Categories
webcams

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

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

We have lots of photographs for the Photo Page. I thought you would find Julia photographs of interest whilst on her stay at Denbury.

The Peacock looking through the cottage window; Julia.

Old piece of honeycomb in dead tree trunk in the woods; Julia.

Quarry in the woods; Julia.

Thornton thinking about taking a jump – he eventually walked around this
one!; Julia.

Lime Kiln in the woods; Julia.

I haven’t really had the time to walk the Wood as I really needed to do since I purchased it. Although the Wood joins our Fields I never have looked around it properly in fifteen years that we have lived here, so taking Julia and Chris for a look around gave me the opportunity to see a little more of it. For sure both will sleep well tonight after the walk.

It will take a few visits for me to take in all there is in the Wood. With the two Quarries and Lime Kiln I find it very interesting. It is also very undulating that makes it even more interesting and will make a very good nature walk. Today we found a couple of Deer foot prints and heard a Woodpecker hammering a tree.

Just before I moved into Denbury I got lost in the Wood. It was late one afternoon. I had gone to look over Denbury and decided to walk in part of our Wood. I decided to keep walking to see where the Wood finished. Some how I had managed to get into a part of the Wood where I was unable to see what way to get out. I was lost and it was starting to get dark. I wasn’t very happy to be in the situation that I was in, even less so when I came face to face with a dead Badgers head that I purposely been place in a fork of a tree at face height. I cant imagine why it had been put there. I went in one direction to get out of the Wood but there seemed to be no end and it was getting darker. I needed to make a decision to walk on way until I reached a road. Eventually when I was nearly unable to see as it was so dark I came to the edge of the Wood that went into a Field. I still could not see a road but kept walking. Eventually I saw the light of a House and made my way towards it. On entering the driveway of the house to find out where I was I heard a familiar voice from an open window. The voice turned out to be of a friend who I did not realise had move to the area. I had walked a good distance from Denbury and was grateful for the lift back.

Categories
webcams

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

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

These five photographs were all taken in central Wisconsin , near Wonewoc, while riding our bikes on the

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number eleven.

2 Barn Owls aged 22 weeks they were called Dawn and Dusk. Jan.

I took these photos today (21st August) at Cricket St Thomas, I wondered which of the Reindeer would be going to Denbury? The Monkey we thought was pregnant and fed up! and the Lemurs are just so laid back. Rose W’canton.

The Reindeer that are coming to Denbury are the Male with the very big antlers, That I could not mistake, and it looks like the female right in the middle. We are also hoping to buy another female. We know where we can get one from but there are various places in the UK that have movement restrictions because of Blue Tongue disease.

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number six, all sent in by Lynne.

ANOTHER SQUIRREL !! LYNNE

HOT AIR BALLOON ABOVE CHATSWORTH HOUSE DERBYSHIRE LYNNE

MILL STONES NEAR HATHERSAGE DERBYSHIRE LYNNE

NUTHATCH IN MY GARDEN LYNNE

MY TAME RESIDENT ROBIN LYNNE

Sorry I forgot to update the Photo page last night. Saturdays being the holiday change over day a Denbury, we are busy and it wasn’t until late last night that I realised.

I haven’t checked the new Squirrel feeder that we have put up for the first part of the Squirrel obstacle course to see if it being used, but from what I can see from the webcam it does look as if it may have started to be used. Trouble is the Buzzards seem to have found it to as you may have seen on the webcam at about 1.pm today. It looks as if it is one of this years young and it is very well marked. It must be the one that one of our Holiday Guests from last week had seen and mistakenly taken as an Osprey. As much as it would be great to have an Osprey at Denbury I don’t think that our Fish in our Lake would be to thrilled about it, and we wouldn’t be best pleased to lose any of our Fish.

As well as Wildlife Holidays we have started Fishing Holidays at Denbury. I am not a great fan of the sport but we need to have Holiday guests for as many weeks as we can through the year and fishing is helping. We stocked our lake just over seven years ago with quite small fish consisting of Mirror and Crucian Carp, Tench, Roach and Rudd. We had seen large Fish swimming around the Kingfisher branch but it wasn’t until this year that we knew just how big they had grown. Earlier in the year Carp up to about 10lb had been fished, and in July and August Carp up to 20lb had been caught with many between 8lb to 13lb. It is now even more important to keep the Herons and Otters away from the Lake. That is the benefit of people fishing. The Heron or Otters wont come to the Lake if there are any people around the Lake. We are going to have to fence to stop Otters or Mink. The posts are in place when we electric fenced the area to stop the Otters a few years back. We will be able to use those posts to put wire fencing up, with an electric fence wire at the top. With the fencing in place it will also protect the Black Swans when they arrive next month, and the Geese, if any come next year.

