I am sorry, but there will not be a Diary tonight. I have picked up a bug and feel awful.
Categories
Month: December 2007
There are four new photographs that have been put on today. Sorry they are a bit all over the page, but it takes to long to change them over so that they are new from the top. I will get it changed in the New Year.
I enlarged this photo of the Seagulls on a branch, and framed it as I thought it was so funny. Elsie
There are two photographs of Robins, that were sent by Julia, her description is on last night Diary.
Hello Mr Farmer, I hope you get the photo I am trying to send you, it’s one my sister-in-law emailed to me of the puppy we are going to have, she’s a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and this photo was taken last week when she was 2 weeks old, we’re going to call her Blossom, my granddaughter would love a puppy but she hasn’t a clue that we’re getting one. Alex
Once I have written today’s Diary I will put today completely out of my mind. It started at midnight last night, Kye when she went out before we tuned in, decided she was going on walk abouts, Tass returning on her own. For nearly an hour I looked for Kye with Tass by my side, hoping that she would come to us once she heard me with Tass. In the end I was not prepared to look any longer, turning in at well gone 1.am. At 5.am Kye decided that she wanted to come in. Both Tass and Kye are able to open the Farm House door by jumping up at the handle and pulling it down whilst pushing on the door. Being locked the door would not open as normal so she kept on jumping up at the handle, making it rattle, with the rattle and scrapping that her claws made on the door, even in our Farm House with the thick walls and heavy doors she soon managed to woke us up. Where she had been for over four hours we will never know except at 1.am Jan made an entry on the forum that she had seen her near the Badger Sett on Camera one. For sure that was not the only place she had been, as her legs were covered in mud. Believe me I am not to impressed with Kye.
And it got worse. As Emmi and Gypsy are stabled in the row of stables that Breeze and Arnie’s are normally stabled, we are using the row of stables where Lady goes temporarily for Breeze and Arnie. The usual procedure in the mornings is to open the field gate and the Horses make their own way to their stables. Our Holiday Guests and Friends who have never seen them make their own way in, are amazed when they witness it. It is not such a big deal, they are going in for a feed, for sure they will make sure that they will get to their feed before any other of the other Horses. With Arnie and Breeze going to different stables, we need to bring them in on head collars. An easy procedure normally, not this morning. Lady and Willow were going to their normal stable, they didn’t need head collars and off they went. As I was putting Arnie’s on, Breeze decided she wasn’t going to wait, barging past me, knocking me over before I had Arnie’s head collar on, and off he went.
When I got to the gate where all of the Horses were waiting, Gypsy was with them, the gate on the corral was open. That caused more of a rumpus, and off they all went again, except Gypsy who didn’t know what way to go. Fortunately she went back to her stable with out a lot of fuss. As some of you saw on the webcams the rest finished up the Valley, after first running all over the Holiday Cottages lawn and around the lake area where the Sheep had been kept. Four Horses running over the two areas have made the lawns look like the Aintree Racecourse after the Grand National, on a filthy wet day. There are hoof impression all over the areas, up to 5 inches deep, skid marks and divots.
I followed the Horses down the Valley hoping to get a head collar on one of them,. As soon as I got near one of them Breeze had it on her toes again, taking all the other Horses with her, all the way down to the other end of the valley into the next field, out of sight. I went and got the Quad Bike to follow them. When i got back to the beginning of the Valley they were starting to make their way back. As I got near Breeze she decided to have it away again. This time I was able to get behind on the Quad and chased her back to the yard, knowing the other Horses would follow. I put them back into the field, so they missed this mornings feed. Breeze is not in my good book either.
And there was more. Last night I put the Telescope on. When I got back to the Farm House I had no remote access through the computers. In the end I gave up and turned it off. This morning I still had the same problem. Got no idea what the problem is. I am going to phone the Manufacturers in the USA later tonight. If they cannot tell me what the trouble is, the Telescope will need to go back to the suppliers.
And more. I went to collect my emails after I had finished chasing after Horses around. The server went crazy and I finished up with over 700 emails that I had previously had. An hour wasted checking and deleting them. So today never happened.
There are three new photographs on the Photo page, scroll down the photo page starting with the Squirrel from Julia. This is one of seven photographs that Julia has emailed to me, I will put more of them on tomorrow. The two other are from Elsie.
