One evening at the end of August, we held a Bat Walk at Astonbury. This was very kindly led by Chantal from Herts and Middlesex Bat Group. We had 10 people come along, meeting at 7:30pm at the Three Horseshoes carpark opposite the southern entrance to Astonbury, where I gave a brief introduction to the Wood before handing over to Chantal who gave a wonderful short talk about bats and how we could detect them. Bat detectors were then handed out for everyone to have a go, and Chantal had a little device that could produce very high frequency sound that bat detectors can be tested with. Most bats echolocate at frequencies far above what adult humans are able to hear which is generally 15-17 kHz. Common Pipistrelle for example echolocates at around 45kHz, Soprano Pipistrelle at about 55kHz. Knowing the frequency of the sound you are picking up enables you to tell which species of bat is close by.               

The sun had just about set but it was still very warm when we crossed over to the entrance of the reserve. We waited a short while by the Stevenage Brook but didn’t pick up any bats, presumably it was still a bit too light, and there were just a few late calling birds. It was much darker once we got into the woodland, and it wasn't long before we got to a glade and picked up first, Common, then Soprano Pipistrelle, both flying about overhead. We were in the glade so were able to watch the bats hunting against the sky above us. Chantal explained bats make a different sound when they catch prey, different to the sound produced when hunting with echolocation. She called this a feeding "buzz", and we were able to pick a few up through the bat detectors. We left the two Pipistrelles hunting in the glade and returned to what was now close to full darkness below the tree canopy. It wasn't long before Chantal called to everyone to set their bat detectors to 35kHz to pick up the sound of a Brown Long-eared bat, which was there for just a few seconds, then gone. But in its place, slightly lower at 32kHz we were able to pick up the "click-click-click" of a Barbastelle. Chantal explained that Barbastelles often fly quite long distances from their roosts to hunt, but as it was still relatively early in the evening it was likely this individual had a roost within Astonbury. Chantal went on to pick up several more Barbastelles with her slightly more advanced bat detector, but once we got down onto the path alongside the Stevenage Brook on the way back out of the wood we didn't pick up any more bats. The trees are much younger on this side of the wood, existing from 1950s planting, so of no real value as far as bat habitat is concerned. So that was the end of a fantastic introduction to bats at Astonbury. Afterwards we made plans to put a static detector back up at Astonbury later this week, as Chantal is curious about the relatively high level of Barbastelle activity!

A few days later we returned to put a bat detector up. First, we looked for older trees with decay around the main pond, but not too close to it, and under the woodland canopy so as not to pick up only Pipistrelle echolocation. We found a Hornbeam with a good-looking collection of cavities in the base about 20 meters north of the pond and went of that. Not too far away we found an Ash with an impressive cave-like cavity in the base, and a large dead-standing Oak with plenty of peeling bark and Woodpecker holes. I'm looking forward to seeing what is recorded!

I’m becoming aware of autumn/winter approaching, so I wanted to make sure I had a reasonably sized potential coppice area mapped, should the opportunity arise for the work to be done. A larger area will be beneficial to get more light into the wood and generate more timber to go for charcoal, as well as lessening the effect of browsing on the regrowth. I extended an area I'd previously mapped to include some additional previously coppiced Hornbeams. The area mapped ended up at about 0.4Ha but Hornbeam stools were sparse, with only about 60 present. A density of 500-1000 stools per Hectare would be preferable, so a minimum of about 200 in this particular area. However, the Hornbeam and Ash regeneration that's come through in the coupe we cut this year looks really good, so I'd expect the same to be the case for this compartment. Retaining approx. 6 standards in a coupe of this size would also be ideal. Once I had the area mapped and notes taken I went and tidied up and removed litter from an antisocial fire site I had spotted in the Woodland when we were looking for an appropriate location for the bat detector.

