A wonderful afternoon at Underhill Wood

I drove to Wiltshire to visit the amazing Underhill Wood for the afternoon at the kind invitation of JT. He purchased the wood a couple of years ago and is establishing it as a nature reserve and a education centre for local children.

When I arrive JT was with a friend erecting bat boxes for a research project working with experts in bat conservation. All over the wood are  many new additions to similarly aid other species to become re-stablished. Bats, dormice, butterflies, plants as well as traditional woodland management.

JT is happy that I take some pictures over a period of time and I will be able to visit on different occasions and in different season. Today I was given a wonderful lunch, (he is a brilliant chef) and then a tour of the land before JT left me to it. 

One of the projects he initiated was to create a lake from scratch using water from the many springs on the land. I spent some time watching the wildlife which has already arrived, including a kingfisher, ducks, swallows, damsel flies and countless other insects and plants loving watery environments.

JT and I spent a while delighting in watching a pair of dabchicks with their very new brood of chicks which they organised along the lake's edge into the safety of the undergrowth. He noticed that the hen was carrying several chicks on her back and later I manage to grab this rather poor shot of the chick's head sticking out from underneath the feathers.  It will be a great reminder of my first day at Underhill Wood.
 
I must thank JT once again, as well as his wife KC, for creating this wonderful world.

I have added an 'Extra photo' of the damsel flies mating on one the lake. there were hundreds of them showing how quickly nature finds and fills new niches.