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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.

Sting Ray Hull Aquarium, Betty Canada

I believe this is a puffer fish, Hull Aquarium. Betty Canada

Feeding frenzy, Hull Aquarium. Betty Canada

Large Angel fish, Hull aquarium. Betty Canada

Wall of haberdashery store, beamish. Betty Canada

For over a week we have been concreting a large area of our Farm Yard. It has meant keeping the Chicken, Geese and Dennis in some days when the concrete was being laid. Yesterday and today were the main two days and to make sure that the concrete was not trod on we kept the Horses stabled just in case although unlikely they got out.

Although the weather has been crap with the rain we have been getting, the rain had not spoilt the concrete until this morning when it absolutely poured down and it spoilt a few areas. There was not a lot we could do about it as the the area was to large to lean over and smooth it off. We went in for a quick drink and on returning there were a long line of what looked like Dove prints. Worse still I went to feed the Emu and the Peacock passed me on the drive. I wasn’t that concerned as the Peacock always goes the same way on his way home, stopping by the Chicken houses where he finds the Chicken feed. Not today, when I got back to the concrete he had walked all over it. I couldn’t believe my eyes at seeing his foot prints in the still wet concrete.

This morning Thornton also stepped on yesterdays laid concrete leaving just one footprint. He is not going to be very happy tonight as we have shut him in the Barn next to the other Sheep just in case it happens again.

We put 20 Emu eggs in the incubator last night. We found that the Emu had laid another 4 eggs by Monday after collecting them on Saturday. The Temperature of 36.5c and the humidity level was good for nearly 24 hours so we decided to take a chance as we were unsure of the age of all of the eggs. The quicker we got them in the incubator the better it would be. Now we will have to wait 55 days to see how many will hatch. We will try to candle them in a couple of weeks time. Trouble is the eggs are very dark and the candle lamp we now have is not strong enough to see inside the eggs. When we kept Ostriches I made a candler for those eggs as small candlers did not work. I reckon I will need to make another with a very strong halogen bulb to have any chance of checking the eggs.

Barbara in a cold South Staffs, At this time of the year the Badger don’t feed a much as they do at other times. They live on their fat built up over the rest of the year. Also with the rain we have been getting the ground is very soft, making it easy for the Badgers to dig the ground for their favorite food of worms. I saw some Badgers spread over the night feeding on the bread and peanuts. If we get bad frosts for prolonged periods the Badgers will start feeding more on the bread and peanuts.

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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.

Betty save the day by sending in over 60 photographs.

Chicken at our picnic table in Beamish Betty Canada.

Hay Rick at Beamish, is that a weather vane on top? Betty Canada.

Shark Hull Aquarium Betty Canada.

Emu eggs that I found.

Emu egg incubator warming up.

Teach me to keep my eyes open. At least every other day I have been walking all over the Emu Field looking for any eggs that they have laid since I found one a few weeks back. yesterday afternoon I walked the Field again and came across a nest tucked away in the far right hand corner of the Field partly covered with grass. How I missed the nest I will never know as there were 20 eggs in the nest. Trouble is that I don’t know how old the eggs are. You can keep the eggs for about 14 days before incubating them but some that I found may be a lot older. By the look of the eggs I would think that the eggs were laid by 3 or 4 different Emu.

Today we have been getting the incubator ready for the eggs. I was waiting for a couple more eggs before cleaning the incubator ready to set the eggs. It will need to be running for a couple of day to make sure that it is working properly as we have only just got the incubator and I am not to sure how they work yet. I cant complain as I was starting to think that we may not get many eggs this year after the moving the bird only six weeks ago.

Asbo has been doing his job. We started to incubate some of the eggs he has fertilised earlier this week. On checking them last night a lot of the eggs are fertile so in just over two weeks we will start hatching the eggs on the webcam. Just a bit shorter than the time that the Emu eggs will take to incubate of 56 days.

Thornton has been coming in a lot more. I think it may be something to do with the weather. The only time he doesn’t come in is when it is raining at the time he normally knocks on the door to come in, then he will spend the night in the barn with some of the other Sheep. Believe me Thorbton really does knock on the door. Normally three times. At times when I need to knocked on the Cottages doors they are not answered as people think that it is Thornton who is knocking.

