Month: January 2008

Categories
webcams

There are five more photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five more photographs on the Photo page, starting from the sixth one down.

Mushrooms in Chatsworth last month
This is what Blossom could look like after a day on the beach when she grows up a bit !!!! Lynne.

The cow on this photo had all the traffic held up at the New Forest Hampshire, the cars in front of it had managed to get moving and then it decided to get in front of our car. I could not stop laughing. Elsie.

Pollperro when we were there earlier this year on holiday. Sue.

Hello Mr. Farmer. On last night’s forum I mentioned about an encounter with a wolf at the Bath and West Show in 2006 – well, here are some photos! here is a picture of a Sow with her piglets – I wish you could see the video, it’s comical!!!!.Julia.

p. penhaigon. This time of year we are fortunate to see any Badgers. Although Badgers do not hibernate, there is a period in the Winter when they sometimes do not come out for a few days, More so when it is wet or cold. I should think that there are still in the region of fourteen in the Sett, most I should think will come out to eat the easy picking that we put out, within feet of the Sett entrance.. Unless there is a cold or very wet spell I should think that they will seen a lot more early February.

What a change in the weather we had today from yesterday. It started off a little cold after a frosty night. The frost after the rain caused our car doors to freeze, so that we could not open them. We needed to run warm water around the door rubber before they would open. By 10.am it was so warm I was working without a coat. I made it a point to walk through the valley after I had finished mucking the Horses out. The stream was running a little fast, but nothing like it was last night. It was running so fast last night that it was flooding the valley field and over the bridge. The flood on the field had retreated and the bridge was clear. All through the valley on muddy areas there were fresh animal foot prints from the night before. I have walked the valley for nearly fifteen years, and it is different every time I walk it. There is light rain in the air, but we have been promised heavy rain over the next two days.

Categories
webcams

Over the past two days we have had lots of…

Over the past two days we have had lots of new photographs emailed to us. It may take a while for them to be put on the Photo page, but all will be. Today’s start from number one.

Sorry Lynne, I somehow forgot to put your name to your photographs.

Picture 1 is of Marley in our suitcase. We were packing getting ready to leave for Jamaica on our vacation and Marley thought if he would sneak in our suitcase he would be able to go with us. Needless to say, he didn’t get to go. Karen, Florida (USA)

Cobwebs in the garden in the autumn.
A taste of spring !! Cherry blossom on a nearby road to. The picture of the heron was taken through my back window in the rain he was eyeing up my fish in the pond for breakfast !! Lynne, Sheffield.

Here is another one that my grandson sent to me of a baby mouse, taken with his phone. Pat(H)

We have had our fair share of rain today. The roads around the Farm are flooded, as are some of our fields. I don’t mind the rain. If we didn’t have it we would complain a lot more. I cant say that I liked the flood that we had last year. It was the first time in the fourteen years that we have been flooded at Denbury. It was the clearing up that we had to do that was a bit of a nuisance, but it had to be done and was just another days work.

We don’t really get an awful lot of rain at Denbury. A lot of the times that you may see it raining on the Valley camera, it is very fine, the camera in the valley seems to accentuate the rain. On the other cameras you have probably seen that it looks dry.

We stable the Horses in the Winter, not so much for the rain and cold but because Horses poach the fields when the ground is wet. We are letting them out more this year than we want to. That is because of Willow. If Arnie and Breeze were in the own stables, they can get exercise in the corral in front. Being that they are on Lady’s block, until we finish the corral over that side, they cant come out of the stables. Branston is free range n that side and is a Colt, so we need to turn them out in the Horse field. The corral is nearly finished. We were to do a bit of concreting today, that would have let us finish it early next week, but it was a bit to wet.

Horse dung is not good for grass, and takes a long time to break down. That is part of the reason we harrow the fields. It breaks down the Horse dung as well as getting the dead grass out. Rain like we have had today makes the dung soft and easier to breakdown. Don’t use Horse manure on your gardens, unless it is well rotted. The dung breaking down will take much more out of your soil than it will put back. Well rotted Horse manure is probably the best manure you can get. Any one holidaying at Denbury are welcome to take some of ours home. People fishing here can get a ready supply of worms once the manure is rotting. We have literally hundred of tons of manure, we will have to get it spread on the fields.

