Month: September 2008

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number six. Only a few photographs left.

Mountain on way to Whistler from Vancouver. Elaine.

Sunset over Vancouver.Elaine.

Smuggler – taken from the low angle of a 7 year old; Finn..

The Reindeer. Finn.

Now have a close look at the bark and experience the unbelievable figures of creatures engraved in the surface of the entire tree trunk!!Absolutely real!!! Elsie.

When the Reindeer came here on Friday there was not any feed for them, other than hay and straw, so I had to go to Cricket St Thomas on Saturday to get a bag until I can find a local suppliers. Whilst at the Zoo I went to look at Padfoot and Fleur, who were meant to be coming to Denbury when Padfoot had started to loose his velvet. Unfortunately one of the Female Reindeer at the Zoo had died a couple of months ago. If I had taken Fleur it would have meant that the Zoo would have only one adult female and two of this years calves. Although when I agreed that I would take Padfoot I would need a female to go with him, it would be unfair to leave the Zoo short. Now only Padfoot will be coming to Denbury. We hope that will be on Wednesday.

Our intention was to keep two of the female and sell to sell the others. Trouble is that we like them and have decided to keep the four, especially as we are now not getting Fluer. Two of the Female Reindeer are getting quite friendly. We were hoping to get lead ropes on them by tomorrow, but I don’t think that will happen. We will need to put the Females into the field that we have prepared for them tomorrow so that Padfoot is not left on his own when he arrives on Wednesday.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number one. Only four photographs left.

Have a close look at the bark of the tree and experience the unbelievable figures of creatures engraved in the surface of the entire tree trunk!! Elsie.

Some fish Don’t know what sort they are or where she took it. Elaine.

The next two photographs were sent by Julia taken by Finn Julia’s seven year old nephew whilst staying at Denbury last week.

Thornton; (I’d changed the batteries in the camera and forgotten to change the date/time! This was taken on 1st September)

The lovely Reindeer. Finn.

The Swallows nest had been raided during the night or early this morning. When I changed the camera over this morning most of the nest was gone and on checking out in the barn their were the feathers of the youngsters on the floor. It was more than likely a Magpie. It was late for a Swallows nest, by the time the chicks had of fledged in over a week or more time in would be getting on for October. It wouldn’t have left a lot of time for them to have strengthened for the their flight to the south to migrate to a warmer climate for the Winter.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number eleven. Only four photographs left.

Here are a couple of photos my friend Tracey sent from her visit to Vancouver.Hope you can use them.

The first one is a bear climbing a tree. Elaine.

The second are some fish Don’t know what sort they are or where she took it. Elaine.

View over the RESPB Reserve at Dungeness. Jill. Epping.

Some people have a great imagination to visualize this in their heads first.A Tree in Andra Pradesh -India

At a glance you may be confused the above tree with a massive trunk with a ‘Baobab’ tree (which is renowned to possess the largest tree trunks of the world) but, this is yet another unknown specie which is seen in the close proximity of a hermitage deep in the dense forest in ‘Andra Pradesh’ in India. Elsie.

The bullying by one of the Reindeer last night wasn’t very bad, but it was unfair after the long journey that they had yesterday to have one being chased about. After splitting them up into two groups they settled and when we let them out together this afternoon in the corral there was no bickering at all, but until we put them in to their field we will keep them separated. They will soon sort out the pecking order once that they are in their field. All new animals put together for the first time go through it. Although all of Reindeer came from the same place I should think that they were in different groups. A couple of them meeting each other for the first time yesterday.

Branston got really spooked when he first set eyes on the Reindeer. He didn’t hang around to get out of their sight and hid away for a good few hours. Even when we put his feed down he didn’t want to know until we took it to him out of sight of the Reindeer. This afternoon he started to get braver, first looking from a distance, then near the corral but with an exit if he needed to run. Eventually he put his head into the corral, even touching noses with one of the Reindeer. He will be alright now.

This afternoon after only being here for a few hours two the Reindeer are getting friendly with us. They are coming up to us and allowing us to touch them. For the next few days before they go into their field we will try to get then being walked with a lead rope. We never have considered keeping Reindeer and if it had not been that we were offered Padfoot from Cricket I must admit that we would not have have got any. Up to now we have found them to be extremely nice animals to have and our Holiday Guests all seem to agree.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number six all sent in by Jill. Only four photographs left.

