Monday
First day back to work and to kick off the new year, a male Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) was spotted on the ERC feeders!
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| Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) male in winter plumage. (Image: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/brambling/index.aspx) |
Myself and Sally spent the morning helping the Community Education Officer prepare various fun activities and creating quizzes for the upcoming 'Brilliant Birds' event here at the ERC on Saturday 26th January …Check out “2013 EVENTS!” under our ‘Blog Archive’ on the right hand side for more info!
In the afternoon we resumed our weekly Welsh lessons! This weeks topic was likes and dislikes:
"Dw i'n hoffi dysgu Cymraeg!" - I like learning Welsh!
"Beth mae hi'n hoffi wneud yn ei hamser sbâr?" - What does she like doing in her spare time?
Tuesday
Unfortunately I was ill today so was unable to come in to work..
Sally spent the day visiting local stores for equipment, completing general office tasks, and continuing to help the Community Education Officer with the preparation of activities for the 'Brilliant Birds' event.
Sally spent the day visiting local stores for equipment, completing general office tasks, and continuing to help the Community Education Officer with the preparation of activities for the 'Brilliant Birds' event.
Wednesday
Feeling much better today so back to work! We spent the whole day at the ERC; everyone busy with new year/back-to-work e-mails and meetings.
In the morning we all attended an informal meeting with a local ecologist, then myself and Sally carried out a tools stock check. Going through all the tools we compiled a list of items and quantities - an important (but time-consuming!) task.
After a lovely lunch break in the sunshine watching a flock of goldfinches devour the ERC bird feeders, I spent the afternoon doing various office tasks, organised a potential training course, and had a meeting with the reserve officer and our project leader.
In the morning we all attended an informal meeting with a local ecologist, then myself and Sally carried out a tools stock check. Going through all the tools we compiled a list of items and quantities - an important (but time-consuming!) task.
After a lovely lunch break in the sunshine watching a flock of goldfinches devour the ERC bird feeders, I spent the afternoon doing various office tasks, organised a potential training course, and had a meeting with the reserve officer and our project leader.
Thursday
Today both myself and Sally spent the day making a start on clearing bracken and bamble at Silent Valley - after passing our brushcutter course before Christmas, we were both eager to get some practice and this path-clearing task was the perfect opportunity!
Once we'd prepared all the tools and arrived at the reserve, the reserve officer explained what needed doing and, after re-capping on brushcutter and strimmer safety and checking our use of the machines, he left us to it.
We started by pulling all the grass and bracken away from the reserve boundary fence line so we could safely brushcut/strim the vegetation without damaging the fence. Firing up the machines we got to work clearing both sides of the path. Once cut, we raked all of the debris into large piles and moved it all off the trail. I then litter picked the area, we cleaned the machines, and tidied up.
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| Me brushcutting a tangle of brambles and bracken. |
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| Raking up the cut vegetation. |
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| Part of the path before clearance... |
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| Same part of the path after clearance... Certainly a difference! |
It was important to get this job done before the spring so that the path won't be overgrown later in the year!
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