Spring is springing... sort of

Spring seems to be forging its way in, despite elements of wintry weather still trying to hang in there! The signs are popping up everywhere round the Dunster estate, including the first glimpses of the bursting buds of its pink flowers that appear on our giant magnolia (the tallest in the country no less). The photo attached was taken in a previous year, but gives an idea of what a sight this is when in full flower, so we are getting the word out early so that people get a chance to see this spectacular giant, pink tree! To see the giant magnolia, head for Nutcombe Bottom Car Park to the south of Dunster, and you will find it along our tall trees trail. Hurry though as this spectacle only lasts a couple of weeks.

Swaling 2013

Following the relatively dry, cold weather recently we have finally been able to carry out controlled burning- or swaling as it is known locally- just in time to avoid birds nesting season. The site, which is managed directly by The Crown Estate, is called Hopcott Common, to the south of Minehead and is one of the country's last refuges for the Heath Fritillary butterfly. This year, through the Exmoor National Park 'moorkeeper' project we, and the other landowners on Wootton Ridge have pro-actively cutting scrub and burning to keep it from encroaching further in order for the food plants of the Heath Frit to be able to grow more easily. As a result the populations of Heath Frits are doing well on Hopcott, but it is an ongoing effort to keep the scrub at bay. Though it may look destructive, Swaling if managed correctly can be a very effective way of controlling scrub, and the desired vegetation, such as heather and bilberry, will soon recover, and even be re-invigorated as a result of the overlying scrub being taken back.

Forests For the Future Launch

On friday the 22nd March, 60 children and teachers from Westover School, Brigwater and Alison Nimmo, The Crown Estate's Chief Executive joined us for an afternoon of forest fun to celebrate the national launch of the Forests for the Future education pack and online resource. Despite the weather we had a great time building dens, seeing how many 'hugs' wide the tallest tree in England is (12 if you were wondering!) and using all 60 of the visitors to measure out the length of the tallest tree on the ground- it was pure chance that 60 people joined us, and that the tree is 60m tall! Now we have officially launched the pack we are looking at further promoting it, and so will be looking to work with Local Education Authorities to train teachers on how to use the pack and work through the activities. Please feel free to contact us for more info.

Tales from Withycombe wood- early march

Dunster Estate volunteers have been coppicing in Withycombe Wood again, after a brief visit to Three Acre Covert near Watchet at the end of feb to undertake raking of cut grass to encourage the extremely rare Hairy Mallow, which exists there and virtually nowhere else! Today we continued with the work of coppicing the overgrown hazel stools and generally opening things up in there- it is really starting to make a difference and we will soon be seeing how the coppiced stools regenerate. The spectacular bluebells in Withycombe Wood aren't quite there yet, but as you can see from the elm shoots in the picture the first signs of spring are on their way- despite the biting wind!

tales from Withycombe Wood

The Dunster estate volunteers have been working hard coppicing hazel and elder in Withycombe wood again, continuing the process that is now underway to improve habitats in what is arguably one of the most biodiverse woods on the estate. They have now been armed with some new toys too, thanks to Exmoor National Park Authority and Natural England- in the form of new bilhooks and saws- further helping them to do this important work in the traditional way. Coppicing is really starting to open the lower canopy up, and light is able to get in, so it will be interesting to see how this helps the bluebells that are so spectacular here in the spring- not long now! We will also soon start to see how well the coppiced stools put up new shoots- and if there is any browsing from deer. Watch this space for further updates.

Bad Weather update- possible disruption to walking trails:

Due to the extremes of snow and high winds we have a number of fallen trees and blocked paths. We are in the process of surveying the damage and dealing with the issues, but be aware that you may encounter delays or need to divert from your intended route- particularly on those routes that are further from Nutcombe Bottom Car Park. If you wish to report an issue please contact us here, or call the estate office on 01643 821309

Wassail!



 

It has been time to 'wassail' Dunster Buttercross Community Orchard for the second time since it was planted in 2010 as part of The Crown Estate's 250th anniversary. Wasailing is a traditional blessing ceremony that dates back to saxon times. The aim of it is to drive away bad spirits and encourage good spirits in the hope of a good harvest of apples each year. Children from dunster 1st School joined us for a mini wassail in the morning, singing the traditional wassail song and making lots of noise (it was clear what was the most enjoyable bit!) to scare away the bad spirits. They then brought their parents along for the evening main event, where mulled cider was served to keep everyone warm, and the trees were wassailed again for good measure!

tales from withycombe wood

In a similar vein to the recent BBC 4 programme, Tales from the Wildwood, the Dunster estate volunteers have recently begun the process of getting one of our most wildlife rich woods, Withycombe Wood, back into management, and they will hopefully be getting some useful produce out of it too- including pea sticks, hurdles and even charcoal.
They will be using traditional coppicing techniques to manage the stands of hazel in the wood, as well as continuing to monitor for some of the area's iconic wildlife species- such as the Dormouse.
Though the volunteers will continue to do other tasks, Withycombe Wood will be the regular place we come back to, and it will be great for them to get to know the wood through the seasons.
Watch this space for further updates on the work of the volunteers in Withycombe Wood.