There is only one time when I do mind the rain. That is when I feed the Badgers. Both of the places that I put food down are not easy to get to as they are quite steep to get to. That an understatement, the lower feeding site is a nightmare to get to at any time. If it is or has been raining, it is outright dangerous. To access it I have to climb a very steep bank of at between thirty to forty feet. Getting up it is not that bad, a bit slippery. Coming down can be horrendous. How I haven’t broken something I don’t know. Many times I have slid down that bank so fast, if it had been a ski slope I would have won a medal. Many times I have had to have a complete change of clothing when I got back to the Farm House.

As I said at the beginning of this Diary, I really don’t mind the rain. Even in the rain Denbury is a lovely place to be. I often walk down the valley, in or after the rain, looking for animal foot prints, the Birds seem to be singing more and the fast flowing stream is always interesting.

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from the eleventh one.

Karen and David have emailed a number of photographs that we will put on over the coming days.

Picture 1 is of our pond with what the Hawk thought was his dinner, our Koi fish. Karen, Florida (USA)

A taste of spring !! Cherry blossom on a nearby road to ours. Daffodils in the garden Yellow gorse in Pembrokeshire last May. The squirrel i raised from a tiny orphan just thought you might be interested to see what he is watching on the monitor, Tass’s pups !!!! Lynne, Sheffield

Hi Mr. Farmer, I was searching through my photos and found this one of a baby deer which was sent to me by a friend of mine which I thought would be nice for the photo page. Pat(H)

The Otter I believe was emailed from Aaron.

Rye Harbour webcam two is now working. Salt water had got into the camera and caused the camera to stop working. It was a shame that it stopped working when it did, right in the middle of the Sea Birds breeding season. It could not be changed when the Bird were nesting.

We are going to try again to wean Willow at the weekend. We have tried different spiked creams on Lady’s udder, they all seem to work for a few hours until Willow becomes determined. We have tried something different this evening to see if that works. If it does we will leave them together for a bit longer. If not we have got a sedative from the Veterinary to quieten Willow down when we do wean her. We will probably have to sedate her for a few days. If this does no make us able to wean her we may have to send her away from the Farm, so that she is unable to hear Lady.

We received the covering certificate for Emmi today. She was covered on the 2nd of April 2007, so Emmi is due to have her Foal on the 2nd of March, give or take a week or two either way. We need to get Emmi over to the stable block where Lady is. Those stables are larger, but more importantly that is where the cameras are set up. We also want to enlarge one of the stable in the block, so that it will be more roomy for the Mares and Foal. We cant do the alteration until Arnie and Breeze go back to their own stables, where Emmi and Gypsy are. Willow really is making it difficult.

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from the sixth one down. There only a few more left to show.

The first three are of the Griffon Vulture, that were sent to me by Simon, when he first approached us about a Griffon Vulture nest webcam, for our site.

The two others are from Sue. The description is on Mondays Diary.

Rose asked if Ewy is in Lamb. I shouldn’t think so as she has not been near the Ram. Since we have been letting Emmi and Gypsy out in the Horse field in the afternoons with Arnie, Ewy has been keeping close to Arnie. Tonight when we went to get the Horses in, Ewy came down to the gate with them. She did look sad, and ran up to the wood when we started to walk the Horses through the gate.

You must have thought that I had given up on the Duck. I haven’t done anything with it since before Christmas, as we have been so busy. A good part of the day is now taken up mucking the Horses out, and getting the stable ready for when they come in of a night. After a bit of trouble with the Duck I have managed to get the engine running. I just need to fix the steering and I will be able to try it out on the lake. That should go alright. I will then need to fix a wireless camera into it.

I mentioned a while back that we were looking seriously at trying to generate our own power and heating on the Farm. We intend to use Solar Panels on the Farm House roof to partly achieve this. We cannot start that until we get our roof re-tiled, that should be in the Summer. Over the past couple of days we have been looking at the option of using another resource that we have on the Farm, to heat our water for our heating and hot water. Over the years that we have been at Denbury we have noticed that the dung heaps from the mucking out of the animals, gives off a lot of heat. We have always said that we would look into capturing the heat, but talking is as far as it has got.

Yesterday I experimented to see how hot the muck heap was generating. I put a jar of water a few inches into the muck heap, after a few hours I got the jar out. I didn’t have a thermometer, so I was unable to measure the temperature, but it had heated to a degree, that if it was in a bath, it would be to hot to bath in. The muck heap works the same as a compost heap. If you have ever taken the top of the heap down six inches or so, you will see for yourself the heat that is generated.

