For one reason or another I have spent a large portion of this week based on the Rifle Range Site of Special Scientific Interest, and what a week it's been.

The weather has been so varied. It has changed from very grey and overcast one day to bright and crisp another.

Then we've had wonderful snow flurries followed by warm spring sunshine. I must say the range is a beautiful place in the snow.

Last Tuesday, about half an hour before the first of these snowy downpours, the ranger service saw its newest volunteer arrive.

One of our Shetland cows currently grazing the site gave birth to our first calf from this herd.

What a shock it must have had, because half an hour into its new life, while it was still wet, the warm, bright sunshine that had started the day disappeared behind a large black cloud, and then the snow came.

IT was amazing to watch the herd huddle together, keeping the new arrival warm while mum washed baby.

This week also saw the start of a new project on the Rifle Range, heathland creation.

On an area adjacent to the main heath is a rather ordinary looking grassy field.

It has one or two quite interesting trees, but other than that it is largely horse pasture.

Heath creation has involved stripping off the turf and nutrient rich top soil, excavating down to the sandy subsoil, and then burying the turf and topsoil beneath a deep layer of sand.

It may seem barmy to bury what is essentially great soil, however, heathland relies on a nutrient poor environment to thrive.

So you see, there is method in our madness.

We have not been able to achieve as much of the work as we would have liked. Unfortunately, the sand was much deeper down in places than test plots had suggested.

But what we have been left with is an excellent habitat, not only for the heath to move into, but also for the rare invertebrate life that the range supports.

Many of these creatures thrive on southerly facing sandy banks, where they can bask in the morning sun, or dig out nesting chambers to raise their young.