A lot has happened on the resource centre over August. We took delivery of our sheep wool insulation supplied by Black Mountain Insulation Ltd which has been a real pleasure to work with compared to the standard man-made material used. We have also been planting up the first of our two flat rooves with a wide variety of Sedums, sea thrifts and thymes.

While working on the roof we had a visit from a lost racing pigeon. It lived on the scaffolding and in the front of the building for a few days. Following advice from the web we gave it food and water and when it hadn’t flown on within 3 days we caught it to find a number of its owner. Apparently lots of young birds had gone missing from their first race and its owner came over from Huddersfield to collect it.

Work has also been progressing on the reed bed system. The bed was filled with water prior to planting but was found to have a leak around the outlet pipe. It has now been plugged but we will wait to see if the levels go down again before planting.

They finally flew the nest on the 23rd July though hung around the building for a few days after that. They actually look like swallows. Hopefully we can get the windows put in now!

Amazing growth in just a week - the nest is looking a bit crowded and no sign of the swan feather decoration. While working on the roof Colin managed to photograph one of the parents too.

The swallows nesting in the resource centre are progressing and looking slightly less alien. It is amazing how much they develop in a week. Meanwhile others in one of the older buildings have already fledged. One particular family can usually be seen as a gang of four sitting together on a wire fence or in a tree, occasionally still being fed by a parent.

This year there seems to have been more swallows, swifts and house martins than usual. They are a pleasure to watch in the evenings as they fly low over the ground and in amongst the buildings.

Spotted this damselfly on the edge of the fishing lake. It is probably a relatively common Blue-tailed damselfly Ischnura elegans though other suggestions welcome.

One of the challenges of having a curved building is finding curved gutters! Not having a vast range to choose from we decided to make our own from straight aluminium gutters which are cut and welded to the right shape.

We realised we were taking too long building the resource centre when a pair of swallows moved in and nested inside the top floor of the building! The nest is beautifully lined, probably with swan feathers from around the lake, though the youngsters themselves are unlikely to win any beautiful baby competitions at the moment. They seem completely oblivious to building work going on around them.

We have also started to play a CD of swift calls (bought from the Swift Conservation Trust) every evening from the resource centre towers. This is intended to attract young swifts, who might then think of moving into the swift boxes in the tower next year when they return.

The aluminium ridge plate and guttering are now being put on the roof. Work continues on the flat roofs with Velux windows now in place.  Each roof will be planted with ’sedum’.

The beginning of this month saw the last of the Cumbrian slate going on to the roof. Work is now focussed on the aluminium guttering, which is cut and then individually welded to fit the curves, and the two small flat rooves which will be planted with sedum.

The roof slates were delivered from Cumbria last week. After sorting into the different sizes and drilling the nail holes, the first ones were fixed on the roof on Friday.

One of the towers has been completed this week. When the other is finished the ‘Cumbrian blue slate’ roof  will be started.