Tag: weather

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I didn t say a lot about Woody in last…

I didn’t say a lot about Woody in last night Diary as we could only say what we all ready know about her condition. The Veterinary saw her, but not to treat her. I would say that he was a little surprised that I am prepared to keep her going for the time we have. If I had known that the weather was going to be as bad as it was I would have brought an end to her life before now.

The Veterinary when he scanned Lady, gave us a print of the scan. It is not a promise but I will try to get my webmaster to put it on the website next week. I don’t know how it will turn out, with a bit of luck it maybe OK.

The reason that I don’t leave the Kingfisher branch all day, is that I would think that it would be pretty boring to watch a branch all day in anticipation that the Kingfisher may show its self. I have another camera positioned on the branch, but I am having problems with getting the focus sharp, there may be a problem with the camera, unfortunately I have not had time to change it over.

I also want to put another camera at the back of the Badger Sett, and another lamp down the valley, so that we may be able to see more wildlife down there, of a night time. Again unfortunately there are only so many hours in a day. I have not seen the Buzzards down the valley for a couple of days. I have direct views of all of the cameras, so although you cant see them, I am able to when I am near to the monitor.

We have got the Telescope computer working and the remote control back from the observatory to the farm house. All we want now is some decent weather, and I will set it up. I cant do the alignment until it is dark. Once it is aligned I will be able to get it going. I have a CCTV monitor as my TV, it has a picture in picture facility. With the remote and my wireless computer it will be easy keep an eye on it. The last time we had the telescope going regularly, it was a pain keep on going to make sure that it was tracking properly. I wont mind doing it now with the setup I have. The Moon in in a good position at the moment, hopefully if the weather forecast is correct, it maybe working next week. Once setup we can also get the Solar telescope on the sun going.

The Holiday Cottages have CCTV monitors, so that our guests can see the farms webcams on a larger screens, mainly for watching the Badgers if they don’t fancy using the hide every night. When the sun was out a week or so ago we put the solar telescope on for them. It couldn’t be for to long as I could not control it, but they really enjoyed watching the flares. We have just purchased a couple more Telescopes for our holiday guest, who come in the Autumn and Winter months. With the days being shorter after they have seen the Badgers they will be able to watch the Sky. With all the equipment we have, and the really clear skies that we get at Denbury, it will be a great experience for those people who have never had the opportunity to use a telescope, and for the true Amateur Astronomers who want good unpolluted light conditions.

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I don t really have time to do a diary…

I don’t really have time to do a diary tonight. I have only just finished work on the farm.

We are still being lucky making our hay. If the weather carries on as it is, we should be able to bale it over the weekend.

Woody has be laying down in the field for most of the day. She hasn’t eaten her feed this evening. When we went to put the Horses out into the field, she was laid flat out in her stable, so we have kept her in for the night.

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The weather is being kind to us if it stays…

The weather is being kind to us, if it stays like it is for another three days we will be well on our way to making our hay for the winter. There is no art or cleaver way to make good hay. All you need is the right machinery and hot dry weather, and even better if you have a light wind blowing. After mowing you have to turn the grass every day with a haybob, until it is dry. A haybob is a piece of machinery with a number of wheels on it, forks or spines going vertically down from the wheel. These wheels turn very quickly and the forks or spines that touch the grass turns it over so that wet or damp grass is turned on top and also spreads it over a larger area. You need to turn the grass every day until it is completely dry. It would normally take four to five days to make hay with dry and warm weather conditions with the grass about a week from dropping it seed. This year because of the bad weather we are about four to six weeks late in making our hay. Most of the seed has dropped and the grass is a lot longer than normal. This will cause it to take longer to dry, the ground under the grass is still damp so in the morning there a quite a heavy dew on it, so that as well as drying the grass the dew also has to dry.

Once the grass it dry it has to be rowed up, in different part of the country it is sometimes known as ruing up, the hay is then baled in either big round bales, small oblong or very big square bales. I prefer the very big square bales as the hay tends to peel off easily. The big round bales are easy to move but don’t stack very well, we are making them this year. As for the small square bales, they are hard work stacking them. We made the equivalent to twelve hundred small bales last year, and we have used most of it. Because of the growth this year we will I reckon make the equivalent of sixteen hundred small bales, and it is not going to be as good as what we would normally make.

I like to make the hay with the seed about a week from dropping. With the seed still on the grass it makes a very high quality feed with a sweet smell to it, that all animals like. Horses will eat every bit of a good hay. A bad hay they will pick at, and waste a lot of it. This years grass was mowed on damp soil so the is a little bit of soil on it. We are hoping that when the grass is turned when it is nearly dry the soil will be shaken off. If it is not the hay is liable to pretty awful.

