Countryside updates

We’ve been spoilt with beautiful sunny weather recently. Only 30mm of rain fell between March and April, which has allowed invertebrates to flourish.

Our Rangers at Ham Hill have spent their time brush-cutting around boulders and furniture, mowing the network of paths and catching up on some work around the new visitor centre site. They’ve also been removing invasive species, such as hogweed and wild parsnip, as well as the usual litter picking, bins and fencing repair jobs across the hill.

The new tractor is proving to be a huge time-saver; where once two rangers would’ve spent a day cutting a path, now one ranger can complete the task in just one morning.

Volunteers have been concentrating on our meadows, preparing the ground for sowing in the autumn for our Shrill Carder Bee project. They’ve also started their ‘walking haircuts’; keeping taller, dominant weed species away from any path edges.

The team of construction volunteers have been busy repairing and installing new steps, as well as completing work on some of the gateways to ensure they’re more accessible for visitors.

The wildlife surveying volunteers have started their bee and butterfly transects, but results have so far been disappointing despite the glorious weather.

Both ranger and volunteer teams have also started checking for dormice across the site. They were treated to a fantastic talk on pollinators and pests by zoologist, Dr. Nigel Stone, which served as a reminder of how important the conservation work carried out at Ham Hill truly is.

The beautiful dry stone walls which snake through the meadows and woodlands of the site are still undergoing repairs. Geoff, the ranger, has been teaching the historic craft of dry-stone walling to members of the public, Friends of Ham Hill, and the students at Yeovil College.

Wildlife

Summer this year seems to have pinged on like a lightbulb, and nature is rushing to greet it. Above the villages at the hills base, Swifts, the most arial of all birds, scream through the air, mouths agape for countless unlucky insects.

Mere centimetres above the Orchids; Bee and Pyramidal which grace Ham Hill’s Northern Spur and Plateau Fields respectively, Swallows fuel their Sahara-hunger with unsuspecting 6-Spot Burnet Moths and Soldier Beetles, which have narrowly escaped the shrieking shrews on a mission to feed their newborns.

All the franticness of the insectivores is ignored by the dancing Red Kites, who use the updraft of Ham Hill’s steep side to float high above green Somerset, in search of a tractor to follow, far too lazy-a-bird to pursue the Hamstone-dwelling Stonechats, or the iconic ground-nesting Skylarks.

Uncovering Ham Hill’s past for its future update

The foundations for the Visitor Centre have been completed and the above ground structure has started to take place. This gives a real sense of how it'll look and feel in the landscape. The trenching work to connect all the services to the site has mostly been completed with the service providers still left to make their connections through the installed pipework.

The main exhibition for the visitor centre is progressing well, with the design in its final iterations and the text being reviewed and refined. The stories of Ham Hill from its geological formation through to present day management will be told through a variety of displays, activities and a film.

The new map of the site is nearly finished, and we’ve been testing the walking trails and finalising where the way markers will go to help visitors explore the site further.

A new activity hub, funded through the Friends of Ham Hill will start to be constructed throughout June. This will provide a covered, weatherproof outside area that the rangers can use to host activities and events such as campfire cooking, spoon whittling, and other outdoor craft sessions. This area will be for use by supervised groups only.

Events

On 3 June, the Chard Reservoir Team was joined by 30 Year 5 pupils from Avishayes Primary School. This was a school trip linking to the learning they’d already been doing on habitats and wildlife.

As we explored the reservoir, going from one activity to the next (pond dipping, sweep netting, bird watching and nature walks), we talked about how we manage Chard Reservoir LNR (Local Nature Reserve) for wildlife and people.

We stopped to look at bat boxes, woodpecker holes, reptile mats, and our stunning wildflowers. We were able to show the group water scorpions, sticklebacks, song thrushes, birds’ nests, insect nests, and loads of orchids.

We had such a great day, and we look forward to welcoming Avishayes again soon!

Community Ranger, Edd, is also delivering events and workshops along with the rangers on Ham Hill. Geoff and Edd recently delivered a guided walk and craft day for the volunteer team of the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre.

Geoff led the groups around the significant geological and historical sites around the Northern Spur and down into deep quarry, before the group popped into the Prince of Wales pub for lunch.

They finished the day with nettle cordage; a therapeutic and simple bushcraft activity in which they made bracelets to keep as a reminder of the wonderful day.

If you’d like to have a go at nettle cordage, this will be offered as a bookable adults workshop at Ham Hill, on Tuesday, 17 June from 1pm to 3.30pm. To find out more about this event, follow @HamHillCountryPark on Facebook, Instagram or go to Visit South Somerset’s Ham Hill Country Park page.

On 22 May, we stayed up late for our bookable adult’s bat walk ‘Walking with Bats’; in which we wondered around the woodland fringes and lumpy biodiverse grassland of the site to glimpse numerous bat species and glow worms. In the summer holidays, we’ll be running one more bat walk, this time aimed at children, just to give our rangers an excuse to toast marshmallows!

PROMISEworks sessions, funded by the Tesco Stronger Starts Blue Token Awards

PROMISEworks is a local charity making a big difference in Somerset by offering mentoring services to disadvantaged children and young people across the county. They have delivered outdoor craft and nature-based workshops at Yeovil Country Park, Ham Hill, and now finally at Chard Reservoir.  

Three mornings consisting of games, team building activities, tools use, crafts and nature learning, were delivered to PROMISEworks during the Easter holidays and the half term. Each session was attended by 3 to 10 young people and their PROMISEworks mentors.

Workshop 1

Attendees learned how to light fires, create charcoal from Willow trees, and make stick-and-leaf sailing boats, which were raced down the brook.

Workshop 2

The PROMISEworks group discussed how they would go about living permanently in the wild, before taking to the woods with saws, loppers and secateurs, and building the most beautiful dens.

Workshop 3

Discovering wildlife was the name of the game in workshop 3. The group used nets to find fishes and aquatic invertebrates in the stream, swept the long grasses and tall plants to discover the meadow insect world, and trekked down to the hide with binoculars to see the birds bobbing on the vast reservoir.

Each session made use of the outdoor resources which were purchased through the Tesco Stronger Starts fund; namely the tarpaulin roof, the fenced-off area and the binoculars.

Thank you PROMISEworks; we hope to work with you many more times in the future!