Categories
webcams

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo page from Vicky. There will be five from Lynne tomorrow.

Sheep eating the fresh cut grass at Denbury. Vicky.

Deer in the valley at Denbury. Vicky.

Ewy and the Lambs when she came down to outside the Denbury. Vicky.

Head of the Peacock at Denbury. Vicky.

Ewy and the Lambs when she came down to outside the cottages at Denbury. Vicky.

I should think that anyone who has seen the Goslings on the Lake must as been as, well I really don’t know what words to use, shocked, surprised, flabbergasted I really cant believe it, there has got to be some other explanation. Going by the size I can see on the webcam they look the same Goslings that went missing, and for sure the nearest Lake to the Farm is well over a mile away.

This morning one of our Holiday guest told us that the Goose had returned. I went to feed her this afternoon at about 2.pm. There was no sign of any other Geese or Goslings on the Lake. After I had returned to the Farm House there was an almighty commotion as a Goose attempted to land in the Farm Yard, it was being chased away by a number of Doves. It is starting to sound bizarre to me, and I am here. Thinking that it was the Goose and she was flying towards the Lake I turned the Lake webcam on to watch her landing. I left my private view of the Lake on, and pair of Geese came into view, and then two Goslings came into view, I then put the webcams on and on the near Lake webcam I saw another Gosling. I returned to the Lake. When I saw the Goslings close up it was obvious by the slightly smaller size than those that went missing.

Where this new family has come from I have no idea, other than it is the other pair of Geese that were coming and going as the first pair were incubating their eggs. They must have nested very close by. What ever it would not have been very far away, maybe in the small pond next to the large Lake, and they had stayed well hidden, but surly we would have seen them. There were a number of our Holiday Guest fishing the Lake last week, they didn’t say they had seen any Geese. The only other place that they may have nested is in our fields across the lane, at the end of our drive. The Stream passes in those fields, the grass is very high in the first one, they could have stayed well hidden there.

We only removed the electric fencing two days ago. We will put it back up and take other measures to try to protect them and do all we can to try to keep them from being taken as the last family were, but I don’t think that they will survive, what ever we do.

A pair of Tufted Duck have also come on to the lake. They have been here for three days. One of the Moorhens doesn’t seem best pleased to have them as company. I hope he doesn’t frighten them away.

Categories
webcams

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo page, all sent in by Vicky. There will be five from Lynne tomorrow.

Badger taken at Denbury. Vicky.

Peacock at Denbury. Vicky.

Badgers taken at Denbury. Vicky.

Willow and Gypsy at the horse field gate. Vicky.

Great Spotted Woodpecker at Denbury. Vicky.

All the Horses are now in the main Horse field to run together, other than Breeze who has been put in an electric fenced area in the field until we believe that the Mares and Breeze will get on together. We know as Emmi is new to the herd, and has never run with all of the Horse, that when we let Breeze out of the fenced area there will be a bit of running around and bickering to sort out the pecking order. Those now running together have all settled down with each other. Emmi is making sure that Willow and Gypsy are keeping their distance from the Foals. In a short time Emmi will allow them to get nearer and the Foals will want to be with the younger Fillies.

As the weather has warmed up we have started to leave all of the Horses out of a night bringing them in for a short time in the mornings and evenings for their feed. Now that they are being left out they let us know when they are ready to go back out. They also know what time we are meant to bring them in as most times they are waiting at the gate. We would hope for them to be out until the Autumn, only bringing them in if the weather is continuously bad. With the Horses being out we don’t have to muck out the stables very often, that really does make a change.

The Robin nesting outside of our kitchen door doesn’t seem to be sitting on her eggs as much as she should. I don’t think that it is us going in and out of the Farm House that is disturbing her or she would not have chosen the place to nest in the first place.

Categories
webcams

Today s photographs starting from number eleven were taken by…

Today’s photographs starting from number eleven were taken by Vicky and David, two of this weeks holiday guests staying in the cottages at Denbury Farm. There are still various dates available during June and July for holidays at the Farm.

Branston sharing his food with a lamb at Denbury. Vicky.

Lady and her Foal. Vicky.