Good afternoon, Mr.Farmer, I’ve been working at my computer today which is next to the patio doors – unfortunately I do tend to get distracted by looking out at the garden!!
This morning I was watching Blue Tits, Great Tits a Blackbird and a Robin taking it in turns to eat around the tree and the feeders.
A few minutes ago, just as I was about to eat my lunch, I looked out and saw what I think was a Fieldfare so I ran upstairs to try to get a few photos. With the sun setting the garden was beginning to fall into shadow, so I think the pictures look better taken from above. Picture number 51 is slightly seasonal – you can just make out the Mistletoe which is growing in the Crabapple Tree!
The squirrel posed for me a few weeks ago! Julia.
How about some flora for a change. Gardening is my hobby even though I can’t do it as well as I used to. Iam sure some of the ladies would like to see this photo.Elsie
Just had to let you see my wonderful dog Max. I love him to bits.Elsie
On Sunday and tonight I thought that I would be able to put the telescope webcams on. Even in the light, on both afternoons in the cloudless sky I could see the quarter Moon. As soon as it got dark the sky clouded over. This part of the Moons cycle is about the best time to see the Moons Craters. I will keep looking to see if the sky clears, if it does before 8.30pm I will get it going. I thought that I would have been able to focus on Mars by now. Our Wood tree line stop us seeing Mars until nearly 10.pm. I am definitely not in the mood to turn the telescope on at that time of night. In the New Year we should be able to see it a lot earlier.
We have nearly finished the stable area for Willow and Gypsy. We have only got to finish putting the gates on, and put the straw down, it will then be ready for them to use. As soon as I am sure Gypsy’s eyes are alright, we will wean Willow. Not a job we are looking forward to be doing, but it has got to be done.
That was Magic and I hope that you were as lucky as I was to see the two Stags in the valley. I first noticed them ten minute before I fed the Badgers. I wasn’t sure if I should feed them, as I have to walk towards the valley on my way. Fortunately the wind was blowing from the North so my scent would not be blown towards the Stags. It must have been the quietest that I had ever been, so as the Stags would not hear me. When I got back from feeding the Badgers I was pleased to see the Stags were still here, and even more so when they started to play fight. When the Rut finishes the Stags will go off on their own or in groups. I don’t know when they shed their Antlers, but I would like a set. We have a number of Hunt Shows in the area, where you can very often buy Antlers, some with the Stags scull, but I would only buy if I knew that they were a fallen set. The infra-red lamps didn’t do us any favours. The brightness caused the camera to go into colour mode, eliminating the infra-red lamps. Seeing the Stags tonight was the most special night that I have had on the webcams. And I remembered to press the record button.
The Photo page has increased to 15 1 and 2 the Butterflies. Scroll down to see the other today’s additions starting at Pats Poppy.
Mr. Farmer, attached are 2 photos of butterflies that I raise. The single butterfly is a Giant Swallowtail nectering on Pentas in my garden. The others are Monarchs that are nectering on various flowers. The Monarchs are inside a butterfly house that my husband and son built for me. I raise them from eggs, to caterpillars to butterflies. After the butterflies lay eggs inside of the butterfly house, I release them outside. The butterflies stay around my yard nectering on the flowers in the garden. I love the butterflies and it is a very fascinating hobby plus it helps populate the butterflies back in the wild. Karen, Florida, USA
Hi Mr. Farmer, Herewith a photo of our little Poppy lounging in one of her favourite places. It was taken three years ago. Poppy died, aged 15yrs. She was born feral in some one’s outhouse and a friend found out about the litter and asked if we wanted one of the kittens. We said we would love one and what a beauty she turned out to be, she was a Persian cross. She was a lovely pet and is sorely missed by my family and Busby & Penny (our other cat). Pat
THIS IS A PHOTO OF A SIGNET TAKEN IN MARKEATON PARK IN DERBY, VICKY, DERBY.
Canada Geese at Golden Acre Park near Leeds.
Elsie
Hi Mr. Farmer, Staying on the birds theme I attach a couple more. One of a beautiful pheasant which came up to us at Chatsworth House. The other I have to admit is not one that I took but it is so good I have to show everyone. It is of a male Sparrowhawk which was sent to me by a friend who lives in Scotland. Pat
It is going to be a short Diary tonight, as I have Ministry Farm paperwork to do. You would never believe the paperwork Farmers have to do. The amount of literature, mostly unimportant that we get every year must be using a rain forest in trees to produce.
