‘It’s been a glorious Summer at Hill Court Farm. The
weather has been unseasonably wonderful, there have been new and
exciting species records made and the volunteer team has had some really
enjoyable jobs to get stuck into. Despite the lack of rain the scrape has
retained water for birds to enjoy, the meadows have been alive with insect
and mammal life and all in all the site has really been a joy to visit.
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| Holt building (c) Sara Burton |
As always, the volunteer work party has been hard at work
and we have carried out a variety of tasks including wildflower seed
collecting / spreading across the meadows, willow weaving to
camouflage a bird viewing point and, perhaps my favourite task yet, building an
otter holt! Ever since reading Tarka the Otter as a young girl it’s been
an ambition of mine to see an otter in the wild, and while otters have yet to
be seen at Hill Court Farm there have been some tantalising signs, such as tail
slides, that they might just be visiting. So, on an extremely hot day in
July, we set about creating the type of home that would surely tempt an otter
to spend a little time on the Reserve. All the materials were sourced on
site - willow logs to create the walls, poles from the wooded area to hold
everything in place and lots of scrub to create the roof - and not a single
nail in sight. It really was very satisfying to stand back at the end of
the day and admire what we’d created from scratch. We’ll be monitoring
the holt over the new few months to see if we spot any footprints, etc.
The volunteer work party is always happy to welcome new
members. We carry out a variety of tasks throughout the year on the last
Saturday of every month (except December). If you fancy
getting involved in some practical conservation in a beautiful location with a
group of like-minded people then contact kat@worcestershirewildlife.org
for more information. Our current volunteers come from all sorts of
backgrounds, our ages range from 17 to 60 something and we have varying degrees
of experience from volunteering newbies to dedicated regulars. All
tools and full training are provided for each task, so it’s a great opportunity
to learn new skills. If you have some spare time and think this is just
the thing you’d like to get involved in, either on a regular or occasional
basis, then we’d really love to hear from you.
Sara, Hill Court Farm