Dennis has got very big. If it wasn’t that he is a pet he would be just about be the size of a Turkey that we would buy for Christmas, saving a lot of money. We have never eaten any of the animals that we have kept at Denbury. Ostrich meat is very tasty and low in cholesterol but after working with them we couldn’t eat any. The same with Wild Boar. I use to give the Piglets away once they were weaned. We just may just have one of our Lambs next year. We usually send them to Market but the last time that I put any in to be sold they only fetched a small amount and after the commissions I was sent an invoice. This year we have sent three to the abattoir, partly because of the little we got but also because we do not like to see the stress that the animals go through when sent to Market, we also never know just how far they will travel before getting to their final destination. Two that we had slaughtered were sold to two of our Holiday Guests,and one to friends. Although the Lambs didn’t look that big the Butcher said that they were very well finished and the meat did look very good. All three people who had them said the the meat tasted very good. Two said it was the best that they had ever eaten.

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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 two photographs left.

Ferns unfolding, Betty Canada.

Niagara Falls, Betty Canada.

Ice looks like a whale, Betty Canada.

Closeup of falls Ice Feb 08, Betty Canada.

Sunny reflections of winter, Betty Canada.

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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.

We are still very short of photographs.

Chickens silkies? Betty Canada

Beautiful clouds. Betty Canada

Unusual cloud pattern from my back window. Betty Canada

Our local river. Betty Canada

Bleeding Heart. Betty Canada

The continuous rain that we are getting is starting to concern me about the Canada Geese nesting on the Lake at Denbury next Spring. The intention was to put in another wildlife pond in the bottom half of the Horse Field. Natural springs in the bottom of the Field make it very wet. As much as we have tried to drain the area with drainage pipes, that we had buried in to the ground nearly 10 years ago, it is still lies very wet. So the natural springs make it an ideal spot for another Pond. We arranged for a local building contractor to start to dig the new Pond on the 14th of September. They never turned up to do the job on that and after nearly a month of empty promises and crap of when they would start, and why they could not do on the dates promised, and not even answering our phone calls in the end we had to find another contractor. Trouble was a week before they were due to start this prolonged spell of rain started. You can not move heavy machinery on wet ground, especially when digging a pond dig. The machinery will make the Fields extremely muddy scar the ground for years.

Our only hope of digging the Pond is if we get a long spell of frost over the Winter. We wont be able to do any digging in the Spring as the grass we be starting to grow for the Horses to graze on. Without the new Pond there will be little chance of the Geese retuning to Denbury to nest as they will fight with the Swans. we had intended to move the Swans onto the new Pond for the few months that the Geese were on the Lake. We may have even had the Geese land on the new Pond as that would also have been a good nesting area as we had intended to have an Island in it.

As the Black Swans nest in the Winter the Lake would have had interest all through the year. Although we have noticed that the Lake has come to life since the Black Swans arrived. The amount of Wildfowl using the Lake since they come has increased. Although there has always been Coots and Moorhens on the Lake we rarely saw them. Now when we feed the Swans they hang about for feed. We get the odd pair of Mallards nesting in the Spring and Summer, and although many land as soon as we went to the Lake they flew off. In the Winter we never saw Mallards, this year there are 5 pairs that look as if they might stay, with more flying in for short periods during the day. I may be wrong and the Geese will come back if we have only got the Lake for them to land on. It is possible as the Black Swans unlike other species of Swan will live and nest in groups.

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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.

rose, Betty Canada

rose, Betty Canada

hydrangea, Betty Canada

hibiscus. Betty Canada

Petting zoo near us chickens type unknown. Betty Canada

The unknown chicken sent in by Betty is a Silver Laced Wyandotte. We have a breeding trio at Denbury that with other types of Chicken we are going to breed next year. Vicky has taken a number of photographs that I will show on the Photo Page some time this week.

Duck race cancelled because of high rive

DURHAM’S annual duck race has fallen foul of the weather after concerns were raised about the height of the River Wear.

Organisers announced they would have to cancel the event at 12.30pm today after the river rose by two feet overnight – the event has been rescheduled for Sunday December 6.

The Grand Durham Duck Race, organised by Durham University Charities Kommittee, was to have seen 20,000 rubber ducks released from Elvet Bridge in a race down the Wear to Kingsgate Bridge, with a

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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.