I was contacted by a Lady last night, about the Badgers. The Lady hadn’t looked at the webcams for a while. On looking last night she couldn’t see any, and was concern if any thing had happened to them. They are a lot quieter this time of year. Badgers don’t hibernate, but will stay in their Setts, some times for many days in prolonged cold and very wet conditions. The Badger in our Sett don’t like heavy winds either. The Winter of the first year that we did the webcams, we had a longish period of time without seeing the Badgers. Since then we have seen them every day. Although they come out at different times in the Winter.
I phoned the previous owners of Eminent Lady our new Broodmare. She belonged to a Stud Farm that have a number of very good Stallion, one of them being Trans Island, the Sire that Eminent Lady is in Foal to. As I expected the Mare didn’t have a Stable name, she was known by her racing name. We cant call her Lady, so we have given her Emmi as her stable name. They told me that she like her food. The way I was told I think that they were suggesting she was greedy. Mind you I haven’t noticed that yet, if anything she is not eating her feed as I would expect. They also told me that the Foal is due on the 20th of February, nine weeks away. A lot early than I was told. As Horses can give birth a month early I will be watching from the middle of January. They also told me what the Foal is. You will have to wait and see. Cruel, yes why not.
The Foal wants to be friends with us, she is a bit nervous, but it wont take long for her to come around. Her eyes are a bit runny, it could be a cold, I will see how she is in a couple of days. If it persists I will get something from the Veterinary to treat it with. She does look a bit scruffy and sad. Most of that is caused because she has her winter coat. She wouldn’t have been rugged, so her coat will grow to help her keep warm. I am calling the Foal, her and she, I forgot that we had given her Gypsy as her stable name.
I have posted three photographs on the photo page. The first is of our new Broodmare. The second is of the new Filly Foal, the last being a photograph of an Osprey nest location. I will get more spaces to add more photographs on the photo page. Unless we do with the amount of photographs you are sending in will only be on the photo page for a day. I will try to get the page increased to take twenty photographs, unfortunately the more that are added will take longer to upload.
The new Horses arrived early this morning. They both came off of the Horsebox very calmly. The Broodmare is a seven year old chestnut. She is due to Foal in March. We have put her in the Arnie’s stable, free to walk about in the corral that is in front of the stables. She went to the drinking trough for a long drink and started munching on her hay. She is a nice looking Mare and seems very laid back. Her racing name was Eminent Lady, I haven’t managed to find out what her stable name was, odds on its Lady. She really doesn’t like being stabled. We put her in a stable so that the Filly Foal could have a walk around. For most of the time that she was in the stable she was scrapping and lightly kicking her feet.
The Filly Foal is as we expected, a bit wild. We managed to get her into Breezes stable, but when the Broodmare went out of her site she looked as if she wanted to jump over the stable door, so we had to close the top door. After a while she calmed down and started to eat her hay. After a couple of hours we were able to open the top door, and late this afternoon we went in the stable with her. She was very good, so we let her walk around the corral. She is going to need a lot of handling and fuss made of her. Being only weaned for a couple of days she will be completely lost and frightened. She would not have had much human contact, probably looking buy her coat, she has only just come in off of the field for the first time since she was born. She will soon get over it, especially with all of the other Horses calling out in excitement and anticipation of the new arrivals. The Farm is a little noisy. I was able to give her a good look over when she was walking around the yard. My first impression is that she looks a very good type. Large rear end, wide chest and big boned, and by the look of it the only feed she has had is her Mothers milk and grass. We put feed in front of her but she didn’t seem to know what it is, she will soon learn and like the feed. Over the next days we will handle the filly so that we can tidy her up and get a rug on her. We have decided that her stable name will be Gypsy. If she was to be good enough to race, it will not be her racing name, that will be Willows.
The scenery photograph is off an Osprey nest site in Delaware, USA. We have been asked to advise and supply the equipment for webcams at the site. When I first looked at the photograph the nest seemed out of place, no doubt because it being the complete opposite to the Lock of the Lowe’s natural surroundings and the nest being in a tree. A lot of the nest sites in the UK are on artificial platform nests as the Delaware site, but in remote locations. After looking at the photograph a few times, I am getting to like the location, it looks very busy with the houses, boats and the Geese swimming under the nest. The photograph was taken by Peters my contact in Delaware, from his veranda that over looks the site.
