Restorations and wildlife preservation
The building, restoration and repair work of properties on the Estate is now in full swing.
At the Rectory, the outer walls have been prepared for rendering and new plaster graces several ceilings and wall on the interior. The roof insulation is really nice and thick and should hopefully keep down the heating bills.
Keal Farm has now been vacated and this means we will be able to get in there and do some serious renovation work. It is a damp old building with nice bay windows and beautiful views and will be a great place to live when we have sorted it out!
Over at the Old School House, the new fencing has gone up. A local business, Ketsby Sawmill have made the picket fence out of larch and will look at making us some bespoke gates when we can measure the size of the gaps. Mr Toynton has done a sterling job erected the fencing and deserves a medal for digging out the old rotten posts in this heat.
We really could have done with some cooler weather and some rain. The grass is looking very parched and we are having to feed silage to the cattle in a bid to provide them with some more nutritious fodder. However, we did order a mixed bag of wild seed at the beginning of the season, and it has certainly paid off. We now have a fantastic and colourful display against the exterior wall to the walled garden!
The previously reported Lincolnshire Naturalists’ Union field meeting to the Brook Walk Plantation area of the South Ormsby Estate led by Brian Hedley and Roger Parsons revealed the following:
- A good selection of woodland, pasture and marsh plants likely number between 140-150 species including Sanicle, Wild Garlic, Hairy Brome, Giant Fescue, Bog Stitchwort, Enchanter’s Nightshade, Short-fruited Willow herb, Pignut and Wood Speedwell.
- Ornamentals were frequent near to the Hall. Several specimens were collected for the Love Lincs Plants herbarium project.
- Mosses and liverworts were frequent in the damp habitats.
- Thirty bird species were recorded including Spotted Flycatcher, Common Buzzard, Tree creeper, Goldcrest and Tawny Owl.
- Butterflies were abundant in the pasture (11 species) and included Large Skipper, Comma, Gatekeeper and Ringlet. A first instar Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar was found on a patch of Great Willow herb. Brown Hawker and Broad-bodied Chasers were also recorded.
Paul Barnes, our Estate Manager ,has brought a drone with a camera attached. Just to reassure everyone we will abide completely by the new rules for flying drones! This flying camera took some amazing shots helping Paul better understand the layout of the farmland and also showed some great views over the Hall and Gardens. The symmetry of the historic Parklands and Gardens really showed through, as did the lines of trees.
Often such photographs can reveal past buildings and settlements, especially during dry spells like we have at the moment, and we are looking forward to Heritage Lincolnshire’s Layers of History recruitment day here on the 14th August and are hoping that we will be visited by lots of budding archaeological volunteers who might be interested in helping reveal more of South Ormsby’s history