Our next step is to obtain a large container to be able to fill with muck, and other necessities, putting in a long pipe with water circulating in it. We will then be able to see how much hot water we can generate. It will work, but have I got the time to see it through?

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number one.

You can take a ride on the old tram if you fancy the experience.
Elsie.

This was in today’s Daily Mirror, a nice story.
Elsie.

The other are from Sue as last night descriptions.

Rose from Wincanton asked about Breeze and Ewy’s friendship, and does Ewy visit the Sheep pen. I think Ewy’s believes that she is now a Horse. Now that we are stabling the Horses of a night Ewy is be left on her own in the field. Every morning we watch her making her way to the field gate to wait for Breeze when we turn her out after her morning feed. When we call the Horses in of a night to stable them, Ewy comes down with them. Ewy get to the gate and is unsure to risk following the Horses to their stable. She gets so far and then panics, skidding to a stop, turns tail and has it away so fast the stones of the cottages car park fly every where. You would think that Ewy would go and lay by the Sheep pen of a night. Instead she disappears into the wood once the Horses go in to be stabled. The Horse field will soon have to be rested, so they wont be turned out. Ewy might then decide that she want to be a Sheep again.

When I went to feed the Badgers tonight, I heard the Fox starting their breeding. I am sure that many of you have heard the Urban Fox when they are due to mate. It is a chilling screechy screaming noise. I had never heard it until moved to Denbury. So I must admit I did wonder what the noise was. The noise is not part of the mating, they are calling to each other and call like it most of the year, it is just more pronounced during the mating season. As you must have noticed we have a lot of Fox here, so we the mating season goes on and off for nearly two
months.

I told you not to hold your breath waiting for the Portland Ewe to Lamb. I am surprised that she hasn’t, her udder is so large you would think it would burst.

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number eleven.

This was taken at Beamish Open Air Museum a wonderful place to go if you want to re-live your past or the younger ones to see how we lived. I have more if anyone would like to see them. Elsie.

Vicky was our neighbour’s cat but he decided to come and live with us. He was old when he went missing and we never found him so took it that he had gone away to die. Elsie.

Mr Farmer please find enclosed more photos. The first 5 are of Pollperro when we were there earlier this year on holiday 6 and 7 are in Perranporth as are 12 and 13
8 to 11 are of Dingles world of steam the Speedway ride was running while we were there and we paid

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page Starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page. Starting from the sixth one.

The first one is from Maddi who is trying to get me sued for copyright infringement. The reason I have put it up is that I have been known to do the same to people, from both Horses and Sheep. They don’t always think that it is funny.

One of the Portland Ewes has a very full udder. By the look of the udder it could well be in the next twenty four hours. Don’t hold you breath though, just in case I am wrong. I will leave the camera on and check on the Ewe before I turn in for the night.

Hello Mr Farmer, I hope you can use these photos, my brother took them last summer, the great tit flying to the bird box was in my mum

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number one.

The first is from Marie. A screen shot of our Peacock.

hi there at the farm just wondering if you could add this picture of this badger that i saw a few weeks ago. From Aaron on the message board.

Mr. Farmer, picture 1 is my three boys, Marley, Jagger and Rasta. They are long haired daschunds and kings of the household. Picture 2: is our Marley acting like a clown. I’ll send more butterfly pictures later. Karen, Florida, USA.

This cat used to visit a lot of us near where he belonged. He was a really big lad and we used to give him tit bits. One day he came and he had a note on his collar saying please don’t feed him as he is well fed at home. That told us didn’t it. Elsie

I spoke to Bliss and Misty’s Trainer yesterday. Both Horses are getting on well and are now cantering. Misty has caught up with Bliss on her progress, she is showing lots of potential, and is able to take any position when riding out in the training sessions. Bliss is on a growth spurt, her progress has slowed a little. The Trainer believes both Horses have a good chance to start racing May/June time.