New community facilities for Withycombe

Planning permission has recently been granted by West Somerset Council for 3 dwellings (one affordable, local needs), a community Car Park, Play area and amenity space in Withycombe. The new community facilities are much needed by the village, and it was felt that the proposed dwellings would not only be in keeping and keep environmental impact to a minimum, but would also meet identified local needs. It is hoped that construction will begin as soon as possible.

xmas tree oh xmas tree

It is that time of year again, and we have been involving local school children in our xmas trees. Last friday we showed students from the West Somerset Community College around one of our xmas tree plantations and they were able to select a nice 14ft tree for their main assembly hall. Today we were out again with pupils from Minehead Middle School on the annual 'xmas tree pull', whereby an entire year group form the school walk from the school up to Hopcott heath and help us to manage some of the invasive conifer trees that take root there- and they get to take home the trees they collect. Lots of smiling faces, despite the prickles!

We are also selling xmas trees again from our new office this year, so come and get yours quick! Call the office on 01643 821309 or visit us at Sea Lane, Dunster Marsh near Minehead.

ash dieback info for visitors

Following recent outbreak of ash dieback please take note of the points in the poster attached when visiting to avoid risk of spreading disease. Thank you

Volunteering on Dartmoor

I have recently volunteered as an army cadet civilian assistant in my spare time. This means that I get to help lead expeditions and bushcraft sessions for the cadets, but don't have to attend regular drill nights. This last weekend I was able to take some time off from my usual Crown Estate duties to help take a group of cadets from Minehead and Cannington Platoons to Okehampton Camp on the edge of Dartmoor to do silver Duke of Edinburgh and 2 star expedition training. We spent 2.5 days doing navigation, camping, hill skills and a bit of camp craft thrown in for good measure. Though we had an enjoyable but challenging 27K route planned to take in some of the higher tors, we had a couple of injuries, and so had to cut it short to just 15K. We had two relatively dry nights of camping however, and, despite it feeling like mid-winter on sunday, as you can see from the picture the sun shone for at least the start of the walk! Though this is an extra-curricular activity of mine, The Crown Estate allows staff a couple of days a year to undertake a range of volunteer activities- some people read with school children, others run football teams- I choose to get wet and tired on the moors of the south west! Andy Player

New Office update

New office move date: 3rd-5th July.

Forest operations 2012

We have now finished any large scale forest ops on Croydon Hill, and have now moved on to Hopcott, to the south of Minehead. As with our other harvesting, we are undertaking a mix of clearfells and thinning. Please observe any on site notices and directions given and keep dogs under control in these areas.

walk on the wild side

Today has been a day for spotting wildlife on the Dunster estate. We were out with our volunteer bird ringer, Denise, this morning checking on our owl boxes, and despite a disappointing show from the owls, we did get to ring three Jackdaw chicks. As you can see, not exactly going to win a beautiful baby competition, but great to see none-the-less. Then, I spotted what appeared to be a large cat paw print up in Dunster forest.. Could it be the beast?!?!...... Probably just a large dog, but you never know!...

Office move update

As the build phase is nearing an end we have been getting all geared up for our move.... until, that is, we found out that we can't get our phones and networks installed until the middle of June! So close but yet so far! The building has really come on, with much of the essentials now installed- even got a log burner in there. We will start migrating across once the contractors have finished the basics, with a final move in date of the weekend of the 15th June. We'll get there in the end!

Andy Player

Where's spring gone?

As we are told here in the south west that we are in drought, the Dunster estate, and surrounding area has been subject to some of the highest rainfalls on record. As a result we have had flooding, trees down and ditches and streams that have been dry for many years, are now flowing rivers. As you can see, Nutcombe Bottom Car Park and play area are lucky to still be in place!
The brief lull in the weather has helped levels to drop again slightly, but with more rain to come we are not letting our guard down too much.

Regardless of this, when the sun has shone, it has been positively spring-like, with the wildflowers starting to put in an appearance- despite probably not knowing what season it actually is, and many of our walks are bordered with bluebells, violets, and primroses.

more signs of spring...

Now things are really getting going.. The impressive annual display of colour that is Withycombe Wood's bluebells is as impressive as ever. They come out in carpets of purple, and are really worth seeing. You can access Withycombe Wood via Withycombe village, and walk up through the newly planted Myra's Wood, to be opened at the end of the month, and dedicated in memory of a resident of the village. The trees are also starting to flush, and I have seen hazel, rowan, horse chestnut and beech with bright green leaves starting to poke through. A great time of year for sure and Bob the dog is enjoying the sun too! Andy Player

Felling in the forest

More intrepid visitors to the forest may have noticed that we have been felling up on Croydon Hill recently. This has unfortunately been necessary due to the stand of Corsican Pine falling victim to red band needle blight ( http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-6ZCKAE), which basically stunted the trees' growth, and could have spread to other stands. One interesting feature of this is that it has opened up some amazing views of Conygar tower and the coast- that won't have been seen for 40+ years. This area will be restocked with conifers that are more resistant to the ever increasing sweet of tree diseases that we need to manage around nowadays. The views, however, will remain for a good few years yet, so do make your way up the hill to enjoy them, and the nightjars that may well inhabit this area now it has been cleared. Andy Player

More signs of spring

As well as having the tallest tree in England (a 60m tall douglas fir), we also have growing along side it the tallest magnolia (25m). One of the signs that spring is really getting going is that it flowers an impressive bright pink (if you like that sort of thing!), and it is currently in full flower. Its neighbour also flowers white, straight after the pink has begun to go over. Both are well worth a look, but hurry as the whole spectacle only lasts a couple of weeks- just in time for easter holidays! Andy Player