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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

5 photos taken around the farm whilst on our stay this week. Vicky.

Our Wallaby Joeys are ready to be collected from Cricket St Thomas. They have been weaned since we last went to visit the Wildlife Park but we want them to be independent before coming to Denbury. Hopefully we will collect them early next week and will try to show them on a webcam.

We have needed to get a Chicken Ark today to house the Bantams. Since hatching the first batch just over 4 weeks ago they have been kept in a run in our washroom. Fortunately they are not very big and don’t grow very quickly but they are now too large to be in the run that they are now in. We will fit a heat lamp in side the Ark and mix the second batch that we hatched.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

We are still short of photographs.

A few pictures taken in my garden.

Large Red Damsel Flies. CH.

Common blue Damsel Flies. CH.

Tadpole eating a fish-food pellet. CH.

Greater Spotted Woodpecker on the bird feeder. CH.

Bee on a Geranium. CH.

We have been hatching eggs for a month or so, and other than a very few mistakes it has been very successful and enjoyable. We have incubated Turkey, Geese and Bantam. The Geese were the only eggs that have given problems. Out of nearly forty eggs purchased we only managed to successfully hatch two. The eggs were either not fertile or didn’t make it to the full hatching time. Our own eggs from one of the Geese that we purchased a couple of months back had very good fertility and we managed to successfully hatch most of the twelve that we incubated. We have left the Goose who layed the eggs sit a few. We believe that she is sitting two now that are due to hatch if they survive on Saturday.

We have not any experience in breeding Turkeys but we are told that the are very friendly. After being told that we have decided to try to purchase and incubate Pied Turkey to keep as pets. As their name suggests they are a very attractive Black and White. Their colouring takes your eyes away from their ugly heads. We have been hatching Bronze and White Turkeys. We had a problem with splayed legs with five of the first twenty Bronze that we incubated. This was caused as the floor of the hatcher was to slippery. Those who we knew that had incubated Turkeys told us to knock them on their head as they would not ever be able to walk, but we decided to hobble their legs with strips of elasticated bandage. We thought that it was worth a try and it worked, with four of the five walking as if there was never a problem in the first place. We finished up having them for four weeks and they became very friendly, so much so that they would fly onto our shoulders like a Parrot.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

We are still short of photographs. I believe todays are the first sent in by Peter.

The track to Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire showing the Ramson. Peter.

Recent Tall ships festival in Gloucester, showing The Matthew. A replica of the ship which John Cabot in 1497,sailed across to Newfoundland. Peter.

The remaining three are self explanatory. Peter.

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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

These are the last photographs that we have for the Photo Page.

These are taken on the daily walk with the dog.

4 week old foal called Phantom Spirit
Phantom and Mum

Swans nesting at the side of the canal. The people in the house have made a cover over the nest.

I am still keeping an eye on Denbury even though I don’t go on the forum. Thank you for all the webcams and all the work that you do. Its wonderful. Merrilyn.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Only a few photographs left.

Please check out the adds.

The Keep at Richmond Castle; Julia

I’m not sure what this tower is, but the photo was taken from the top of the Keep; Julia

This plaque was set into the pavement in the Market Square, Richmond. Interesting, but it doesn’t really explain HOW or WHY Robert
Willance’s life was saved, does it?! Julia

When I went into the Keep, suddenly a couple of birds were flying around above my head. Eventually I realised that there was a nest at the top of the wall! Swallow, I think, judging by the red throat. Not a great photo, but you can see what it is! Julia

This is the Smalls lighthouse off the coast of Pembrokeshire and the story that goes with it. Rose W’canton

The old lighthouse was the home of an unusual level of intrigue. The first message in a bottle was successfully sent from the small island, reaching its addressee through the miles of sea, and allowing a rescue of stranded repair workers, including Whiteside himself.

More disturbingly, the old lighthouse brought about a change in lighthouse policy in 1801 after a gruesome episode. The two man team, Thomas Howell and Thomas Griffith, were known to quarrel, and so when Griffith died in a freak accident, Howell feared that he might be suspected of murder if he discarded the body into the sea. As the body began to decompose, Howell built a makeshift coffin for the corpse and lashed it to an outside shelf. Stiff winds blew the box apart, though, and the body’s arm fell within view of the hut’s window and caused the wind to catch it in such a way that it seemed as though it was beckoning. Working alone and with the decaying corpse of his former colleague outside Howell managed to keep the lamp lit every night.

When Howell was finally relieved from the lighthouse the effect the situation had had on him was said to be so extreme that some of his friends didn’t recognise him.Lighthouse teams were changed to rosters of three from this point on until the automation of all British lighthouses in the 1980s.

Having so many Goslings with the Goose and Gander is causing a bit of a grass shortage for them all. We have needed to mow some of the grass around the Lake because there are quite a lot of weeds growing as well. We alternate mowing about 50% every two weeks believing there would be ample grass for all the Geese. As you can see by the way the Goslings are growing they are not short of food. Some of our Holiday Guests are feeding them bread and I am putting some mixed corn down at least once a day, although I may have to feed them twice a day.