A few more pics showing the start beauty of Dungeness….

My Accommodation with power station in background.

Burrowes Pit with Water Tower in background.

Part of the trail path.

Yellow Horned Poppy.

Cormorant Island. Jill, Epping.

When the Reindeer arrived this afternoon we put them straight on the webcam so that you were in on the action as we were. The person who delivered them put head collars on so that we can later start to lead them around. As soon as they were settled one started to put her marker down as the herd leader. They had come from a lot larger herd that would have had a herd leader, so our little herd was leaderless when they arrived. There may be a little more bickering but I think that they are now settled.

Once we know who is who we will remove the plastic number collars from around their necks and look to put them in the field that we have made ready for them. We need to try to get them in to their field by Tuesday so that we are able to collect Padfoot and Fleur who will need to go straight into their field.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number one. Only four photograpgs left.

Young Common Seal. Vicky.

Young Common Seal. Vicky.

Giant Owl Butterfly. Vicky.

Glass Wing Tropical Butterfly. Vick.

Here is a photo my friend Tracey sent from her visit to Vancouver. Killer whale swimming in the Atlantic I think she said. Elaine.

Fortunately I have had no more encounters with Rats. Reading it from a long while back I can see that if it had been any body but myself experiencing the encounter, I would have been falling over with laughter. Nothing to do with wildlife or farming one of the funniest stories that I have ever heard was told to us by one of our relations. They do not own a computer or know how to use one, so I am safe to tell you the story without them seeing it.

The lifestyle of our relation who lives in Birmingham, is one of the Women’s institute, cake and jam making and visits to the theatre and classical concerts. For sure the Husband would not have the interest as his wife and I should think that the theatre and music night outs were done under protest and to keep the peace, on the Wife’s side to make the Husband feel involved and not left out.

This story was on a visit to Birmingham Symphony Hall, for a concert by the City of Birmingham Orchestra. At the interval the Husband was in need of the toilet, telling most of the audience with his deep Brummie loud accent. After the twenty minute interval the Wife was starting to get concerned as Husband had not yet returned to his seat. The light dimmed and the Conductor returned to rostrum taking a bow and raising his baton when on the stage came the lost Husband trying to find his seat. He told later that he had been wandering about the theatre trying to find his way to his seat and had followed what he thought was a member of the audience who turned out to be the conductor.

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webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number eleven. Only four photograpgs left.

Does anybody know what this is please?.There were lots of them found on the beaches near Mallaig on the West coast of Scotland.They are quite hard to touch.My daughter said it was a very low tide and wondered if they were Turtle Egg shells which had been swept across the seas in the currents.Occasionally large seeds have turned up on the beaches from the Carribean..Lindsay.

My daughter took this at the cottage they are staying at in Glen Nevis near Fort William in Scotland.Lindsay.

My daughter has taken this photo tonight in Glen Nevis near Fort William.Lindsay.

One of hubbys cards he received for this years birthday we had quite a giggle about it, it has not scanned as well as i hoped it may.
Marie in Taunton.

This is for Elsie now she is able to use her pc again i took this in Spain growing in my friends garden a Pomegranite in flower with a fruit just setting at the side of the bloom i think the flower is very attractive. Marie in Taunton.

The Kingfisher was on the branch this morning. Seeing him got me wondering why we haven’t seen him as much as last year. Pity I didn’t think a while back, as just behind the branch is a partly broken limb of a tree that has fallen into the Lake. As it has a lot more branches and is lower in the water than what we have put up, it is obviously catching from the tree instead of the branch. We are still getting the fencing ready for the Reindeer that are arriving on Friday, but as soon as I get an opportunity we will cut away the overhanging limb.

We also found another Swallows nest in one of the Barns this morning. By the look of it and is was a quick look as one of the Adults dived at me a couple of times, the youngsters are about a week old. I put it on the Cam Two but there seems to be a problem with the Electricity as it kept tripping out. I will get it working from a different supply in the morning. I cant remember how late the last Swallows nest was last year. It was quite late, but the weather was better. At the moment it must be difficult for the Adults to feed their young with the amount of rain we are getting.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number six. Only three or four photograpgs left.

