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Although the Horses are now turned out there is still…

Although the Horses are now turned out there is still lot of work to do causing the Diary entries to keep get putting back.

The Lake has really come to life this year with the introduction of the Black Swans, they have drawn more Waterfowl onto the Lake. There are two lots of Mallard Ducklings one having six the other three, lots of Moorhens with their young and of course the Geese with their four Goslings. We feed the Swan every morning and evening, that has made all of the other Waterfowl come to the feeding place for their share. Most evenings another pair of Geese visit the Lake. The resident pair let them know they are not welcome or I am sure that they would try to nest.

Nearly every day a Heron comes to the lake. We are forever trying to chase it away but no doubt most times we miss seeing it. Heron cause a lot of damage to the Fish, but at this time of year it is worse as the Fish are spawning and they are in the reeds that makes it easy for the Heron to strike. Most Fish are to large for the Heron to eat but it still attacks the Fish causing a lot of injuries and sometimes it kill them.

Every day I walk around the Lake to check the electric fencing and to make sure that there are no other problems. This morning around the unprotected Pond there was a strong smell of the Otter. I haven’t seen a lot of evidence that it has been around a lot this year just a couple of piles of the fishes scales that the Otter always leaves, so i will not electric fence the Pond. I have an infra red lamp installed but i don’t seem to manage to find enough time to wire it up. it will make good viewing when it is working and it will let me know what sort of problem the Otter is causing.

The Swallows are now nesting, but this year they have not nested in there normal places so we have not been able to show them on the webcams as yet. We have noticed that there are not as many Swallows as there were last year, I should think down by more than 40% of what normally nest in our buildings. It could be that it is still very cold. A few weeks back for well over a month we had a good spell of really warm and dry weather, it made the Rhea nest earlier than they would normally do but now they have stopped laying completely. We have managed to put some eggs in the incubators and most are fertile. unlike Emu eggs Rhea eggs can be candled so that we are able to see if they are fertile early in the incubation period.

I have not managed to see the Badger Cubs yet. I keep seeing the entries on the Forum, although you that is not being used very much now. By the time I check the webcams they have gone. From one year to the next I cant remember what month they first show themselves. I could be wrong but I think that this year it is earlier that most years. I ha vent seen all of the Badgers eating the food altogether this year, so I am not sure how many adults are now in the Sett. I reckon that I have seen seven or maybe eight different ones but I wont be sure of the total until they are all out together.

Thornton is in his element now that we have Lambs. Until we get the Horse Field stock proofed all of the Sheep are housed in the Barn, other than Ewy and three other Ewes, one who has Lambs that are giving us the run around. The Lambs are able to get through the gates that their Mothers are behind, and can be found with Thornton who is free range. He still knocks on our Kitchen door for a biscuit or two, hangs around for an hour or so chilling out in the kitchen but now always returns to the other Sheep.

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