The bat recorder had been up for about a week and a half at Astonbury, and as we had it on loan for about 3 weeks, this seemed a good time to move it, to see if there might be other bat species elsewhere in the wood. I met Chantal and we took the recorder down from its location close to the large pond. It was showing 9MB of recordings which Chantal said was really good! We looked in the north of the wood for a place to put it, where no bat recording has previously been carried out to my knowledge. There is a pond at either corner of this northern end of the wood, and a reasonable abundance of old trees, so it looked good for bats. We put the bat recorder up a Hornbeam close to the western pond with some large old Oaks and Ashes with plenty of deadwood and holes nearby. On the way out of the wood I noticed an oak seedling totally white with Powdery Mildew. This is caused by the fungus Erysiphe alphitoides and has been particularly prevalent this year with the wetter than normal weather early in the summer. It is thought this fungus could be a major contributor to the current lack of Oak regeneration seen in our woodlands.

September is over already; the year is passing in a flash! While I’m all the more aware of the track at the north of the reserve steadily becoming overgrown making access difficult for our surveyors.  As the ambiguous statement on our tenancy says "we must maintain the access track if nobody else does." Somewhat surprisingly, it doesn't seem like anybody else does, so I spent a whole day scything the track and parking area and cutting the hedge. It was great weather for scything and thoroughly enjoyable, but in hindsight it could have been a good task for a work party! Next time perhaps. Popped into the reserve at lunch time and saw a Silver-washed Fritillary.

Due to the deer browsing, we had a meeting with a fencing contractor to look at deer fencing this years’ coppiced area. He advised the heavy-duty plastic mesh I was looking at using, was not up to the job. However, he's agreed to supply galvanised metal fencing for not ever so much more, so hopefully he'll be able to do the work for us at the beginning of November.

Finally, if you like the sound of learning about the world of the often-overlooked tree gall, we will be holding a walk to take a closer look at these at Astonbury on Saturday 12^th October. More details can be found at: https://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/events/tree-gall-walk-12oct24

On the very last day of July I helped Andy Holtham with his Summer Tree ID Workshop. We had 12 people come along for the day which started at Aston Village Hall. Andy gave a very thorough and entertaining presentation which kept everybody's attention for a good couple of hours. He had handed out some fresh twigs with leaves of various species at the beginning, and worked through them describing key differences and identifying features. After some questions and lunch, we all went for a walk around Astonbury, so the group could have a go at putting into practice what they had learned during the morning. Andy gave everybody a key to common British tree species that he had produced himself which contained 60 species which was truly brilliant, and enabled easy identification of many of the species we came across. From what I understand everyone who came along enjoyed the day and went away with a good idea of how to identify quite a few common trees!

The predation of the coppice regrowth at Astonbury, presumably by Muntjac has been keeping me awake at night, so I decided to see if I could do something about it. We never managed to finish tidying up in the coppice compartment before the Bluebells were flowering in the spring so I knew there was a bit of material I could make use of, and with what would be quite a small task and no imminent work parties I thought I'd have a go by myself. I decided to go wider and taller with the coppice regrowth protection and took some inspiration from my recent visit to Bradfield Woods in Suffolk, using the branches upright rather than horizontally, essentially making a wigwam like structure around each coppice stool. I only managed to do this on four of the coppice stools that appeared most affected by the browsing, until I ran out of branches. It will be interesting to see if this is effective as I feel it would use less branches and less processing of the branches used. I thought it also had quite a fitting medieval look about it. There is a real abundance of Ash and Hornbeam regeneration all over the ground in the coppice compartment, which I hope will survive, as it'd be great if the compartment was of much greater density of coppice stools the next time it is cut in 10 - 15 years’ time. Hopefully in the near future we’ll be able to Deer fence the whole area!           I shared what little sun there was today while I was working with a Speckled wood, a Silver-washed fritillary and a Southern Hawker. I also watched a Grey wagtail for a short while, flitting around the pond as I was leaving the wood.