Here are a few pics of interesting finds at Dungeness!

Two common cranes that paid us a very rare visit.

Rosy Underwing Moth – a rarity for Kent and a first for me and a credit on the mothsofdungeness website!

Great Green Bush Cricket – specimen found was 4 inches long and a very handsome chap!

The Black Hut on Rye Harbour – just to show you it does exist! Jill (Epping)

More Turkeys. Marie/NJ

Jill’s mention of Dungeness reminded me of a job I once had as a Driver for a Company delivering refrigerant gas to Ships in the London Docks. Boring would be an understatement. An adventure would be a twenty mile journey to Tilbury Docks. So when I was offered overtime on a Saturday morning to Dungeness, it was as if I was being offered an adventure. As it happened it turned out to be very different from my normal working day.

The delivery instructions for the gas was to the agent for a ship. On arriving at the office that overlooked the sea, the ship was pointed out to me as a speck on the horizon, with the instructions that I would have to deliver it out there, and that a boat would be available to take me there at the end of a long jetty that was only accessible by a Thomas the Tank look alike train. The gas bottle was as tall as me and weighed twice as much, that I would normally deliver at the side of the ship on the dock side in London. With no wheelbarrow I had to ask the train driver to drop the bottle at the end of the jetty for me. The only place for the gas bottle was on the footplate of the train and which the driver invited me to stand. Although it was the first and last time that I ever stood on an engine footplate, that was not my lasting memory of the journey, it was when the train went round a sharp bend that for a frightening moment I thought that I was going to finish up in the English Channel.

The train driver pointed out the boat that was to take me and the gas bottle to the ship. It looked well over laden with stores for the ship before the bottle and me got in, and I swear it wasn’t much bigger than the dingy on our lake. The journey to the ship took getting on for three quarters of an hour in not a raging sea but not over calm either. It didn’t help my courage with the sea splashing over the sides of the boat, leaving more seas water in the bottom than I liked the look of. If I had a baling implement I would have been using it. Unloading the stores and gas bottle was a nightmare that I would never want to experience again. The ships gangway was lowered fully down but it was still at head height one minute and nearly sinking our boat the next, somehow we had to pass the store to the ships crew who were chain passing them to each other on the gangway. I had signed up for the Merchant Navy and had done a couple of three months trips only a year or so before, never once being seasick, or was I on the outward journey to the ship to deliver the gas bottle, but was I ill on the way back to land.

I never had reason or a desire to return to Dungeness. Until Jill’s mentioned it I forgot it even existed. And those Heron are still not as far away as I would like.

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number six. Only three or four photograpgs left.

Here are a few pics of interesting finds at Dungeness!

Two common cranes that paid us a very rare visit.

Rosy Underwing Moth – a rarity for Kent and a first for me and a credit on the mothsofdungeness website!

Great Green Bush Cricket – specimen found was 4 inches long and a very handsome chap!

The Black Hut on Rye Harbour – just to show you it does exist! Jill (Epping)

More Turkeys. Marie/NJ

Jill’s mention of Dungeness reminded me of a job I once had as a Driver for a Company delivering refrigerant gas to Ships in the London Docks. Boring would be an understatement. An adventure would be a twenty mile journey to Tilbury Docks. So when I was offered overtime on a Saturday morning to Dungeness, it was as if I was being offered an adventure. As it happened it turned out to be very different from my normal working day.

The delivery instructions for the gas was to the agent for a ship. On arriving at the office that overlooked the sea, the ship was pointed out to me as a speck on the horizon, with the instructions that I would have to deliver it out there, and that a boat would be available to take me there at the end of a long jetty that was only accessible by a Thomas the Tank look alike train. The gas bottle was as tall as me and weighed twice as much, that I would normally deliver at the side of the ship on the dock side in London. With no wheelbarrow I had to ask the train driver to drop the bottle at the end of the jetty for me. The only place for the gas bottle was on the footplate of the train and which the driver invited me to stand. Although it was the first and last time that I ever stood on an engine footplate, that was not my lasting memory of the journey, it was when the train went round a sharp bend that for a frightening moment I thought that I was going to finish up in the English Channel.