We have been pulling some of the Reeds out that are in the middle of the Lake as they can cause those fishing a problem. The Geese eat the tender part at the bottom of the Reed. One of the Goslings decided to keep eating past the tender part, and this morning I found it with a whole Reed hanging from its beak, I had no chance of catching it but fortunately I was able to tread on the Reed when the Geese came on to the bank to eat. The Gosling had managed to swallow nearly two foot of the Reed and I am sure it would not have come out if I had not managed to tread on it.

Another problem that the Geese are causing is eroding the sides of the Lake when they get in and out of the water. I will need to secure a length of timber along the eroding part to stop it continuing. Now more of our Holiday Guests are fishing it was something that I would have needed to do, it has just made me do it sooner.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

There are only 3 photographs left for tomorrows Photo Page.

First two photos.
In our accomodation in Wales just above the only entrance was a swallows nest , everytime we went in or out they left the nest , cant imagine the eggs will hatch as they kept getting cold. Rose W’canton

There were lots of these blue flowers. Rose W’canton

Two photos taken on the Island of Grassholme. Rose W’canton

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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

There are only 3 photographs left for tomorrows Photo Page.

Kew Palace. Janice of Leeds

Princess Diana’s Conservatory.Kew Gardens. Janice of Leeds

Waterfall outside Alpine House.Kew Gardens. Janice of Leeds

Chicken-Rhea-Ostrich Eggs.

Rhea.

Cricket St Thomas gave us three Rhea Eggs last week. They were from proven breeding stock, so we are hoping to hatch Rhea. Rhea eggs take about 40 days incubation. We put the eggs in the incubator 7 days ago so in just over a months time as long as the eggs are fertile we may be hatching the Rhea. The photograph of the three eggs show you the different sizes of the eggs compared to a Chicken egg. The Rhea egg is in the middle. The Ostrich egg would not be a good example on size, it is on the smallish size. The yolk of an Ostrich egg is approximately the size of 22 chicken eggs. Now and then when we bred Ostrich we would get a slightly cracked egg caused when being laid we would give them to a local Pub who would put them on their menu.

Rhea are in the classification of Ratites as are Ostrich and Emu. Rhea do tend to be more docile that the others and unlike Ostrich and Emu they can be kept without the need for a dangerous wild animal licence. The Hens are approximately 4 foot tall and the Cock bird about 6 foot. If we are successful with the hatching we will keep the Rhea on the Farm. If all goes well we will show the hatching on the webcam. From tomorrow the hatching webcam will be on with Bantam eggs due to hatch on Saturday. We have now 16 Bantam Chicks of various type and colours. If I get time I will show them on a webcam as there are some very well marked and coloured Birds.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

These four photos were taken on the coastal path at St Davids Head , Wales last week. Rose W’canton.

The Geese at Denbury. Jenny.

I had thought that the Otter may well have made a meal of a lot of our larger Fish. After seeing the Otter on the webcam last Autumn I electric fenced the Lake, but I was still concerned that I had been to late. Some of you saw a couple of large Fish on the webcams around the Kingfisher branch, but last year I had seen a lot more and nearly every day. Those fishing this year up to this week were not catching very large Fish. The biggest this year was one being about 12lb. Other than that the largest was 6lb. Last year Fish up to 22lb were being caught, so I was still concerned.

This week one of our Holiday Guests who competes in fishing matches has come just for the fishing. On the fist day he caught over 50 Carp, one over 9lb. Early yesterday Morning he put some ground bait in to attract the Fish. Whilst putting the bait out he saw three Fish that would have been 15lb up to 20lb so if the Otter did take any Fish, it didn’t take them all.

My previous experience with Otters was about 8 years ago, about two years after I had stocked the Lake. Every day I would feed the Fish in the morning and evening. One morning I found Carp Fish Scales on the Lake side. This carried on for a good while. The scales would have been from the largest Fish that we had put in to the Lake. To be honest I didn’t know that we had Otters in the area then, so I did not suspect it was an Otter. A Mink maybe, so I put out Mink traps to catch it. That didn’t work. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I found out that it was an Otter. Otters unlike Mink eat their catch by the side of the Lake and leave the scales. It was also likely that the Otter had a Holt with Puppies, as they rarely stay in an area for as long as the one that was eating our Fish. We also found Otter droppings around the Lake. They look like a very large piece of cigarette ash and have a not unpleasant sweet smell.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Geese on Denbury Lake. Jenny.

A Ewe at Denbury. Jenny.

Thornton. Jenny.

A hatching egg in the hatcher that we had in our Cottage. Jenny.

A Goose at Denbury. Jenny.

Since last week when Thornton had his fleece sheared off he started to spend more time with the other Sheep. Until last night he would come in for his feed and go out in the morning. Last night he didn’t bother to come in and stayed out with the Sheep all night. He hasn’t even bothered to visit any of our Holiday Guests today to get any treat. Thornton could well have decided that he want to be a Sheep. We will soon know if we have a prolonged spell of bad weather as Thornton doesn’t like to get wet.

Elsie sent in the article below about wool. When our Sheep are sheared we normally let the person doing it take the fleece. It hasn’t been worth much money, but it was a way of getting rid of it. This year he didn’t want to take it. The 10 fleece from our Sheep were not even worth

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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Getting short of photographs.

Lou named this nice nature and I think it sums it up. Jacqui

I