At last a Swallow decided to nest in one of the Barns that we could put a camera in. In past year it is the first place that they have nested in. Then this morning we found in our ? outside our kitchen door that a Swallow is building a nest in ?above the door. They have never nested in this area before
Category: webcams
Contains forums, wildlife live webcams, diary, blog, artciles and pictures of farm animals.
We have an old Cider Orchard at Denbury. I suppose you could count the number of trees in the orchard on two hands. The trees are old. In the 18 years we have been at Denbury we have done nothing to them, They need a lot of pruning but they always produce a great amount of apples.
Until about three to four years ago the orchard was the home of our Wild Boar we kept until they started to dig their escape under the fencing. An orchard is a great home for Pigs and Wild Boar who keep them tidy with their rooting and eating the surplus apples. We only ever used a few of the apples for ourselves and the Horses. Last year we were able to crush some and feed to the Emu. The Badgers make a meal of the windfalls but there are still a great amount that are left to rot on the ground.
Unfortunately once the Wild Boar had learnt how to get out of the orchard there was no way of keeping them in. They rooted up our pastures and on a few occasions they made their way to the Village, that didn’t go down very well with one of our neighbours who’s garden they rooted up. The rooting wasn’t that bad, just a very newly dug area that had been just planted. None of the plants were damaged until our neighbour decided to throw a wobbly and picked one of the plants up and threw it on the ground protesting that it was ruined. I couldn’t resist telling them it was now. So the Wild Boar had to go. Contrary to what you may hear about Wild Boar they are no more dangerous than any other type of pig. I found them more placid than other pigs and we found them a pleasure to keep.
The Orchard without the Wild Boar is now overgrown with weeds and looks an eyesore so I have decided to use the Orchard for what it was intended and make cider. Better still being that October is not one of our busier months we are going to offer cider making holidays. Watch out Diane, Vicky, John and David, and of course Margaret and Marie, regulars to Denbury I have some work for you. Mind you drinking all you can and taking a gallon or more home with you will make it worth while.
We have a small Barn that will be ideal for the Cider making and I have purchased an Antique Cider Press. Trouble is it is in France. Takes some believing that I have to drive to France to purchase a Cider Press when we live in Somerset
the home of Cider. The Press I have purchased is a lot nicer than the traditional Somerset Presses and will fit well into our Barn. Those I have seen locally, and believe me they are very hard to find are being sold for stupid money. In the main they are very big and in very poor condition. They will need to be kept outside because of their size. Not a good idea to be making Cider in the Autumn outside. Today I had four very large wooden Brandy barrels delivered for storing the Cider when made. That of course if there is any left to store.
We have an old Cider Orchard at Denbury. I suppose you could count the number of trees in the orchard on two hands. The trees are old. In the 18 years we have been at Denbury we have done nothing to them, but they always produce a great amount of apples.
Until about three or four years ago the orchard was the home of the Wild Boar we kept until they started to dig their escape under the fencing. An orchard is a great home for Pigs and Wild Boar who keep them tidy with their rooting and eating the surplus apples. We only ever used a few of for ourselves and the Horses. Last year we were able to crush some and feed them to the Emu. The Badgers make a meal of the windfalls but there are still a great amount that are left to rot on the ground.
Unfortunately once the Wild Boar had learnt how to get out of the orchard there was no way of keeping them in. They rooted up our pastures and on a few occasions they made their way to the Village, that didn’t go down very well with one of our neighbours who’s garden they rooted up. The rooting wasn’t that bad, just a very newly dug area that had been just planted. None of the plants were damaged until our neighbour decided to throw a wobbly and picked one of the plants up and threw it on the ground protesting that it was ruined. I couldn’t resist telling them it was now. So the Wild Boar had to go. Contrary to what you may hear about Wild Boar they are no more dangerous than any other type of pig. I found them more placid than other pigs and we found them a pleasure to keep.
The Orchard without the Wild Boar is now overgrown with weeds and looks an eyesore so I have decided to use the Orchard for what it was intended and make cider. Better still being that October is not one of our busier months we are going to offer cider making holidays. Watch out Diane, Vicky, John and David, and of course Margaret and Marie, regulars to Denbury I have some work for you. Mind you drinking all you can and taking a gallon or more home with you will make it worth while.
We have a small Barn that will be ideal for the Cider making and I have purchased an Antique Cider Press. Trouble is it is in France. Takes some believing that I have to drive to France to purchase a Cider Press when we live in Somerset
the home of Cider. The Press I have purchased is a lot nicer than the traditional Somerset Presses and will fit well into our Barn. Those I have seen locally and they are very hard to find are being sold for stupid money. In the main they are very big and in very poor condition. They will need to be kept outside because of their size. Not a good idea to be making Cider in the Autumn outside. Today I had four very large wooden Brandy barrels delivered for storing the Cider when made. That of course if there is any left to store.
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.
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 there 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.
The new webcam is of a Robins nest with five eggs in it. The Robin started to sit the eggs today. The nest has been built in a new kitchen cabinet carcass that has been in the building for three years. We have never got round to finish converting to a cottage, so I reckon the Robin thought that there was a good chance that she would not be disturbed. The is not the best image we have shown but unfortunately the Robin decided to nest in between two shelves that are not six inches apart and the space is quite dark, so I have needed to use a very small spy type camera. We have shown a Robin nest before, about two years ago. The Bird had nested deep into a stack of hay bales but some how near to hatching a Magpie raided the nest. You can never be sure but this nest seems a lot safer in the place it has been built.
