign of a low field vole population, but both Anna and I have seen some indication that there are plenty of voles around so the behaviour (if that observation is correct) is curious. Let me know what you think. The only time I saw one up close ( a couple of days ago) I looked very healthy.
Please continue to share your spring sightings - I know it gives enormous pleasure to Sherborne residents - much more so than me banging on again about lumps in the ground. :-)
As a heads up I have unearthed an academic study from the 1940s- 1950s about the historical relationship of the Sherborne Estate with its owners, Winchcombe Abbey, concentrating extensively on Sherborne’s role in the wool trade in the Middle Ages. I’m wading through that study now and will share a summary of interesting nuggets in due course. They refer to another study from the same period comparing field names of local Sherborne fields in the 1940s/1950s with field name references in the same place hundreds of years ago, so I’m on the hunt for that. Happy to share my ad hoc maps of current field names if anyone is interested - some of them give “clues” which are pretty thought-provoking.
