Sherborne Nature update

Some minor stuff to report

1. Joshua, who runs the mink eradication project for the Waterlife Recovery Trust, which we're helping on, has told me there have been numerous sightings of mink across the county in recent weeks. He's concerned about an uptick in the population here in Gloucestershire. Please let me know if you see anything that might be a mink.
2. I'm getting more reports of lots of hedgehogs being seen this year, many more than normal. You will recall that early in the year I reported that there were many more weasels being seen than normal. Much fewer barn owls spotted.
3. I spent a happy hour yesterday watching a remarkable number of Cetti's Warblers race around the reeds and the trees on the brook. Delicate tiny birds about the size of a wren. There must have been seven or eight of them. I'm told by ornithologists that this bird first bred in the UK in 1972, but they're pretty widespread now. I'm a very amateur birder. I hope I've got that right. Other small flocks seem to have been attracted to the brook, perhaps in the dry weather, and there was a similar-sized group of goldfinches around at the same time racing from bush to bush, occasionally bumping into the long-tailed tits, like slightly pink lollipops, who always remind me of schoolboys in the playground, racing from one end to the other. Summer isn't always the best time for bird watching, but get down to the brook and you'll be rewarded.
4. Thank goodness for the recent rain, but it looks like it'll be another two weeks before we get any more. Lots of tinder dry fields around. Amazing how a couple of brief showers can perk up the grass, though.
5. "The River Girl" who some of you have met and who campaigns for clean water in the local area is coordinating an event for the Coln Restoration Group at Fairford on 12 September. (Details below).

Debbie, the River Girl, contributes a monthly article to Cotswold Life on local rivers - this month's is about the River Leach.

That's all for now. Please pass any interesting sightings to me so I can pass them on.