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When I turned the camera onto the single Swallow chick…

When I turned the camera onto the single Swallow chick this morning, it had gone. I was surprised that it had survived for as long as it did with the way it perched itself on the side of its nest. I dreaded looking at the nest when I came down in the morning. Last evening it was fluttering its wings and I thought then that it was going to fall out of the nest. It looks as if some thing had got it, either after the chick had fallen out of the nest, or it may have been taken by a Magpie, as at the entrance of the barn, there were feathers of what looked like the Swallow chicks, and it has not returned to the nest tonight, if it had of fledged.

The Magpies that you see stealing the Badgers feed have nested nearby. For the past few days we have seen their four fledglings sitting in a row on a fence, within sight of our kitchen window, the parents going to and fro with feed for them, no doubt from other birds nests, that they have raided for the eggs or chicks. They are not the sort of neighbours that you would want living next to you. There should be given an ASBO. If I had a shot gun, I just might have.

It is nice to have Lady and the Foal back. Although we had the problem of how we turn them out. I kept them in last night after their journey from the stud. And we have been keeping Woody in of a night. With the weather as it is all the Horses need to be out, even Woody, as the grass is better for her to eat rather than the hay. We turned Lady and the Foal out with Woody this morning, leaving Arnie and Breeze in for the day. Bliss and Misty came hurtling over to greet them, but just a little over the top. Woody got in between the two youngsters and Lady and the Foal to give them protection against the boisterous pair. This is the first time that Woody has done this, before Lady and the Foal went to the stud Woody kept her distance. We are not getting to excited, but Woody has seemed a lot better over the past couple of days. It maybe our eyes, but she maybe putting on a little weight, contrary to what I said a couple of days ago.

This evening we had to make the decision of how we were going to turn all the Horses out tonight. Until the hay is cut we only use one field for turning the Horse out. Until I am sure that Breeze will not hassle and chase Lady and the Foal, they have to be parted. Breeze really is a kind Horse until a new Horse enters her herd. Then she is a pain by chasing and herding. Lady has to protect her Foal. When Breeze gets to close to the Foal, Lady turns her back to Breeze as a warning, of course Breeze being the herd leader turns her back into Lady, with the intention of putting Lady in her place, and will if Lady keeps the threat up, kick out. That is when the Foal is liable to get hurt.

What we have done to separate them, is to electric fence a section of the field off. To Breezes disgust, she is the one who is in the sectioned off part. She ain’t to happy about it. Once she gets use to the Foal, that may take a week or two, she will have to stay there.

Bliss and Misty were to young to remember what the electric fence is. Whilst we were putting it up, they were running into it for fun, playing with the wire by putting their noses and mouth on to it. Not a very good thing to be doing, it would cause a problem if they knocked it down, allowing Breeze to get out. Once the electric fencer was turned on they both touched it again. After a couple of shocks they don’t go back. But it really is only a small shock, that gives them a little fright, rather than hurt them. I know, I have forgotten many times to turn the electric fencer off, before touching it.

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As you can see Lady and the Filly are back…

As you can see Lady and the Filly are back home. They arrived this afternoon, and looked no worse from the journey from Dorset. I must admit I was pleased to see them. I am not to sure Woody was, for no sooner than she saw Lady and Foal when we put Woody into her stable, she put her ears back, if we had not been there I am sure she would have tried to have bitten her. It is surprising just how much the Filly has grown in the short period that they have been away. You don’t notice their growth rate, when you see them every day. In just over two weeks time we will get the Veterinary in to scan Lady, to make sure that she is in foal. If she is I will try to put the scan photo on the website.

Most of the day we have had to listen to the Ewe Sheep bleating. The pen that the sheep are in, is made from gates. The Sheep cannot get out, but the Lambs can. I not worried about the Lambs being able to get out, as they will return back to the pen to suckle their mothers. Unfortunately the Ewes don’t know that, as soon as the Lambs are out of sight they start bleating. You can imagine the noise when all the Lambs are out. The best part is, that forever how long they are penned in, they never accept that the Lambs will be returning back to them.

As I expected the Ewe and lambs that we were unable to catch last night were laying outside of the pen that the Sheep are in. No way were they going to let me catch them. They ran back to the field, and have been there all day. I don’t think that they will wander off to far, they will probably stay in sight of the other sheep. More than likely they will be laying outside the pen again in the morning. I will let them see that I am not a threat, and maybe I just might catch the Ewe. What I cant make out is that there are three Lambs with the Ewe. For sure she did not give birth to three, and I cant see any Ewe that has been calling for the odd one. It must be that one of the Ewes has rejected her Lamb.

