SEPTEMBER WORKING PARTY

The working party have been busy improving some of the drainage in Colquite. This photo shows one of the new stone cross drains, which will divert water from the path and prevent further erosion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work has temporarily come to a halt at the shed which is currently hosting a very active hornet’s nest!

As we discovered in June                                                                                                                                       As it is now, hornets in and out all day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work will resume on Saturday October 6th at 10.00am providing our guests have gone. Please come and join us.

ADVANCE NOTICE

We expect to close the bridge in early October, to enable essential maintenance to be undertaken.  Our apologies for any disruption in advance.  Please look out for notices at the gate and bridge for details of closure.

DEER

In East Cornwall we have four species of wild deer, Red, Roe, Muntjac and Fallow. Thirty years ago, red and roe deer were rarely seen south of the A30 and fallow were mainly restricted to the Rame area around Mount Edgecumbe. Agricultural intensification has allowed deer to spread throughout the County and numbers are now probably higher than they have been for many centuries.

We see roe deer on a regular basis at Stara as they move up and down the Lyhner Valley, stopping to browse and mark territory as they go.

Browsing pressure in many woods is now so high that young trees and shrubs are repeatedly eaten back. Other trees are severely damaged by antler rubbing. Traditional methods of woodland regeneration such as coppicing are no longer possible, and many ground flora species disappear. and under current deer population levels many woods will slowly vanish and the deer with them.

Numbers at Stara do not appear to be at these unsustainable levels. Maybe the shooting ground at Lake keeps them on their slots (toes) but we are keen to find out more about sightings of deer in the woods, so we can understand the numbers and species which are present and which parts of the wood they prefer.

If you spot deer while you visit Stara please let us know.

Have you seen Muntjac? (They are significantly smaller & stockier than roe deer, and do not damage woodland)

You can record any wildlife sightings on the Friends of Stara Wood Facebook page or send us an e-mail. Even better please send us any photos you might have, we are looking for good quality and exciting photos for the new site.

We will try and bring all these together into an annual wildlife report, so we can see how numbers fluctuate from year to year.