Elsie, if you like the Sheep that much, how many do you want? We are going to keep a few, not sure which one yet. It is a difficult decision. It would be nice to keep the Portlands as they are a rare breed and they normally only have one lamb and most of them have not escaped. The Texals and Cross Bred were hand reared by a Child whose Father was once the Curator at Cricket St Thomas, they are very friendly but they have escaped, although if I shake a feed bag they will come back. Mind you as they will not be going for slaughter, they could be here for a good while, with the Foot and Mouth restrictions that are in force.
I am pleased that some of you saw the Kingfisher this afternoon. I hadn’t seen it for over a week, and was beginning to think that it had moved away from the lake. There are not as many Birds using the feeders either. I have not seen a Greater Spotted Woodpecker for getting on for six weeks, we see and hear the Green Woodpecker every day, but they don’t use the feeders. I did see one earlier in the year on one of the feeders, but that was only once. This time of year there is a lot of seed and berries about for the Bird. Earlier in the year I thought that there were not going to be any Blackberries, they flowered very early without any fruit forming. I got that one wrong, there are now plenty of fruit on the bushes.
There are no Squirrel using the feeders at all, we can see them in the trees taking all the Hazel Nuts. With the amount that were on the trees, we thought that we may have have got some this year, but the Squirrels seem to have had most of them, even before they have ripened. Most years we do manage to get Walnuts. As soon as there is a windy day you can be sure that there will be lots on the ground to pick up. By the look of it the Squirrels have had them this year, as we haven’t really had any windy days, the walnuts are falling from the trees slowly giving the Squirrels time to hide them away. We also get a lot of Chestnuts on the farm, but in all time we have been at Denbury we have never had any that were worth eating. To get to the nut is a painful experience, more so when they are so small that you could do nothing with them.
I am getting very annoyed with the unreliable weather forecasts, It is absolutely tipping it down here tonight. The forecast was maybe a shower. Because of the forecast we left Breeze without a rug, if it continues as hard as it is we will have to get her in. It would be interesting, if a few of you may try out an experiment, to see how reliable the forecasts are over the Country. It would be interesting if a number of you could from tomorrow, for about two weeks write down what weather was forecast for your areas including my area, either from the forecast on the BBC TV, or the Internet from the BBC or Met Office websites, some sites you can also put your postcodes in. Although don’t put your postcode on the forum , just your area. The following night let us know what the forecast was, and how accurate it was. If it proves that the forecast are unreliable, I will ask the BBC and the Met Office for their comments.