Train at Minehead station. David.

Lady’s foal taken at Denbury. David.

The goslings at Denbury. David.

Here are a couple of news items sent in bu Elsie over the past couple of weeks.

Here is their message …

Whatever next, Karen would love this. Elsie.

Swans cause a flap for rush-hour drivers

RUSH-hour traffic was brought to a standstill when two swans and their cygnets wandered across a busy road.

Passers-by rushed to stop cars as the six birds tried to cross the busy Claremont Road roundabout in Newcastle city centre today.

Vehicles on the sliproad for the city’s central motorway were stopped in both directions for several minutes.

The swans were ushered in the direction of nearby Leazes Park. and once there they headed for the parks lake.

Radio producer Steve Drayton, 47, was cycling to work when he saw the swans.

“I saw the traffic backed up in all directions. At first I thought there had been an accident then I saw the swans,” he said.

“They were being ushered across the road by two ladies from the roundabout where it seems they had roosted for the night.

“But they were heading for a slip road so I jumped off my bike and helped steer them back towards the park.”

Ural be expecting me…

LIFE’S a hoot at an owl sanctuary in the region after the arrival of a long-awaited addition.

Ural owls Ursula and Unwin have been trying for three years to start a family.

Staff at the Kirkleatham Owl Centre, near Redcar, east Cleveland, decided to help out this year and put the clutch of eggs laid by Ursula in an incubator.

After a month-long incubation, the proud parents have a son.

Centre manager Craig Wesson said: “Ursula and Unwin have been attempting to breed without success for the past three years, so this year we decided to place the eggs in our incubator to check that they were fertile or discover why they were not hatching. After a month-long incubation, our first Ural owl hatched.”

In the wild, the brown and ash greycoloured Urals are a bird of the northern forests and are found from Europe to Japan.

Categories
webcams

There are four new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are four new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number one. We have very few photographs left.

Smuggler the Horse that we brought down from the paddock when Sonny went last week. Photograph taken by Vicky who with her Mum Dad and Boyfriend are on holiday at Denbury this week.

Ewy by the Horse field gate. Again taken by Vicky.

Cygnet from Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset. Lisa, Eastleigh, Hants.

Butterfly. Anjela Connecticut

Chapel built into the rock in Sedona Arizona. Anjela Connecticut.

We have started to break Smuggler so that he can be a riding Horse. He is being kept in Arnie and Breezes stable block. We are giving him a lot a attention, one thing that he hasn’t had for a few years, when he was in the paddock with Sonny. For all the lack of attention that he has missed he is a very kind Horse.

Smuggler was born at Denbury a little over four years ago. When he was born he belonged to some one else who was a Tenant on the Farm. When the Tenant move out he sent Smuggler to another Horse livery yard. As he didn’t pay for the livery, Smuggler was left out in the Winter without being rugged or given any feed other than Hay. He was only about nine months old, being a thoroughbred he did need a lot more care than he was given. The following Spring I purchased Smuggler and he came back to Denbury.

I delivered Smuggler when he was born. Smuggler was his Mother first Foal and initially she was not very interested in him. I had to milk the Colostrum off of his Mother and bottle feed Smuggler. After a few days of persevering with holding Smuggler on to his Mother udder, she eventually accepted him. So Smuggler is a little special to us.

With Smugglers breeding he should make a very good jumping Horse. After breaking him to the saddle we will start to get him to jump on a lunge line in the sand school. Once jumping we will then make a decision on his future. If he is good at jumping he will be wasted at Denbury and we will have to decide if to sell him or find a rider who would want to compete with him in either eventing or show jumping. We will have to wait and see, but we will show him working from time to time when he is being broken.

Categories
webcams

Over the past two days we have had lots of…

Over the past two days we have had lots of new photographs emailed to us. It may take a while for them to be put on the Photo page, but all will be. Today’s start from number one.

Sorry Lynne, I somehow forgot to put your name to your photographs.

Picture 1 is of Marley in our suitcase. We were packing getting ready to leave for Jamaica on our vacation and Marley thought if he would sneak in our suitcase he would be able to go with us. Needless to say, he didn’t get to go. Karen, Florida (USA)

Cobwebs in the garden in the autumn.
A taste of spring !! Cherry blossom on a nearby road to. The picture of the heron was taken through my back window in the rain he was eyeing up my fish in the pond for breakfast !! Lynne, Sheffield.

