friends of Mears Bush, Oxford

friends of Mears Bush, Oxford A privately owned, publicly accessible, walking track through gentle sloping beech forest near Oxford

Another successful day. Very little bait eaten, no more possums in traps and doc200 collected 1 rat and 1 stoat. Next st...
30/07/2026

Another successful day. Very little bait eaten, no more possums in traps and doc200 collected 1 rat and 1 stoat. Next step is stoat focus. Doc200 all laced with meat now. Highly important now that rat and mice numbers are low, the other predators need to be focused on.
Good notes a lovely chorus of bellbird following me on the trails this morning.

Trapping update. 50 bait traps and 6 doc 200 traps. 9 days prior 160 bait blocks were placed, 3 days later only 8 had be...
24/07/2026

Trapping update. 50 bait traps and 6 doc 200 traps. 9 days prior 160 bait blocks were placed, 3 days later only 8 had been eaten. (This is allowing for the time to find traps) 3 days further 80 blocks replaced, and now on day 9 only 10 blocks. This allows for 5 days effective poisoning showing a positive return on numbers. The bait taken was predominantly from stations along the boundary of trapping zone.
Doc 200 traps took 5 rats and 3 mice in the same period and of the 10 timms traps only 4 possums have been removed.
Here's to a thriving bird population in spring along with seedling sprouting.

Night 1 shows we still have a problem, 2 large rats and a mouse from 7 doc200 traps. Plus gnawing on most bait in statio...
16/07/2026

Night 1 shows we still have a problem, 2 large rats and a mouse from 7 doc200 traps. Plus gnawing on most bait in stations. But still far better than 12 months prior.

Still amazed by some creatures i come across. If you ever wonder why we need to remove hedgehogs with the same priority ...
15/07/2026

Still amazed by some creatures i come across. If you ever wonder why we need to remove hedgehogs with the same priority as rats or cats? Well this is the skull of a hedgehog which once roamed Mears bush. Certainly not a herbivores teeth .

Mid winter is upon us, so this is the season when natural food becomes scarce. With sightings of juvenile fantails, swar...
15/07/2026

Mid winter is upon us, so this is the season when natural food becomes scarce. With sightings of juvenile fantails, swarms of insects and nectar feeders out for the silver eyes we look to be doing well. Keeping us on the best foot today all rat traps, both bait and doc 200, have been restocked with the goal of lowest possible pest numbers this spring.
We hope everyone is enjoying the reserve, the new wooden stepping stones have past another test, no not water free but the mud patches are still navigable.
Btw the alstromeria in the photo is not in the bush its from a nearby section, we forgot to take a photo when baiting the reserve.

Been a big year, after another round of rat baiting things are looking good. Compared to last year we have used just 10%...
11/03/2026

Been a big year, after another round of rat baiting things are looking good. Compared to last year we have used just 10% of the bait in this year's stations. Most seem to have been eaten by mice rather than rats as well. I was happily guided by a flock of 5 fantails on my last trip. Coming into winter there will be renewed focus on doc 200 traps whilst times traps remain around some boundaries. Wasps seem under control, I hope Noone had any negative experiences? If you notice anything feel free to post on this page and I'll sort it. The northern sector is now spray free, ie any pest plant work is done by regularly cutting out plants. This again is getting easier showing further success. Please keep enjoying the space, and see you all in there.

25 wasp nests removed from the northern boundaries of the reserve this year, now its time for vespex to catch the nests ...
09/02/2026

25 wasp nests removed from the northern boundaries of the reserve this year, now its time for vespex to catch the nests I couldn't find. Today will announce the start of the next batch of rat baiting. We have noticed a significant increase of insects. By variety and number this year. I know this is helped in part by the wet weather, but its still looking positive.

Great start to the year, on and around years bush 14 wasp nest killed in 2 weeks. This nest was 50cm x 40cm x 7cm.
01/01/2026

Great start to the year, on and around years bush 14 wasp nest killed in 2 weeks. This nest was 50cm x 40cm x 7cm.

Address

Crallans Drain Road
Oxford
7430

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when friends of Mears Bush, Oxford posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category