We introduced Emmi and Gypsy to Arnie yesterday in the main Horse field. There was a little bit of squealing from Emmi. Both Arnie and Emmi made a few two barrel kicking threats at each other, but that was all the were. They settled down and got on well with each other. Gypsy tried to get Arnie’s attention, but he really wasn’t that interested. The three of them kept close to each other all of the time that they were in the field. We were confident that Arnie would be good with the two new comers. He has never been any trouble with any new Horses that we have introduced to him. We cant let Emmi and Gypsy out with Breeze and Lady, without first introducing them in the field, parted by an electric fence. Even then the could be a bit of kicking. I wont be risking it with Emmi being so near Foaling. I will try the introduction in the Spring. Today when I turned Emmi and Gypsy out with Arnie, it was as they had known each other for ever. Emmi was calling to Arnie when he was out with the other Horses.

Marie captured a screenshot of our Peacock sitting on the gate of the Sheep pen. He hatched on the Farm a good few years back. He is a bit of a wanderer. We really don’t know how he has managed to survive for as long as he has. He travels a fair distances from the Farm and can regularly be seen walking down the lanes. How a Fox hasn’t had him I don’t know. Of a night when he is on the Farm he roosts in an Acacia tree next to the Farm House, but can also be seen in the barn where the Sheep are when it is raining. None of the Peahens that we have got to keep him company have survived. We were only talking about trying to find him another mate a couple of days ago. I might have a look to see if there are any for sale.

When we first had Peafowl and the Peacock moulted, we collected all the feathers believing that people would like to have them. What a waste of time that was. Most of those that we asked told us that they were unlucky and that they would not have them in their house. That was from people far and wide who did not know each other. The main reason seemed to be the eye on the feathers was meant to be evil. The other was that in Asia the Peacock was a delicacy, and that there was a risk that the Peacocks would become extinct with the amount that were being killed for food. To stop the risk it was rumoured that eating peacocks was unlucky. We don’t have the feathers in the Farm House anymore.

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from the 9th picture.

The first two go with the article below.

Hi Mr. Farmer, In response to your plea for more photos here are three more. Staying on the birds theme, the black swan was taken when we visited Leeds Castle, the Peacock was taken on a visit to Audley End and I thought I would post my photo of Concorde’s last flight. This was taken through the coach window on the way home from a visit to Winchester. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. Pat(H)

The Lamb died this afternoon. We did all that we could to try to keep it alive, unfortunately that was not enough.

I thought that you may find this article from the BBC interesting. It will give you an insight to the problems that The Lock of the Lowe’s have in protecting their Osprey Nest. Because of Egg thieves they need to have 24/7 security at the centre during the breeding season. On the Photo page there are two photographs that were part of the article. I will need to worry about copyright now.

Compulsion of prolific egg thief
By Sallie George
BBC News, England

The RSPB believes the bulk of Wheal’s collection remains hidden
The theft of eggs belonging to some of Britain’s rarest birds is deemed so serious that in some areas, nests are guarded around the clock during the breeding season.

The RSPB said thieves such as Gregory Wheal were motivated by an overwhelming addiction to the thrill of stealing and possessing rare eggs, with their collections becoming a trophy of their endeavours in the field.

Such is the extent of the compulsion that collectors will risk their lives to satisfy their desire for eggs.

Mark Thomas, investigations officer for the RSPB, said: “It becomes a complete obsession where collectors will risk absolutely everything. They physically can’t help themselves.

“We know of two collectors who have fallen to their deaths.”

‘Hidden collection’

The organisation believes there are currently about 50 egg thieves active in the UK.

Wheal is not the country’s most prolific, but he is the one who has been caught and convicted the most times, the RSPB said.

He has now notched up nine convictions for egg theft, dating from 1987, and has been jailed once before, for four months in January 2006.

Wheal is described as the most convicted egg collector in the UK

The RSPB is convinced Wheal’s main collection of stolen eggs remains undetected, possibly hidden away in a lock-up hundreds of miles from home – a common practice among ardent collectors.

Mark Thomas, investigations officer for the RSPB, said: “In all of this time we haven’t found a substantial collection of eggs, which makes us believe he had got a big collection somewhere hidden away.

“There is no doubt he is prolific, he has been active for a considerable time targeting rare birds and nests which we would spend quite a lot of time and money guarding.

“He would think nothing of travelling vast distances to get to very rare birds’ nests.”

Collectors ‘turned in’

Collecting eggs from wild birds’ nests has been illegal since 1954, but since 2001 the offence has carried a maximum six months’ jail sentence.

Since then, the number of active egg collectors has dramatically dropped, the RSPB said.

Mr Thomas said: “If you go back 20 years or so there would have been about 200 of these individuals, but now the law has changed.