Here is another one that my grandson sent to me of a baby mouse, taken with his phone. Pat(H)

We have had our fair share of rain today. The roads around the Farm are flooded, as are some of our fields. I don’t mind the rain. If we didn’t have it we would complain a lot more. I cant say that I liked the flood that we had last year. It was the first time in the fourteen years that we have been flooded at Denbury. It was the clearing up that we had to do that was a bit of a nuisance, but it had to be done and was just another days work.

We don’t really get an awful lot of rain at Denbury. A lot of the times that you may see it raining on the Valley camera, it is very fine, the camera in the valley seems to accentuate the rain. On the other cameras you have probably seen that it looks dry.

We stable the Horses in the Winter, not so much for the rain and cold but because Horses poach the fields when the ground is wet. We are letting them out more this year than we want to. That is because of Willow. If Arnie and Breeze were in the own stables, they can get exercise in the corral in front. Being that they are on Lady’s block, until we finish the corral over that side, they cant come out of the stables. Branston is free range n that side and is a Colt, so we need to turn them out in the Horse field. The corral is nearly finished. We were to do a bit of concreting today, that would have let us finish it early next week, but it was a bit to wet.

Horse dung is not good for grass, and takes a long time to break down. That is part of the reason we harrow the fields. It breaks down the Horse dung as well as getting the dead grass out. Rain like we have had today makes the dung soft and easier to breakdown. Don’t use Horse manure on your gardens, unless it is well rotted. The dung breaking down will take much more out of your soil than it will put back. Well rotted Horse manure is probably the best manure you can get. Any one holidaying at Denbury are welcome to take some of ours home. People fishing here can get a ready supply of worms once the manure is rotting. We have literally hundred of tons of manure, we will have to get it spread on the fields.

There is only one time when I do mind the rain. That is when I feed the Badgers. Both of the places that I put food down are not easy to get to as they are quite steep to get to. That an understatement, the lower feeding site is a nightmare to get to at any time. If it is or has been raining, it is outright dangerous. To access it I have to climb a very steep bank of at between thirty to forty feet. Getting up it is not that bad, a bit slippery. Coming down can be horrendous. How I haven’t broken something I don’t know. Many times I have slid down that bank so fast, if it had been a ski slope I would have won a medal. Many times I have had to have a complete change of clothing when I got back to the Farm House.

As I said at the beginning of this Diary, I really don’t mind the rain. Even in the rain Denbury is a lovely place to be. I often walk down the valley, in or after the rain, looking for animal foot prints, the Birds seem to be singing more and the fast flowing stream is always interesting.

Categories
webcams

I hope none of you who had wanted to see…

I hope none of you who had wanted to see Bliss and Misty being worked for the last time missed them being ridden. The weather was a bit grim this morning. fortunately the weathermen got it right today and it brightened up this afternoon. It didn’t rain as hard as they forecast but it was very windy, so much so that most of the leaves on the trees around the Farm House have blown off. We have a number of Acacia trees in the yard and they are completely bare.

Both Bliss and Misty worked well today. Misty was on her toes a bit. With the leaves being blown off of the trees she could see the Sheep properly, that previously the trees had obscured, they made her look a bit, so I needed to walk with her a little. We have taken a few photos of the Fillies that I will post on the website as soon as I am shown by my web man.

I must admit every time that we see the Fillies we start talking about them, about them not being here after tomorrow. We have no preferences for any of the Horses, but Bliss and Misty will be missed more than any that have left Denbury previously. Both are very kind and want to be around people which has made them very easy to work with, especially when they were being broken. What ever happens in their racing careers, both will return to Denbury to be Broodmares.

Marie asked if any one who knows Bliss and Misty will be travelling with them to France, and will they be close when stabled. They will be travelling over night, arriving in Chantilly about midday on Tuesday. There is no one spare at Denbury to travel with them. I really cant afford the time to travel there myself, but I will sometime in the week go. Bliss and Misty will be stable next to each other. The Trainer also has a double stable, that he may put them both in. I will let you know all about what happens to both Bliss and Misty over the coming months.

I was speaking to one of the UK Trainers who I had enquired about training Bliss and Misty. He never came back to me as he had lost my phone number. When I told him that I had decided to send the Fillies to France, he said that he did not blame me, as he agreed that the training fees were a lot less than in the UK and the prize money was a lot better in France. He also knew the Trainer, and had visited his training establishment. He was impressed with both. The Trainer that they are going to only trains about fifty Horses at a time, and has a good reputation.