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At last the Sheep are penned up This evening two…

At last the Sheep are penned up. This evening two Sheppard’s, something I am definitely not, came with their dog to round the Sheep up, and pen them in for shearing. The Sheep were in some other farmers field, with the wood in between.

We needed to drive around the road to get to the field that they were in. When we got there the field gate had been left open. Some one had left the gate open deliberately. Not a very nice thing to do, as if the Sheep had of wandered into the road they could have been hit by vehicle. Even worse, those in the vehicle could have been seriously hurt. When we first went into the field, we were unable to see the Sheep. Of course we thought the worse, that they had gone through the open gate, to where you just would not know. We would have to hunt around for them. Fortunately the Sheep Dog knew where they were, and ran into their direction. The Dog was very good and soon had them though the wood into our field. One of the Ewes decided she was not coming, and ran back to the wood with her two Lambs. The Dog was sent around to collect them, but it was not worth wasting time for one Ewe and the two Lambs. Chances are that she will make her way to the pen over night, it should then be easy to catch them. T did not take to long to get the Sheep into the pen, that nine others had been in, for the past couple of weeks.

Only the Sheep are shorn, not the lambs. Twenty were done very quickly. New ear tags were put into the ears of both the Sheep and the Lambs. By law all farm animals have to be tagged with herd or flock numbers of the farm, so that they are able to be traced for future reference.

The reason for shearing the Sheep is for two main reasons. One is for the wool, although it is not worth very much. The little amount we produce is not worth selling. We give it to the people who shear the Sheep. They normally have large flocks, and are able to sell it. The other reason for shearing is to stop the Sheep from getting maggots. Flies will lay there eggs onto the Sheep’s coat. When the eggs hatch into maggots, the maggots will eat into the Sheep. If the maggots are not spotted, they will very quickly start to eat into the Sheep’s flesh. I have seen Sheep that the maggots have eaten into to their bodies, and continue eating inside of the Sheep. When we first got the Sheep last year we had a number of them with maggots. Fortunately we saw them in time. But even the initial infestation drags the Sheep down. After treatment, they soon recover. This time on shearing the Sheep, only one was found to have maggots, the very early stage, that we quickly got rid of.

The Sheep will now be penned up until they are taken to market to be sold. Although Sheep are very good for the fields, at Denbury we do not have the fencing to keep the sheep confined in our fields.

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A couple of you have asked about Woody again There…

A couple of you have asked about Woody again, There is no change in her condition, other than she is still loosing weight. How long she can go on loosing the weight without her being to weak to get about, I really don’t know. We know now that there is nothing else than we can do for her, other than try to keep her comfortable, and try to let her enjoy the sun and grass for as long as we can, through the summer. It is difficult to have to make a decision to have her put to sleep. Not because it would be a shame, because of our feelings, but for what enjoyment she may be getting being out with the other Horses, through the Summer. To make it easy for Lady, when she come home later in the week, it would be better if Woody was not here, if we have to put Woody to sleep when Lady is here, she will be lost, as she does depend on Woody.

As most people I do find it difficult to cull animals. If there are reasons to have them culled, I know that I have to do it, and I will know what I have done was right. Two years ago we had a female Wild Boar that had to be culled. We had five Wild Boar, four Sows, a Boar and what ever young that had, they lived in the fenced orchard, with part of a barn at one end, that they could bed down in. Every now and then they would escape. They would dig under the wire fence, that was embedded into the ground to get out. They were very easy to catch. After being caught, they would go for a year or more before they decided to try it again. On one occasion one female decided that she liked the outside of the orchard more than in. It did not matter what we tried to stop her getting out, everything we did try, failed. We put up electric fencing inside the fence, every other of the Boar, once stung, would keep away from the fence. Not this female, she would go straight through it, and dig her way out of the orchard. If she broke the fencing wire, all the other Boar would be out with her.

We tried shutting her in, by partitioning off an area in their barn. Some how she managed to climb out over a four foot fence. We made the fence over six foot high, next morning she was out again. I even electrified the fence, that did not keep her in. She was so good at climbing, that in another life she must have been a Steeple Jack. Sometimes when she escaped she would be away for up to a week. Wild Boar come under the Dangerous Wild Animal Act, that impose on me, certain conditions. I was breaking those conditions big time, and I was liable to have been prosecuted . After failing to find her a new home, I knew that I had to cull her. It would have been no good getting the Veterinary to cull her, as we never knew when she would be back. One evening as I was feeding the other Boar, she returned. As I do not own a gun, I had to phoned someone that I knew who did, and I shot the animal. It was not an experience that I would want again. But I knew that I had no alternative, and I had tried all that I could, not to have done it. This is how I will be with Woody, when it is right to put her to sleep, I will call the Veterinary in.

