A dry day on Thursday allowed Manx Wildlife Trust's David Bellamy to mow the meadow at Ballachurry. This was perfect timing as there was already a work party planned for Saturday and about 11 volunteers were soon raking off the resulting hay and dragging it off to the compost area in large sacks. Richard meanwhile continued and finished laying the willow hedge adjacent to the hide. It was warm work, especially as we were blessed with a sunny day, and nearby trees were soon festooned with discarded jackets and cagoules. At half time a halt was called so we could sample three different types of home made cake, rest our muscles and enjoy a hot drink and some chat. I usually take a few photos of the tea break but completely forgot today! Then back to work to finish the job before lunch time. It was lovely to see so many frogs hopping about in the meadow as we worked. They were a variety of sizes and a few actually kept still for a photograph before resuming their ravels. The Ballachurry Robins soon realised what was going on and were quick to visit the compost heap looking for insects after each fresh bagful of hay was upturned.
Here are a few mobile phone photos from this morning:
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| raking off |
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| loading the bags |
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| ever-mounting higher - the compost area |
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| job done! |
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| the meadow now looks huge! |
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| compare this photo with last Tuesday's |
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| and finally, a selection of frogs |
With thanks to David for cutting the meadow, the volunteers for working so hard today, and the bakers for sustaining us with delicious cake.
Wildlife seen: SC208694 frequent frogs and Robins.
SC209694 Blue, Hawker dragonfly species.
please click on photos to enlarge them
