September work party

From 18th -25th September we were joined by seven volunteers to rebuild North Pond research hide. The hide has been looking worse for wear for quite some time, but we returned this year to find the hide no longer had a roof or a door that worked. Still, we persevered throughout the year still managing to see several ‘good for Skomer’ birds, including Iceland Gull, Little Grebe, Spotted Redshank and Curlew Sandpiper from the hide. The hide became particularly messy in late summer though as the gulls and jackdaws used it as a roosting spot… 

A plan was hatched and the majority of the materials for the hide were delivered in April, when the island was still closed. On first impressions it appeared enough materials had been delivered to build two hides twice the size of the previous one, it’s amazing though how quickly you use up materials when working on a project like this. Here’s a photo story of the hide construction: 

Unloading work party kit from the Dale Princess. One weeks’ worth of kit, tools and food. It was our biggest changeover of the year but many hands made light work! C. Aston 

The state of the hide before we started work. Door, roof and shutters are all missing. Various parts of the hide were found either in the pond or in the grass surrounding the pond in spring. L. Newman

Demolition in progress just an hour or two after arriving on the boat. L.Newman

Hide post-demolition. One of the most difficult things about this job was the distance to hand carry everything to and from the farm. L.Newman

Hide construction underway. Getting all six posts, for the main body of the hide, square and level was a tricky task! L. Newman

 Phil and Rob mixing concrete to secure the posts. Mixing by hand was far easier than dragging a generator and cement mixer down from the farm. P & D Blatcher

Hide starting to take shape. Horizontal cross beams are the bottoms of the hide windows. L. Newman

Tea break. Martin and Nigel instigated a regimented tea break at 10:30am every day. Breaks are important; they also happened to coincide with PopMaster on Radio 2. P & D Blatcher

Front of the hide taking shape. Thankfully, we were blessed with good weather for nearly the entire week. A rare treat in September. P & D Blatcher

Hide construction finished. Screen in place, just the painting to go. L. Newman

Phil entering the hide. P & D Blatcher 

 

 

The team from left to right: Leighton, Martin, Rob, Nigel, Phil, Will, Dorothy (cook), Steve. 

P & D Blatcher

 I wish I had more photos of the hide to start with but as normally happens with a keen work party, the hide was dismantled before lunch on the first day and before I had a chance to take many photos. 

It was an incredibly dry summer and North Pond was reduced to a small puddle by September. It was still drawing in birds though, even whist we were building the hide, with a Dunlin dropping in and multiple Grey Wagtails. Since then we’ve had a bit more rain and have recorded Teal, Shoveler and Mallard, with more to come hopefully.

I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone involved with the work party and a thank you to Mike Penny who kindly provided the architectural drawings for the hide which gave us something to aim for. The work party was, as ever, really good fun and it's amazing how much you can achieve with the hands of six brilliant volunteers and one excellent cook!