“About 12 or so individuals have gone to jail for these sorts of offences and that has served as a very good deterrent.”

But despite the threat of jail, some collectors find themselves unable to stop stealing from rare birds’ nests.

At the end of the day their lives are being ruled by a collection of shells

Mark Thomas, RSPB
Mr Thomas said: “During the winter months there are no eggs being laid – they will be at home, thinking about the breeding season.

“The thrill is still there, and as soon as the first birds start to nest they have got to go out and do it again.

“These are people who are absolutely obsessed with birds, but whereas a bird watcher will go out and write down their findings, an egg collector has to take something away.

“I have raided houses before and found a drawer full of eggs from one species of bird – but in every shade. They become completely obsessed with minute detail.

“I have been in cases where we have caught an egg collector in the field, and when it comes to interviewing them, they are in floods of tears, they realise it has got completely out of control.

Meticulous planning

“This is why, a lot of the time, we have collectors’ families informing us of what is happening.

“We get wives and girlfriends ringing up to say their partners have got a lock-up somewhere full of eggs.

“At the end of the day their lives are being ruled by a collection of shells.”

Meticulous planning goes into the egg theft operation.

Collectors will undertake painstaking research, planning their trips weeks in advance, marking maps and travelling hundreds of miles.

Once the egg has been stolen, the collector may then bury it somewhere to avoid being caught in possession of it while travelling home.

Collectors then return to the site when the breeding season has ended and dig up their find, before putting it into storage.

Some nests, such as that of the Osprey in Loch Garton in Scotland, are deemed so at risk, they are guarded 24 hours a day during the eight-week breeding season.

Mr Thomas said: “The theft of eggs has a very significant impact and poses a very serious threat to many of Britain’s rarest birds.”

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs n the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs n the Photo page starting from the fourth one.

The first one is one of three sent in by Julia.

This is our favourite place Dartmouth in Devon. We have been going to South Devon for years. I can’t get enough of the place. Elsie.

Two more of the Moose from Maddie.

The picture of the Kingfisher was sent in by both Maddi and Elaine. I hope I don’t get done for copyright infringement.

I have not been showing the Sheep today, as the Lamb is not very well and we don’t expect that it will live. When I last went to check on the Sheep at about 10pm it was fine, but this morning it was very weak and laid out on its side. We had thought that it has been feeding properly. It is getting milk from the Ewe, but because it has a deformed mouth it is not getting as much as it should. I only noticed the Lambs mouth this morning when I was bottle feeding it. It perked up a bit after the bottle feed, but it is not looking good. There of course is a chance that as its mouth is deformed it has other problems.

It has only been the Portland’s that we have had problems with. All the other Sheep have been alright. Even the Portland Crosses that we have bred have been OK. We sent a few of the older Portland Ewes to Market last year and the remainder will go when they have Lambed. I would like to have ten Ewes on the Farm. I will make the numbers up with Jacobs. We have had a few of those before. They were very hardy and although they are worth very little, I do like the look of them.

We let Emmi and Gypsy out into the main Horse field early this afternoon. We put Emmi on a head collar to lead her out, and let Gypsy follow on her own. Gypsy stuck to Emmi like glue, no way was she going to loose sight of her. I was sure that she would have followed Emmi, but I didn’t want to put Gypsy on a lead as the only time Gypsy has had a head collar on was when she was loaded and unloaded onto the Horse Box, when she came to Denbury, she wasn’t very keen on it, and it wouldn’t have been a good experience for her, so we are taking every thing we do with Gypsy, very carefully. She is getting friendly with us and we don’t wont to frighten her. It didn’t take them long to decide hooray we are free once we had got them into the field, they stuck together racing, kicking out and bucking around the field. I hope some of you managed to see them on the webcam. We will try to let Arnie out with them tomorrow when we let them out.

I doesn’t look as if we are have a lot of luck with the Vaseline and Cayenne Pepper that we are putting on Lady’s udder, to stop Willow from getting milk. A couple of times last night before we stopped watching her we could see that she would not feed, but looking at the recording that we did through the night, she did take a couple of feeds. The taste of the concoction must wear off after a while. It is also possible that she had a feed about 6.30pm tonight, only a couple of hours after we put the concoction on again on Lady’s teats. If she did we are going to have to look at other ways of stopping her feeding.