It was good to see a pair of little Grebe on the lake this morning. Cant say I was best pleased when one of them came up from under the water, after diving, with one of my fish in it mouth.
I have put up five new photographs. You will need to scroll down the page. The first two are from Pat with her own words. The remaining three are from Liz again using her own words.
Herewith a couple of photos if you think they are suitable for the photo page. I thought the members of the forum might like to see a photo of Bobbie who we lost recently, I send a photo of him with our other dog Busby(Bobbie is the one at the back). Also another of the birds at Kew. Any idea of the breed, they are very attractive? Pat
The mouse was an opportunist feeding on the peanut holder that had blown down. As you can probably tell it let us get very close.
The 2 hedgehogs are some of the ones that visit the garden to be fed. This picture was captured from the CCTV I have set up to watch them.
Finally for now the Great Tit picture was just before chick No. 5 took flight for the first time from the nest box with a little encouragement and a meal worm from one of its parents. Liz – Scarborough (North Yorkshire)
We still have more photographs to put on the photo page that have been emailed to me. Keep them coming.
I have just had a phone call telling me that the new Horses should arrive at Denbury at about 7.30am in the morning. They were collected from the Stud at 2.30pm and will be on the overnight ferry from Ireland. Once we have quarantined the new arrivals, we will have to start weaning Willow. A couple of entries on the forum thought that Branston was Willow being weaned. Now that we have another Filly Foal it will be kinder to wean Willow with her. We needed to put Branston in a stable so that he would not rub against the new posts that we put in for the corral in front of Lady’s stable.
The Broodmare that is coming is from quite a large Stud, so she is unlikely to have a stable name. I will check, if she hasn’t, we will need to name her. What ever, we will be giving the new Filly Foal a name. I wont be able to show you the new arrivals on the webams for a week or so, but I will post some photos on the photo page tomorrow night.
Jan saw an Owl swoop down on a Vole or mouse last night. With a bit of luck it was a Rat. I have seen an Owls on a number of occasion’s catch its supper in the same place. You may have noticed that the grass is very rough in the Badger Field. I have let it become like that to encourage the Voles who like that sort of conditions. Voles are the main diet for Owls, so it is working. I would like to think that Jan was right about the Owl being a Barn Owl. But I very much doubt it. I have never seen a Barn Owl in all the time that I have been at Dendury. It was probably was a Tawney Owl. But I could be wrong. The Barn Owl Trust have put up a couple of nest boxes in the Barn that the Sheep are now in. The camera that is in the Barn, can also see the nest boxes.
I needed to put water into the Sheep’s drinking trough this evening. They seem to be drinking more than usual since they have been in the barn. We always make sure that the trough is at least half full. When we are busy it is probably is half full most of the time. A couple of the Ewes and the Ram came over for a drink when I put water in the trough. The Ram seemed to holding back a little, when he did get close to the trough after pushing his way in between the Ewes, he would not drink. I then realised that he was unable to get his mouth near the half filled trough, as his horns were to big, catching on the sides of the trough and stopping him from drinking. It was the first time that I have noticed what was happening. The only time that the Ram could have a drink was when the water was nearly to the top of the trough.
I have put up five new photographs. You will need to scroll down the page. The first two are from Pat with her own words. The remaining three are from Liz again using her own words.
Herewith a couple of photos if you think they are suitable for the photo page. I thought the members of the forum might like to see a photo of Bobbie who we lost recently, I send a photo of him with our other dog Busby(Bobbie is the one at the back). Also another of the birds at Kew. Any idea of the breed, they are very attractive? Pat
The mouse was an opportunist feeding on the peanut holder that had blown down. As you can probably tell it let us get very close.
The 2 hedgehogs are some of the ones that visit the garden to be fed. This picture was captured from the CCTV I have set up to watch them.
Finally for now the Great Tit picture was just before chick No. 5 took flight for the first time from the nest box with a little encouragement and a meal worm from one of its parents. Liz – Scarborough (North Yorkshire)
We still have more photographs to put on the photo page that have been emailed to me. Keep them coming.