Pied Turkey

The Male cardinal, one of the joys of winter BETTY CANADA

Do I really want to go out and play BETTY CANADA

Looks lovely from indoors! BETTY CANADA

Winter welcome in Canada BETTY CANADA

The picture of a Pied Turkey was taken from the Internet to show you what our new editions to Denbury will look like when they are mature. We have seven of the Pied Turkey that are about ten weeks old, that is about the same age as Dennis our pet Turkey. They were transported from North Wales, arriving here yesterday. They came from a remote farm. By the nervous way they were acting they are not use to people. They will soon quieten down once they get use to the different noises. The intention is to breed from what we have. Looking at them we reckon that there are two Stags and three Hens. I will take a photograph of them for the photo page in a day or two.

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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.

Flowers from our garden in Canada BETTY CANADA

Yes wo do have morris dancers and yes they do go to the pub straight after BETTY CANADA

Our latest fire truck! BETTY CANADA
Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Mounties at our July 1st Canada Day parade BETTY CANADA

The Male cardinal, one of the joys of winter BETTY CANADA

The Barn Owls have stopped eating the food that we have been putting in the mobile aviary. We have not seen or heard them returning, so it could be that they have found some where safe to stay. They could be returning to the aviary and we have missed them or they may have flown to a different area. In a week or so I will check around our Farm building to see if I can find any sign of them at Denbury.

I keep trying to find the time to clear a view from the camera to the bird feeder that some of you have asked to be put on the webcam. The view is being stopped by brambles. I normally cut them back with a strimmer, but the two that I have are not working that well and wont do the job. I will need to break them down with a stick as soon as I get the time.

The Sheep are being a nuisance again. The seed potatoes in our neighbours field on the other side of the Wood have been harvested, so they have decided to go back to the field as it is being sown with a new crop. The Farm is not best pleased with me. We have managed to get twelve of them into one of the Barns but the rest are being a bit elusive. Ewy is not helping as every time we try to move them into the direction of the Barn she is the first to start running in the opposite direction causing the rest to follow. As soon as we can pen them all in the Barn I will wean the Lambs from the Ewes and send the Lambs to market. With a lot of the Sheep in the Barn, Thornton has started to be a Dog again. He has for the past few days been coming into the Farm House every night.

The price of cereals have halved from what they were last year. See if the Supermarkets and Bakers reduce the price of bread. I bet not. All animal feed including pet food will have cereal in them so they should also go down in price. Your breakfast cereals will cost a lot less to produce. With the wet summer most root crops will have grown well. Potatoes would have done particularly well. By rights food should start to be less. Let see if it happens.

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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.

THE BADGER WILL BE FED AT 7.15PM FROM TOMORROW (MONDAY)

Allium BETTY CANADA

Lupins thrive in ouir garden BETTY CANADA

Small standard lilac bush BETTY CANADA

Sweet woodruff, June 09 BETTY CANADA

Lily of the valley. May 09 BETTY CANADA

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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.

Have you guessed yet that lupins are my favourite flower BETTY CANADA

More lupins BETTY CANADA

Yet more lupins BETTY CANADA

Yes I even managed to grow 3 little bluebells May 09 BETTY CANADA

Miniature standard lilac May 09 BETTY CANADA

The Barn Owls are being released this evening. I would think that it will be about 7.10pm The Owls will be encouraged into their box inside the mobile aviary with a piece of sponge put into the hole with a string attached to the sponge leading to the outside of the aviary. This to stop the Owls from panicking whilst the top of the mobile aviary is lifted up. When the top is lifted the sponge will be removed by pulling the string allowing the Owls to find their way out of the aviary. They should return to the mobile aviary for a few days. Hopefully they will find a barn that they will roost in over the Winter. There is a chance that they may stay close to Denbury, but they may make a home further away. I have put a larger infra-red lamp up this afternoon, so hopefully we should be able to see more.

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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.

Tree growing on a rock in Gorge BETTY CANADA

Fern in a rock at Gorge, amazineg where things will grow BETTY CANADA

River to gorge at lake placid 2 BETTY CANADA

River to gorge at Lake Placid New York

Gorge near Lake Placid New York May 08 BETTY CANADA