I hope your plumbing is holding up ( pipes! )

Chris

We are delighted to report that we have been awarded a substantial grant by the Tubney Trust for landscape repair work in Chillingham Park (Stephen Hall writes).

 Throughout history the priority at Chillingham has been the maintenance of the Wild Cattle. Now that we have exclusive use of the Park, through having acquired the sheep grazing rights and removing the flock, we can extend our thinking to the meadow swards and the ancient trees. The Tubney grant enables us to restore the sward to a flower-rich and biodiverse sward, and to protect our ancient trees and to get a new generation of trees established which will be the ancient trees of the future.

 We will be protecting seedling trees that appear naturally, and we will encourage the more delicate and easily lost plants by a programme of mowing and removal of the cuttings.

 To protect the wetter areas of the Park, that have distinctive and attractive plants of great importance to butterflies and other invertebrates, we will be constructing crossing points for use during hay feeding, so the ground is not churned up over large areas, as has been unavoidable in the past.

 We will be re-establishing heather and juniper heathland in the upper reaches of the Park, where they are the natural vegetation that was replaced in the 1960s by commercial conifer plantations.

 And now, over to Chris Leyland for a progress report:

 I have used this very handy bit of dry weather to put up some roundels - all the ones in Harpsichord, some in The Allers, and 1 so far in Robin Hood's Bog. (These are wire mesh enclosures that protect self-sown tree seedlings). They look the part and so far nothing has damaged them. The Hoodies have marched round the Harpsichord ones a lot. I have planted some in the Allers with self sown alders I have found in the park so no expense there and it is more appropriate if we use our own.

Del and I have found and protected or transplanted and protected about 100 alders beside the burns using a stout post and 6ft weldmesh. So far the cattle have not managed to move them. They are cheaper than I budgeted for.

I have started the bracken spraying in the woods and behind Robin Hood's Bog. This is for some planting of native hardwoods and to replace the 2 hectares we are taking down on Ros Castle, the forestry commission are happy that we plant 1 hectare.

I have done some bracken bashing in the park but need to wait another 2 weeks as the bracken has been slower this year - if you go too early it just bounces back up.

I have topped various bits of the park to emulate more grazing especially on The Prince of Wales Plain. The dry weather meant there was not enough to remove so we have saved a few hundred pounds there.

I have hired a digger for 2 weeks (£800) to do some drainage alongside the track to the hemmel from the hay shed. The old stone cundy that takes water away from the pond area below Harpsichord to behind the hemmel is barely functional so a pipe will go in there to keep that part of the track usable. After that nearly all the crossing places will get some attention in the form of hardcore and pipe if necessary. My aim is to make the feeding easier, less long detours to avoid bits that have become impassable and even less mess. More cattle means more hay and more trips to get it them. This work will last for decades and will benefit the wet and interesting parts of the park.

I think I can probably speak for many of us who live and work in the shrubbery — we are heartily sick of wearing wellies and the winter has not yet started.

That said, the Park is one of the few places round here that is not a study in mud. Richard has done well to keep it at bay. I expect a few visitors, hoping for a motorised tour, found themselves floundering through wet grass, rushes and bracken on a Chillingham "Yomp" rather than leave wheel marks all over the Park. Our low ground pressure cattle contrast with domestic cattle in the area that have made such a mess of their fields.

A wet summer is not all bad, the trees have done well and there is a lot of grass which will save some hay which is just as well. Huge amounts of hay were ruined by rain this year and small bales are being snapped up by the horse fraternity who seem happy to pay £200 a tonne when big round bales sell for less than half that. We will use big bales and work out how to do it as we go along.

There are 83 cattle now and they look well. I have never seen such good coats on the cows - this could be because of the cool summer and all the rain or the absence of sheep. I shall start feeding hay in December. I doubt they will need much but it is sensible to get the youngsters, who have not eaten hay before, used to it. If the first snow comes with a vengeance it is useful for the calves to know that the hay is food and not for lying on.

In the last few weeks Del and I have given the Wardens Cottage a bit of a face lift. The aim is to get more air around the house and intercept the water that is below it to reduce the damp within. The yew trees that surrounded the house have gone and new drains were dug, backfilled with gravel and the area round the house was scraped clean and gravelled over. Briefly it looked a bit like an estate show home but now it is covered in fallen leaves so vulgarity has been obscured. All that remains to do is to put up a new fence. Chillingham Home Farm have been very tolerant of our activities which have spilled over onto their patch and for that we are very grateful as it has saved a lot of time and effort.