I have just had a phone call telling me that the new Horses should arrive at Denbury at about 7.30am in the morning. They were collected from the Stud at 2.30pm and will be on the overnight ferry from Ireland. Once we have quarantined the new arrivals, we will have to start weaning Willow. A couple of entries on the forum thought that Branston was Willow being weaned. Now that we have another Filly Foal it will be kinder to wean Willow with her. We needed to put Branston in a stable so that he would not rub against the new posts that we put in for the corral in front of Lady’s stable.
The Broodmare that is coming is from quite a large Stud, so she is unlikely to have a stable name. I will check, if she hasn’t, we will need to name her. What ever, we will be giving the new Filly Foal a name. I wont be able to show you the new arrivals on the webams for a week or so, but I will post some photos on the photo page tomorrow night.
Jan saw an Owl swoop down on a Vole or mouse last night. With a bit of luck it was a Rat. I have seen an Owls on a number of occasion’s catch its supper in the same place. You may have noticed that the grass is very rough in the Badger Field. I have let it become like that to encourage the Voles who like that sort of conditions. Voles are the main diet for Owls, so it is working. I would like to think that Jan was right about the Owl being a Barn Owl. But I very much doubt it. I have never seen a Barn Owl in all the time that I have been at Dendury. It was probably was a Tawney Owl. But I could be wrong. The Barn Owl Trust have put up a couple of nest boxes in the Barn that the Sheep are now in. The camera that is in the Barn, can also see the nest boxes.
I needed to put water into the Sheep’s drinking trough this evening. They seem to be drinking more than usual since they have been in the barn. We always make sure that the trough is at least half full. When we are busy it is probably is half full most of the time. A couple of the Ewes and the Ram came over for a drink when I put water in the trough. The Ram seemed to holding back a little, when he did get close to the trough after pushing his way in between the Ewes, he would not drink. I then realised that he was unable to get his mouth near the half filled trough, as his horns were to big, catching on the sides of the trough and stopping him from drinking. It was the first time that I have noticed what was happening. The only time that the Ram could have a drink was when the water was nearly to the top of the trough.
I have put on four new photographs. The first one is from Chris. Chris and his Wife Holidayed a Denbury the week Willow was born, when he took the photograph. Thanks for the Wensleydale Cheese Chris. The second and third are from Julia, The Bird is a Black Cap. All for photographs sent by Julia are from her Garden. The Fourth photograph is from Janet. This is part of her email. I hope this photo will be OK for the forum. It is a female Sparrow Hawk, in my back garden, she managed to pluck several feathers from the chest of the starling, the noise the starling made was horrible, I thought it would die, but when I opened my back door, the birds both flew away, in opposite directions, of course. PLEASE TRY TO PUT A FEW LINES ABOUT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS.
Elsie your photographs of the Fox were to dark and the Fox to far away. I could have made you look a rubbish photographer, but I am to kind. When any of you send in photographs please add a return receipt, so that you know I received them. We have a number of photographs to go on the photo page, all will go on.
We finally managed to get the Sheep camera working today. The problem that I had was the camera is a mobile unit, with the controller etc all in one in a large case. When wire in to our webcam system, I should have been able to control the camera as I would any of the other moving cameras, I couldn’t, and I could not work out why not. This morning I spent two or three hours trying to get it going, in the end I decided to put the camera in position without having control. We set it all up positioned on the Sheep, when I tried to get the picture on the screen it was blank, I tried other channels, the picture came up and I also had control. Somehow I had put the camera on twp opposing channels. Making it right took two minutes, so I am not best pleased that I have spent so much time on the camera unnecessarily.
With the camera working as it should, we will now be able to show the Sheep and Willow with the new Foal with the same camera. Over the next couple of days I will put an infra-red lamp in the barn so that we will be able to see both the Fillies and the Sheep of a night. I am going to leave the Sheep in the Barn until they Lamb. Partly as we have no secure areas to stop them breaking out, and disappearing as they did earlier in the year, the other reason is it will be good to be able for you to see the Ewes Lambing. I am trying to think of a good area to be able to fence of a largish area for the Sheep to go into once they have Lambed. It was ideal and good viewing when they were in the Valley with the Fox walking in between the Sheep, without the Sheep bothering one bit, although I cant remember seeing many Deer when the Sheep were in the Valley. I could fence off an area in the Valley, but there is now way of telling if the fence would discourage any of our Wildlife. What ever, if I keep the Sheep I will need to fence an area for them. I keep on making more work for myself.
