Quantock Hills. An Area of Outstanding Beauty

It was quite an experience being out on patrol this Sunday!  I don’t think that I can remember quite such a wild and wet April day.

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Everything’s bursting into colour at the moment … the skies are blue, the clouds are fluffy, the hedgerows are bursting into colour and even our traditional road signs are getting a spring clean!

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You might remember that last month I wrote about our two attempts to count deer on the Quantocks. Twice the weather got the better of us, but our volunteers are hardy folk and valiantly went on to search for deer in the thick fog!

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Since 1991 we have been assisting the Quantock Deer Management and Conservation Group to co-ordinate the annual deer count which relies on volunteers giving up a Sunday lie in to be on the hills before day break.  Thank you once again to everyone who turned out.

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For many years we have wanted to protect Triscombe Stone from potential vehicle damage and to make more of its setting.  One of my first ever jobs being a Ranger here was to upright the stone after it had been driven into!  Only last year it was again driven into by a 4X4 … which actually came off worse.

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swaling has made a start.

The traditional practice of burning patches of heather in a controlled way until the end of March is undertaken by Rangers and specially trained volunteers who give up a lot of hours over the coming month.

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It’s cold, very cold, and the ground is covered with a blanket of snow. I’ve just returned to the Fyne Court AONB Office with Andy Harris and Tim Russell, who are the full time Quantock Rangers, after working on Cothelstone Hill all morning.

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Perhaps not quite as exciting as ‘Don’t Feed the Bears’ in Jellystone National Park … but a very important message none the less.

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Just before New Year a young ram was severely mauled by a dog somewhere near Staple Plain.  Its injuries were so extreme that it had to be put down.  Over the years I’ve dealt with many cases of sheep worrying and it’s extremely frustrating as every single case is avoidable.

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I have begun mountain bike trail inspections at Great Wood, the 5 yearly thin of the forest is just beginning, and a confused foxglove has some serious timing issues.

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You may remember a recent blog of mine showing a deep freeze dumped amongst the trees … well, we removed it and it was replaced a couple of days later by even more rubbish.

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It’s been a busy weekend.  Thank you to everyone who reported seeing the Exmoor Ponies on the road around Cothelstone Hill.  They were not the ponies that are resident on the hill but three ponies from Lydeard Hill that wondered off because a gate had been left open.

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It appears that climate change has already reached the Quantocks!  The ‘deep freeze’ has already arrived in our ancient oak forests.

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Volunteers Dave Pusill and Chris Tilley ably assisted with removing yet more illegal rubbish dumped on the hills. This load was reported to us by a local horse rider and was down in the bottom of Merridge Common.

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It seems that all the hard work of those involved in the Quantock Commons Countryside Stewardship Scheme is beginning to pay off.  Probably the most striking example that can be seen right now is the amazingly vibrant colour of the heathland.

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Last Thursday a minibus load of Quantock Conservation Volunteers (armed with binos and sarnies) headed north to Gloucestershire to the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust HQ at Slimbridge.

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Hello everyone, my name is Tori Kirk and I am the new full time volunteer ranger, shared between the Quantock Hills AONB Service and the National Trust, based here at Fyne Court.

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Quantock Conservation Volunteers once again ‘earned their stripes’ picking up bags of litter from the hills.

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As you will notice from previous Blogs I’m busy fitting in bird ringing around my day job of normal Ranger duties.  We have particular interest in the migratory Pied Flycatcher which soon we shall begin to ring once the chicks have hatch and are big enough.

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I knew last Tuesday was going to be special when I followed a Peacock down the track that goes past Triscombe Quarry, not something you see everyday. 
Jen and I have been monitoring our nest boxes for over a month now and have begun to crunch a few figures.  The first Blue Tit egg was laid on 12th April in Holford Combe and the first Pied Flycatcher egg was laid on 27th April in both Holford and Hodders Combe.  The trend within the regional study area is that egg laying seems to be anything up to a fortnight early, probably as a result of the very favourable spring weather.

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So far the monitoring of our nest boxes is going well and the resident great tits and blue tits seem to be plentiful.  The nest is made predominately from moss, grass, hair (from deer and ponies) and feathers.  One or two have been most striking making use of pheasant feathers and believe it or not the some have even been lined with the nylon from tennis balls probably lost by dog walkers throwing them for their dogs!

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Hopefully you all had a great Easter break, and enjoyed a few too many chocolate eggs.  I’m hoping I might still find some Easter eggs, albeit the slightly smaller variety that can be found in our 160+ nest boxes scattered amongst the woods and forests.

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Over the last couple of weeks the volunteers have been out putting up new information posts in the main hilltop car parks.  The posts have the name of the location and map reference routed into the timber.  The first one went up at Lydeard Hill car park and within 5 minutes of it going in a member of the public commented on how useful (and sensible) the map reference addition was!

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Somerset, unlike many other Counties still has its old original cast iron road signs (dating back to early last century).  A heritage project a few years ago managed to get funding to repair a number of these old signs throughout the Quantock Hills AONB, and the project has been adopted by other AONBs in England and Wales.

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After just a few beautiful spring mornings, we can now be sure that spring is finally here. I am writing this warming up in the office having checked on our Exmoor Ponies this morning.  Signs of spring are now all around us with snowdrops in flower, resident birds beginning to sing as dawn breaks and Tawny Owl declaring their territories at the end of the day.

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Quantock Countryside Volunteers made a fantastic improvement to Lydeard Hill car park last Thursday by clearing a dense block of gorse from along the fence line.  The gorse had grown up over a number of years and gradually obscured the view from this hilltop car park. 

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Last week Andy and I contributed to this coming Sunday’s (23rd) BBC Countryfile programme.

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The cold weather and snow has been good for seeing many animals especially birds that gather together in flocks but also picking out the tracks of mammals more often than not missed during the normal working day.

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As we do every morning we were checking on the herd of Exmoor Ponies, and having to break the ice in their drinking trough.  Andy was with some volunteers who were working on a task, clearing bramble from the pony corral.

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Volunteer Co-ordinator Owen Jones and the The Quantock Countryside Volunteer group recently headed to the Sandy Beds area of the Quantocks to carry out some essential tree thinning. The area is covered with gnarled dwarf oaks (Sessile Oaks) that help give this area a unique feel, form an important habitat within the AONB boundary and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

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On a glorious summer evening it is well worth taking a walk on the common and keeping an eye out for the red deer looking resplendent in their summer coats.

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The Quantock Conservation Volunteers undertook a day surveying two prime locations for the rare Pink Waxcap fungi.

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High pressure meant clear skies and wonderful visibility.  The trees are just beginning to turn and the hill was pretty busy with people taking advantage of the great weather. 

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I write this as the first leaves begin to turn colour and the fruit bearing trees droop heavily with berries.

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A gorgeous misty morning checking on the Exmoor pony herd at Cothelstone

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