I managed to get another camera up on a Swallows nest. The chicks are about three days old. I also. I also found another Swallows nest with five eggs, I would think they they will hatch at about the same time as the single chick leaves the nest.

As I was writing the Diary, the Fox that has been charging in and scattering the Badgers, to get food , has just done it again. This time however one of the Badgers was not frightened and stayed put. You had better watch out Foxy.

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We have had two Birds on the feeder today that…

We have had two Birds on the feeder today, that dont usually use it. One was a Green Woodpecker who we see and hear near to the farm house dailey. Unlike the Great Spotted Woodpecker that visits the Bird feeders all day long, they normally feed off of the ground, eating ants and other insects, that can be found on the ground.

The other Bird we saw today was a Jay, that are closly related to the Magpie. At this time of year, they will raid other Birds nests to eat the nestlings and eggs. Both are hunted by Game Keepers, who look after the Pheasant young, for game shooting.

We have not heard the Cuckoo or seen or heard any Tawney Owls this year. The Tawney Owls has never until now, not nested on the farm. Although they have never used them, we have three Tawney Owl nest boxes in the Woods down the Valley. The camera regulary use to pick there eyes up with the IR lamps, and they were seen last year, swooping down on a Rat or Vole on the main Badger camera. But not this year.

The wiring is now complete to get another Swallows nest on camera. I only have to screw the camera in place in the morning, and it will be up and running. The next job with the cameras, is to run the wire to put at least one camera in place, that will concentrate on the Badger sett entrance. I hope to start that tomorrow, after I finish the farm work.

Lady was mated with the Stallion yesterday, and should be back home on the farm by the end of the week.

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Although it has been very overcast it has been quite…

Although it has been very overcast, it has been quite warm, so warm that we have been able to sit out side to have have our tea and coffee through the day. On one occasion when we got up to go back into the house, a Jenny Wren with at least four Chick flew out of the nest that is by the farm house door. You may remember I put a camera looking into the nest, hoping that we would get the nesting on camera. I cant bOncee 100% sure that the Wrens did not nest there, but I did not notice that they did, and I am sure that I would have. Only last week I told you that I thought that something had pull the inside of the nest apart. When we saw the Wrens and their chick a day or so ago in the garden, we thought that they had come from the barn that we are converting. It could well be that the Wrens that come out of the nest next to the door are the same one that nested in the barn. I know that Swallows Chicks return to their nest of a night for a week or more, after they have fledged, I have never noticed that Wrens do. I am sure I would have noticed if they did, as they are so close to us when we leave and return indoors, and would they go into an old nest. Do any of you know?

I know that I am tempting fate, but I am amazed that the Swallow Chick is still about. I had thought that I would be moving the camera onto another nest this morning. I have managed to find another three Swallows nest that we can put on camera. One is on the first floor of the barn, above the nest we are now showing. Another two nests are in the barn we are converting, in another room from the one that had eggs in, that now looks abandoned. For some reason the cable that we were using was not connecting, and I had to put in a new cable today. I would have put it on to show you today. There are some very young chicks in the nest. Unfortunately I have mislaid the plugs to put onto the wire. As I normally do, I put them in a safe place that I could put my hands on, if I needed them. To safe that I cant find them. I will buy more tomorrow.

I should think that a lot of you have seen the crafty Fox, when the Badgers are feeding. I think that the Fox either builds its self up with frustration or bravery when it sees the other Foxes and Badgers feeding, for it without warning, charges into where the Badgers are feeding, the Badgers race back to the sett, of course fearing the worse. Normally they realise within seconds what has happened, and one of the Badgers will race out of the sett to chase the Fox off. I wouldn’t want to be the Fox if they work out what it is doing.

As Karen said on the forum today, the Rat that she saw on the feeder would have taken a saddle. The Rats have started to take the poison around the lake. From tomorrow it should start taking affect, and we will need to make sure that there a none lying around for Buzzard, Owls and other Birds of Prey to feed on. If a Fox or Badger ate one of them, that had been poisoned, it would be very unlikely that they would be affected by the poison. But there would be a good chance that it would kill any of the Birds of Prey.