On the 20^th August I ran a scything workshop at Astonbury which I had two people sign up for and attend. We had dry weather and it wasn’t too hot, so just about perfect conditions for a few hours of scything. After the Obligatory health and safety briefing I talked the two volunteers through the basics of using a scythe and how to keep it sharp. Without delay we set off into the woodland and to the area I had planned to cut, which is the glade around the watercourse in compartment 3. The two volunteers got to work and both looked like naturals with a good rhythmic swing of the scythe through the nettles. The three of us progressed quickly, and after about an hour, had the majority of the area cut. The area closest to the path on the southern side of the watercourse is becoming dominated by Sedge, but further away from the path there is quite a lot of finer, grassy growth coming through. It's certainly looking better than when we previously cut it in November last year. After a short break we got back to work and finished the cutting, and finished by raking off all the cuttings which we piled up in the shade. I had intended to finish the workshop at 1pm, but was very grateful the two volunteers offered to stay an extra hour until the task was completed! There was agreement among us of the pleasantries of scything over brush cutting. Hopefully more areas of Astonbury can be brought back into a cutting rotation suitable for a scythe!

After all the rain we had during the spring followed by intense sunshine seemingly brought about by the Summer Solstice, the Hazel regeneration is looking good at Astonbury, and the paths had become rather overgrown. Lucky then that myself and Sam had 8 willing volunteers to lead through a day of path cutting at Astonbury. It was one of those summer days when staying in the shade was really the only feasible way of spending much time outside, fortunately in this instance Astonbury is currently virtually a closed canopy woodland, making the work for the day relatively comfortable. All went well, apart from late in the day when Sam came across a dead Buzzard beside the path. No signs of having been shot; accidentally poisened perhaps? It's not uncommon for rodents to be poisoned around farms, making seemingly nice easy pickings for our poor birds of prey.

A couple of days later I returned to carry out a survey of the Ash trees within falling distance of the bridleway along the eastern edge of Astonbury Wood which is a Medium Risk Zone, thus surveyed every second year, but due to the sometimes-rapid decline of Ash due to Ash Dieback, Ash trees are surveyed annually. One tree was identified that required fairly urgent work and another group that would likely require work more urgently by next year. Because of access and location, the trees will best be grouped together and the work carried out in one go.

In early July I received the results of a botanical survey at Astonbury that had been carried out over the spring. The completed survey looks great and includes 37 Ancient Woodland Indicator species! The following day I received the results of bat recordings taken at Astonbury between 26th April and 2nd May 2024. A fantastic total of six different species were recorded including Barbastelle. This information will really help with planning the future management.

The following week we were back for a work party with 10 volunteers. We had a tiny bit of path cutting to finish off along the main ride so I got a couple of willing volunteers to do that, while the rest of us tackled scrub and a large area of Nettles on enriched ground. One reason for the work was to open up a view of a Midland Hawthorn, which is a less common tree to find in Hertfordshire. The other was to cut and rake an extensive area of Nettles in the hope that a cycle of cutting and raking will make this area to become a more species rich glade. Only time can tell. A rather damp but very humid day, but none the less a perfect day to be in the woods in July!

Finally, why not book yourself a place on the Scything Workshop at Astonbury on the 20^th August or the evening bat walk on the 28th? You can find out more information here: https://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/events/traditional-woodland-management-20aug24

https://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/events/bat-walk-astonbury-wood-28aug24

I hadn't been to Astonbury for a couple of weeks due to a period of annual leave, followed by a catch up on admin work upon my return, and involvement in several work parties at other Trust reserves.

I received an email at the beginning of the month from Richard, our bird surveyor at Astonbury, saying he felt the access track at the northern end of the wood was becoming tight with growth from the hedges, and the footpath down into the wood was also closing up with vegetation. We were still about three weeks from our next work party and I had largely caught up on admin, but with no one else available I opted for a solo site visit. Upon arrival I was greeted with several Bee Orchids in flower in the old field centre car park and the sound of the first Cuckoo I'd heard in Hertfordshire this year! As I was lone working, I opted for hand tools, so did the cutting back largely with a scythe. Such a pleasant way to work! It was so refreshing to cut to the sounds of birdsong and without constant two-stroke fumes! After spending the morning cutting and raking the access track and footpath that leads into the wood past the old field centre, I carried out a bit of a site check.