The new Horses should be at Denbury Sunday morning. I spoke to the person who has been looking after them for a couple of days until they were collected. The Broodmare has been with him for a few days. The Foal only arrived last evening with her Mother. They thought that it would be better if the Foal was weaned last night, she was lightly sedated, just to make sure that she did not get to upset, causing her to try to get out of the stable, that she was in when her Mother was taken away. This morning she was very calm, she was calling a little, but not as much as they thought that she may of. It is not a nice job weaning, but it has to be done. The Foal was born in April, so like Willow she was also left with he Mother for a lot longer than they would normally be. We have got to do the same with Willow and we are not looking foreword to it. But at least Willow will now have company.
Three new photographs have been put onto the photo page. From Julia’s Garden is a Badger and a Long tailed Tit and Elsie’s Ducks on her pond.
Pats mentioned on her entry on the forum yesterday, that a report on the BBC Countryfile last Sunday that Farmer would have the right to refuse a Badger cull on their land. I cant really see how that would work. There will have to be a cull in an area as a whole, to get a true result of what the cull achieved. The Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir David Kings has been crucified by a number of organisations, on the findings of his magnificent seven. Many have come to think that he was nobbled by the Government to release the crap that he has. The Government will have to be either stupid or on a death wish to allow a cull. They are not the most popular at the moment, a Badger cull would make them even less so. If I get a choice if there was a cull, one wouldnt happen here. Any person that I knew who was involved in a cull, I would give out there names, address and phone numbers, on this website for those who wanted to make representations to them.
Branston is using Lady’s stable tonight, as we have concreted the corral post in to the ground today. Branston likes to have a little scratch from time to time, we don’t want him moving the posts if he decided to use them for scratching his backside. Once the corral is finished we will need to make an area available to Branston to him to take cover. We hope that we will be able to let Branston and Smuggler run together, when we bring Smuggler down to break. With Smuggler now being gelded and Branston still being young it should work. Of course Sonny need to be gone first.
All though we are not members, we use a Farmers co-operative to purchase all our fencing and animal feeds. There prices are a lot better than most suppliers and the quality is always better. Their stores are not massive but they some how manage to sell every thing that a Farmer needs, plus every thing else you can imagine. White goods, sweets, plants, wines etc etc I could keep going on. For the first time yesterday, when I collected the fencing for the corral and the Horses feed through the Christmas period, I noticed that they also sold Christmas Trees. We would normally buy our tree from a Christmas Tree Grower, quite local to us, and have done so for years. We normally buy a 6 foot Nordmann Fir, costing as near as could be to
There are three new photographs on the photo page. Pat sent in the Heron taken at Kew. Love the photo, I also like the Bird. But no where near my lake. Elsies Deer photograph was taken at Fountains Abbey. The Swan and Signets sent in by Vicky from Derby.
Sorry, we didn’t manage to get finish setting the camera up to watch the Sheep. Just been megger busy running about picking up posts and rails for the corral, that we are putting up in front of Lady’s stable. I forgot to order the ballast to make the concrete to put the posts in, so that had to be collected. That was another couple of hours of wasted time.
We need to get the stable area for Willow and the new Foal ready by the end of the week. Finishing the corral really need finishing as well. As we are going to need to juggle the Horses around so that we can keep the new Broodmare and Foal away from the other Horses for a week to ten days, just to make sure that the new arrivals are not bringing in any unwanted bugs. You can never know what new Horses may be bringing with them. Not necessarily from where they had been kept. But also from where they have been whilst travelling from one location to another. I cant be sure what route from Ireland to Denbury the Horses that are coming will take. The Horse Box that they are being collected by will no stop off at other premises to collect and deliver other people’s Horses.
I not a big fan of Bloodstock Auctions for the same reasons. Some of the larger auction have in excess two thousand + Horses for sale over a week. Four hundred + a day coming from here there and everywhere. Bringing in who knows what. This year the Bloodstock industry, including Horse Racing came to a virtual stop in Australia, through Equine Influenza. There are many problems that new Horses can bring in to a yard, so it is very important to be vigilant and isolate them for a period.