Blog Archives

Kingfishers Bridge New Edition!

24/3/2017

On the 24th March 2017, there was a new edition to the Konik Ponies at Kingfishers Bridge. A Filly was born at approximately 18.00hrs. The above photographs show the Filly immediately after the birth, joined by its Mother and Sister from last year. The maternal bond is very strong in horse society, with daughters often staying with their mothers and sisters until sexual maturity. Only 15 minutes after its birth the Filly is endeavoring to take its first steps! The afterbirth usually passes within a couple of hours of birth and it is common for the mother to eat it, minimizing the scent left by the birth and reducing the chance of predators finding the foal in the wild.

The Following Day...

The Filly is standing firmly and feeding.

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Kingfishers Bridge help at Pauline's Swamp

15/3/2017

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Volunteers from Kingfishers Bridge went to Burwell again on Wednesday to finish raking and removing the vegetation cut by the tractor to lower the nutrients available to dominant weed species.

The weather seemingly Spring like, enabling a much needed break by way of a picnic!

In The Pond...

Toads forming a mating ball!

The Pond was full of up to two hundred Toads!

The Latin name for the Common Toad is Bufo bufo
Statistics of Toads: Length: 8cm Weight: 10-100g Average Lifespan: up to 40 years
Common Toads are amphibians and they breed in ponds during the spring whilst spending much of the rest of the year feeding on dry land in woodland, gardens, hedgerows and tussocky grassland. Common Toads breed in larger, deeper ponds than Common Frogs. They are famous for their mass migrations back to their breeding ponds on the first warm, damp evenings of the year, often around St. Valentine's Day.
Common Toads can be identified by their olive-brown, warty skin and short back legs. Toads walk rather than hopping. Toads lay their eggs in long strings of spawn, wrapped around aquatic plants.
Toads are widespread across the country but are in decline. Found almost everywhere, except for Scottish Islands, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Isles of Scilly and most of the Channel Islands.
Toads need a wetland habitat, and can be encouraged into gardens with wild-life freindly ponds with log piles for hibernation.
Statistics of Toads: Length: 8cm Weight: 10-100g Average Lifespan: up to 40 years
Conservation status: Toads are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981, and classified as a Priority Species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

Reference: The Wildlife Trust wildlifetrust.org

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The clean up after Storm Doris

10/3/2017

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After removing nearly 700 trees our contractors have done a wonderful job clearing the mess that Storm Doris left.

Moving forward, we now need to have the timber removed from site as we have a proposed agreement with Natural England. We hope to extend the water bodies to include new ditches and scrapes, complimenting the adjacent habitats.

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TB testing the Buffalo

9/3/2017

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The law requires us to test our cattle for Tuberculosis every four years and that time has come around again. On Monday 6th volunteers helped us round up the Water Buffalo and herd them into our corral where, one by one, the veterinarian from The Isle Veterinary Group could administer two shots of inactive TB. The first shot was Avian Tuberculosis which is used as a control and the second was Bovine Tuberculosis, which is what we were testing for. The principle being, if the site of the Bovine shot is larger than the site of the Avian then they have contracted Bovine TB.

On Thursday 9th March, three days later, the results were read and I am pleased to announce that our cattle are all clear for another four years! Have a look at some of the pictures below.