The Swans and Canadian Gander are just about putting up with each other. One day the Gander will be intimidating the three Swans, the next day it is the other way round. You would think with the difference in sizes and that there are three Swans that the Swans would have the upper hand but the Gander wont let them take liberties. I should think that when the Goslings hatch there could well be some fireworks. I am a little concerned about the times the Goose leaves the nest. I cant remember the eggs being left for so long in previous years and it is still quite cold.
We still only have two Emu Chicks. There are still 40 to 50 eggs in the incubator so we may be lucky and get some more. We did let people have about a 100 eggs from us and there has been up to a 75% hatch rate so there is nothing wrong with the egg fertility. It doesn’t look to promising with the Emu who are sitting eggs in the Emu Field, I think most have gone well over their time. Our Rhea are now laying regularly so we will start to incubate some of their eggs once we have enough to incubate.
The Sheep that we were unable to catch a the end of last year have been causing themselves a nuisance with our neighbours so we had to get Alex our Sheep Shearer with his Dog Meg to get them in for us. Trouble was they had to go into the Field that Edwin now lives. Meg was very wary to go into the Field, and Alex having never seen an Emu before wasn’t even with my assurance as to his safety to keen. Well I have not laughed so much in a long time for Edwin decided that at full speed and Emu really can motor along he was going to chase Meg. Alex must have thought I have not told the truth about his safety for he was continually looking over his shoulder in concern. They were both well pleased to be out of the Field. The Sheep with Ewys help were not to easy to round up and we only managed to get five of the nine into the Barn, Ewy taking herself and three other Ewes in a different direction. Alex was meant to return but we haven’t seen him. It could well be that he is concerned for his safety. The way Edwin played up I cant blame him. I hope Alex didn’t hear me laugh.
You have probably notice that the Rats at the Badger feeding places have gone. Cant say that I miss them. Those on the main Badger feeding area must have died through the cold in the Winter. I managed to get rid of those in the lower area.
In about another two weeks time the 1st of May the Horses go out for the Summer. It has been a hard Winter at Denbury. A lot colder and wetter than I can remember before. Having the Emu, Rhea and Swans increased our workload that made it difficult to do a regular Diary. Once the Horses go out there will be less work to do and I will do a Diary more often.
The Rhea have been mating for a few weeks now and today We found our first Rhea egg, it is slightly smaller than a Emu egg and is white in colour where an Emu egg is a dark green colour.
Friday has now got a play mate, i went to have a look in the incubator this morning and there was a half open egg with legs dangling from the bottom. I pulled the egg apart and there was a baby Emu tweeting away. He/she is now named Easter.
Hi Everyone Vicky here again.
Can anyone remember Mr Farmer mentioning on the diary that he had a power cut when Julia and Chris were holidaying here at Denbury in February? He thought that he had lost all the fertile Emu eggs that were in the incubator at the time. On the 1st of April one of the eggs hatched to Mr Farmers delight, and we have been looking after the baby Emu, as he/she is the only Emu that has hatched so far he/she was lonley so i bought a teddy bear and he/she now cuddles upto it to sleep. Mr Farmer has named the Emu “Friday” as he/she hatched the day before Good Friday. We don’t know what sex Friday is the only way to tell is by having a blood test. I have put some photos of Friday on my Flickr.
Thank you all for your lovely comments about the diaries i have written while here at Denbury, this will be the last diary while i’m at Denbury this time as i’m off home tomorrow.
Take care all and HAPPY EASTER!!!
Hi Everyone Vicky here again.
It looks like the canada geese have started sitting on the eggs she has laid on the island. They should hatch in approximately 28 days, so we will have to keep reminding Mr Farmer when the 28 days is up which will be around the 26th of April.
Did Anyone see the 11 Red Deer in the valley last night? i definitely saw 2 Stags that were clashing antlers, one of those stags only had one antler, i can only suspect that he is shedding his antlers as they do at this time of the year allowing them to grow new ones for rutting this year. The remainder of the group could possibly of been young males or males that have already lost their antlers, as Red Deer spend most of the year in single-sex groups apart from the rutting season.
Some of you have asked about Rupert the Emu. He is doing very well, his wounds are healing nicely and has got a very good appetite.
There has been no more new lambs born in the barn, but one more new lamb has been born in the field so far this week.
I forgot to mention on the diary on friday that after i had been helping Mr Farmer feed the animals i returned to the cottage and to my suprise i saw a Male Sparrowhawk sitting on the guttering of the barn less than 15 feet in front of me. I took some photo’s, which i have put on my flickr.
Hope you have enjoyed my diary!
Hi Everyone Vicky here again.
When Mr Farmer went to feed the Emus last week, he did a head count as he always does, he realised that there was one Emu missing. after searching around the farm he found the missing Emu in a different field. The Emu was very ill and couldn’t even stand, he may well of been attacked. Mr Farmer Carried the Emu into the stable where he was fed and nurtured back to health. He is now living in the field with Branston (a horse). Mr Farmer has named him Rupert and he is very friendly taking food from my hand.
On Monday Mr Farmer spared a few minutes to take us around the bottom lake to show us the fish scales which the otter had left. While round the lake Mr Farmer spotted Toads mating, which i have taken some photos of.
On Tuesday Morning we were delighted by the arrival of 3 new lambs. One lamb was born in the barn and is Mr Farmers first little girl this year, she has taking a liking to laying in the food trough. Twins lambs have been born in the field but she keeps taking them into the woods.
Also another suprise were the first two Swallows to arrive back at Denbury.
I have put photos of Rupert, Toads and Lambs on to my flickr.
Hope you have enjoyed my diary!