I am trying something different for the Rats that you see on cam one. You may have noticed that the camera shows two Bird feeder locations and the lower Badger feeding area. What I have done is to put a large container under the feeders that are in the tree. I have made it with a lip around the edge of the container. I put food on the edge of the container, hoping for the Rats will go into it. If they do they will not be able to get out. What I will do with them then I haven’t thought about yet. Why I am trying this way is so that there is little chance of other wildlife eating poisoned Rats. Often if we have mistakenly left the lid off of a feed bin in the barn, we have found Rats in them in the morning, if there is a pile of bags by the side of the bin, they will get into the bin by climbing on the bags, once in they cant get out. When Jade was younger she would jump into the bin and kill them. She is to slow now to do it.

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I really don t know what has happened to the…

I really don’t know what has happened to the Swallow chicks. There were three alive last night. This morning I thought that there were three, but had not seen three feed. I went and checked the nest, some of you saw my hand. There were three, but one had died. I later checked again and there was only one beak opening for food. I changed the camera over, and felt into the nest, and found another had died. Rats would not be able to get to the chicks where the nest is. It maybe that the adults have fed the chicks with some thing that killed them. I really don’t know. It could also be that they have not been getting all the feed that they needed, and after the whole day and night that they went without last Sunday caught up with them. We will never know.

It is a full Moon tonight, as last night. I had intended to put the Telescope cameras on and to track it. I did not bother to see what time it would have been visible. It actually showed above the horizon at just past 11.pm. To late for me to have left it running, as I had not tested the Telescope to make sure that it would have tracked the Moon without wandering. It is cloudy here at the moment, so unfortunately I will not be able to do anything with it tonight.

I know some of you saw the Foxes this morning feeding by the Bird feeders. When I fill the feeders in the morning, I always throw a couple of hand fulls of sunflower hearts onto the path, so that you can see the Pheasants and other wildlife, in the background of the Bird feeders. Just recently the foxes have been eating the feed. It has annoyed the Magpies, for they are pecking the Foxes brush. It wasn’t pleasing the Foxes to much either, as in between feeding they were turning to chase the Magpies away. The Magpies don’t seem to have any fear of the Foxes or Badgers.

When I go to feed the Badgers of a night, there are always a lot of Rabbit feeding along the path on the way. The older ones amble back to there burrow, the younger ones just carry on feeding as if I were not there. I have never tried it, but I am sure that could pick one up. When we walk with the dogs along the path the younger rabbit dont run off, they just move over as if letting the dogs pass. That probally why the Buzzard find it a good spot to hunt. Although it hasnt been about this week.

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Thank you all in the USA who offered me an…

Thank you all in the USA, who offered me an address for the SkyScout. I really do appreciate you offers of help. Strange thing is that Susan the person who is going to do it for me, is from Taunton, and moved to the US many years ago. Susan Brother still lives in Taunton, about five miles from the farm. I am able to send the shipping cost to him. I have ordered the piece of equipment. As soon as I get it, I will be able to get the tracking for the Telescope more precise, and hopefully I will be able to show different parts of the Solar System, other than the Moon.

The Telescope is a very large 14″ Meade, that once set up correctly, is able to track what ever it has been set up to watch, it uses GPS. We have had to motorise the Observatory Dome, so that it is able to move around automatically in time with the Telescope. It caused us a few headaches to work out how to do it. When we finished it, it worked very well. Using Microsoft remote desktop, we are also able to control the telescope from the farm house. In fact it can be controlled from anywhere in the world. At times we lose the object that the Telescope is following, once we get the SkyScout it will happen less. But when it does, we sometimes have a bit of a job finding it remotely, and I have to go up to the Observatory. It is bout 150m from the farmhouse and uphill at that. In the winter it is a job you really don’t want to be doing.

Another of the Swallows was gone this morning. There is another nest next to the one that has the chicks in, it is a lot larger and there would have been less of a chance of the chicks falling out. I have put up a board under the nest, I don’t know if it will help if another one fall out of the nest.

A couple of you have noticed that the Osprey nest web cam, now has sound. We sent the eqiupement up to the Lock of the Lowe’s Centre a couple of days ago, it was fitted yesterday. What an improvement it has made. I have been considering for a long time now, about having sound around the Badger sett. I must admit that I am a little concerned about what may be heard by those watching. I am going to put at least one more camera around the sett, probably on the entrance. I may then try sound, and see how it goes.

After baiting up the cage with bread for the past few days, tonight is the first night we are going to try to get rid of the Rats around the lake. For the past few days we have seen the Rats going into the cage. Tonight we have put into the cage a container with the poison in. They may not take it tonight. They will in a couple of days.