Foxgloves were in flower, Hazel regrowth was coming through in the areas we had coppiced during the winter, and a lot of Small Teasel was coming up in the glades we are restoring. When I got down to the southern end though I was shocked to see how much Himalayan Balsam there was growing along the bank of the Stevenage Brook, and Giant Hogweed too! These are two non-native invasive species or INNS that outcompete our native flora. Unfortunately, this is an ongoing issue, with seed sources further up the Stevenage Brook. Luckily the River Beane Restoration Association are doing a great job on eradicating these, so hopefully we can clear the banks of the Brook adjacent to Astonbury in the near future. The Trust is also trialling an innovative biological approach to the problem of Himalayan Balsam and you can read more about that here: https://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/news/tackling-himalayan-balsam-our-rivers-beautiful-enemy

We have a work party in the last week of June to cut back some of the paths around Astonbury, so hopefully by the time you’re reading this, you will have found it slightly easier to walk around!

If you would like to join one of our work parties at Astonbury Wood in future, please register your interest at https://hertswildlifetrust.formstack.com/forms/hmwt_volunteer_enquiry_form

Astonbury really came into bloom in the past couple of weeks and the woodland was full of flowers when I had a walk around with the old Astonbury Wood Management Group on the 25th April. It was great to learn from them about the management they had carried out in the past, and equally nice to hear how positive they were about the work the Trust has carried out over the past six months. We saw the glades we cut now filling with the blue flowers of Bugle and a lot of the locally scarce Small Teasel. We once again saw Orange-tip butterflies around their Garlic Mustard food plant, and we appropriately found ourselves surrounded by St Mark’s Flies, on St Mark’s Day.

On Sunday 28th of April we held a Bluebell walk at Astonbury. I was considering cancelling this walk on Sunday morning as it had rained all night, and was still raining heavily at 8am. I knew the woods were going to be very wet and slippery! I phoned a few of the people who had registered to gauge enthusiasm and the people I spoke to were nothing but enthusiastic! So, the walk went ahead. By the time we met at 9:30am the rain was much lighter and it actually stopped raining for the duration of the walk, with the sun, at times, poking through. There was a group of 11 of us in the end, with nine that didn't make it. I can't blame them as the weather and the forecast for the day were pretty awful. The Bluebells were past their best but there was plenty more to look at! I thoroughly enjoyed showing this very enthusiastic group around Astonbury with the help of Anna - Reserves Officer for Trust - as the back marker, and there were smiles all around! Only two members of the group had been to Astonbury before, so it was nice to be introducing the site to a new group of people. We finished at The Three Horseshoes pub for complementary teas and coffees, where it was great to see conversations about the visit to the wood continue among the group.

On Saturday 4^th May, 10 people made the early start for the Dawn Chorus Walk, which was led by Richard, Astonbury's volunteer bird surveyor. We first stopped by the Stevenage Brook at the southern entrance to the wood to listen for the Kingfisher that often flies up and down there, but no luck on the day. It was still twilight as we entered the wood with a Robin, Great Tit and Song Thrush calling. Next stop along the western path we heard Blackcap followed by Chiffchaff and a Green Woodpecker. Richard told the group he had seen one pair of Blackcaps looking to nest in the wood and three separate males singing. As we got away from the traffic noise - even at 5am! - we heard Wren, Mistle Thrush and Great Spotted Woodpecker. Again, Richard was able to tell the group he had seen three pairs of Wrens nesting in the wood. Arriving at the Hazel coppice clearing we were greeted with Nuthatch, and had Wren and Song Thrush always calling in the background. Back down to the southern end of the wood via the central ride, we finished with Goldcrest in the Thujas. A lovely early morning amble round the wood, with those who came expressing how nice it had been to learn some birdsong they could now recognise. Anna had been a great backmarker and stayed behind with me to take down the bat recorder and count Early Purple Orchids. We counted 69!

Finally, why not book yourself a place on the Summer Tree Identification Workshop we are holding at Astonbury on the 31^st July? You can find out more information here: www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/events/summer-tree-identification-workshop-31jul24