Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Tuesday, March 2nd

The weather seems to have warmed up - a little - so I cycled over to the Gorge. I first noticed the Kestrel nest at Black Rocks during April last year (not blogged since I was in the car), that was quite late, so the birds must have been sitting on eggs. Today a Kestrel disappeared into a place near last year's nest on the cliff. It did not look like the same place, and though I waited, the bird did not reappear. At the Peregrine Watch I watched a couple of Ravens circling high above their nest area on the Leigh Woods side. They must be getting ready to nest.

The GOAT PEN has been started! I see that they are clearing the bushes in a line just below the rim of the Gully beside Circular Road where it leaves the Gorge. Since it has recently been observed that the goats in Cheddar Gorge, an area 100 times that being used in the Gully, have been eating the whitebeam bark, I fail to see how all of the trees in the Gully (henceforth called the GOAT PEN!) will not be ruined. The plan was to fence the rarer whitebeams, but the glory of this region in the spring comes from all of these trees, not just those that have a rarity interest. In Cheddar the problem is compounded by the discovery of yet another whitebeam species - in this case appropriately named Cheddar Whitebeam. These Whitebeams were discovered after the NT had released the goats, so they are reported to be in a quandary! Try goat stew!