The train driver pointed out the boat that was to take me and the gas bottle to the ship. It looked well over laden with stores for the ship before the bottle and me got in, and I swear it wasn’t much bigger than the dingy on our lake. The journey to the ship took getting on for three quarters of an hour in not a raging sea but not over calm either. It didn’t help my courage with the sea splashing over the sides of the boat, leaving more seas water in the bottom than I liked the look of. If I had a baling implement I would have been using it. Unloading the stores and gas bottle was a nightmare that I would never want to experience again. The ships gangway was lowered fully down but it was still at head height one minute and nearly sinking our boat the next, somehow we had to pass the store to the ships crew who were chain passing them to each other on the gangway. I had signed up for the Merchant Navy and had done a couple of three months trips only a year or so before, never once being seasick, or was I on the outward journey to the ship to deliver the gas bottle, but was I ill on the way back to land.

I never had reason or a desire to return to Dungeness. Until Jill’s mentioned it I forgot it even existed. The photographs made me think of it in a different way.

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webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number one sent in by Lynne.

POPPY FIELD. LYNNE.

THORNTON FORCE YORKSHIRE DALES. LYNNE.

BISHOPS HOUSE 5 MINUTES FROM WHERE WE LIVE. LYNNE.

SHEEP ON THE MOORS IN THE PEAK DISTRICT. LYNNE.

BABY BLUE TIT. LYNNE.

Two of our Female Reindeer are arriving at Denbury this Friday. We have purchased four Females, two we are selling to a person that I know in Yorkshire. Padfoot and Fleur who are coming from Cricket St Thomas will be here as soon as Padfoot starts to shed the velvet from his antlers, that should start at any time now. We are starting to get the paddock ready for the new arrivals. We hope to be able to put the Females in the Barn where Willow and Gypsy were kept in the Winter for a few days. That is as long as there is no chance of them jumping out.

We will need to put a high gate at the entrance of the paddock that the Reindeer will be kept, to stop them from jumping the gate and also to stop uninvited visitors from bothering the animals. We have had a few problems with uninvited people coming to the Farm as a day out when we have kept other different animals and Birds such as Ostrich, Wild Boar, Llama and Zebra. Unfortunately we do not have the time to show people around Denbury. We need all of our time for our Holiday Guests, Webcams, Animals that we keep and the Farm work. We haven’t had it a lot, but on a few occasion we have had people who watch our webcams turn up out of the blue. Unfortunately as much as we would like to show people around we really do not have the time even to explain why we have to be so unwelcoming. We also get requests from those holidaying in the area to come and see the Badgers. Again we cant do it as the Badger hide is quite small and it is for our Holiday Guests.

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 sent in by Lynne.

POPPY FIELD. LYNNE.

THORNTON FORCE YORKSHIRE DALES. LYNNE.

BISHOPS HOUSE 5 MINUTES FROM WHERE WE LIVE. LYNNE.

SHEEP ON THE MOORS IN THE PEAK DISTRICT. LYNNE.

BABY BLUE TIT. LYNNE.

Two of our Female Reindeer are arriving at Denbury this Friday. We have purchased four Females, two we are selling to a person that I know in Yorkshire. Padfoot and Fleur who are coming from Cricket St Thomas will be here as soon as Padfoot starts to shed the velvet from his antlers, that should start at any time now. We are starting to get the paddock ready for the new arrivals. We hope to be able to put the Females in the Barn where Willow and Gypsy were kept in the Winter for a few days. That is as long as there is no chance of them jumping out.

We will need to put a high gate at the entrance of the paddock that the Reindeer will be kept, to stop them from jumping the gate and also to stop uninvited visitors from bothering the animals. We have had a few problems with uninvited people coming to the Farm as a day out when we have kept other different animals and Birds such as Ostrich, Wild Boar, Llama and Zebra. Unfortunately we do not have the time to show people around Denbury. We need all of our time for our Holiday Guests, Webcams, Animals that we keep and the Farm work. We haven’t had it a lot, but on a few occasion we have had people who watch our webcams turn up out of the blue. Unfortunately as much as we would like to show people around we really do not have the time even to explain why we have to be so unwelcoming. We also get requests from those holidaying in the area to come and see the Badgers. Again we cant do it as the Badger hide is quite small and it is for our Holiday Guests.