If we get a spell of rain on the grass when the hay is nearly made, and the forecast looks bad, we will try to make haylage. Haylage is grass that is still a little damp. It has to be baled and wrapped in plastic to stop it going mouldy. Haylage made right is a very good feed and Horses really do enjoy it. But making it can be a bit hit and miss. But at least we are making something.

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As much as I do not like taking chances with…

As much as I do not like taking chances with the making of our hay, I don’t think that this year I have much of a choice. The forecast was rain today, but it has stayed dry. It has been dry since last Thursday afternoon, if the weather forecast hadn’t said that we would have had showers, we would have nearly had made our hay by now. What do they pay these people for. Many occupations rely on accurate weather forecasting. We really don’t get it.

We need five or six days to make hay. Checking on the forecast, other than Friday, from tomorrow we have a window of about ten days of no rain or showers. On that forecast we should be alright.

I was speaking to a person from the WWT today about the Kingfisher. I don’t know to much about them. By all accounts they migrate, not very far, maybe to the warmer parts of France and Spain, now and then as far as the Mediterranean. I must admit that I am surprised. You would think that at the speed that the Kingfisher fly they would be unable to travel that far. Crossing the channel seems a very long way. The good new is that they will return next year.

When speaking to the person from the WWT he suggested that with the soil that we have at Denbury, that we should be getting Sand Martins nest here. We could well have them although I have never seen any. Mind you I haven’t been looking for them. I will find out a bit more about them, but I do have a bank that would make an ideal site, that I could try to encourage them to use, in nesting.

I not sure if any of you saw the flock of Geese that landed on the lake about a week ago. I forgot to mention it when I saw them. I counted twenty three. They were swimming around the back of the island, so there is a good chance that I missed a few. What reminded me was that as I was walking around the lake this afternoon, I heard a flock hooting, as they were getting nearer to the lake, The flock flew in as if they were going to land on the lake, but at the last moment, as they were coming in, they changed direction and flew away. I can only think that it was seeing me that made them change their mind. It would have been nice if they had landed and had stayed on the lake for a while.

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By the look of it a Swallow has started to…

By the look of it a Swallow has started to nest already on the nest at the top of the roof. I could be wrong, but it does look very much like it. There is no reason why they should not be. We will have to keep an eye on it. For anyone who has not seen the nest cameras scroll down on the Dog thumbnail, it is below the
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What a change to wake up to a sunny day. The weather report looked pretty grim for our area last night. With the amount of rain that we have been getting we decided to stable the Horses last night, to give them a break from constant rain in the night. As it happens I don’t think that it was as bad here as they forecast. Mind you what different about the forecasters getting it wrong. They reckon that we are in for a good week. Lets hope they are right. We are in desperate need to make some fodder for the Horses being it hay or haylage.

Before we can even think about making anything the ground has got to start drying. If a tractor went on the ground with it being so wet, it would just churn the ground up, any fodder that we made would have dried mud in it. That will go for everyone who tries to make it. Being in a valley, that is very fertile we tend to be able to make our fodder early in the year. We never have to put fertilizer on the land to make our hay for the Horses. The valley this year is going to cause us problems as the land will stay damp longer. The seeds on the grass will mostly had dropped by now, so the quality of any hay or haylage we make will not be as good as normal. The other problem we are liable to encounter is that as soon as the weather is suitable for mowing the grass, every other farm will want to do the same. Not having our own farm machinery to make our own hay and haylage we rely on contractor to make it for us, as soon as the weather breaks every one who uses contractors will need them. The weather we need to dry the land is hot and windy.

We took the Dogs for a walk up the valley this afternoon to see just how wet the ground is. It didn’t help when we had a heavy shower. I know that I am moaning again, but just how do they manage to get it wrong so often. The forecast for my area today was no rain. It take some believing that they can get it wrong so often. Without the shower the ground was very wet. The heavy rain and flood has caused a lot of the grass to have fallen over so that nearest to the root it is starting to get soggy. I’m not sure if to cut it and try to dry the grass by turning or leave it a few days before mowing, hoping that the sun will dry the bottom. I cant afford to get it wrong.

There are a number of Badger Setts on and around Denbury. When we first moved here I found eight. One has stopped being used, and another has little activity. A couple of hundred yards from the sett we show on the webcams, is a Sett in the our wood, with the ground being so wet we can see that there has been a lot of activity getting to it. It is always a good time after heavy rain to see what Wildlife has visited the Valley. There has been a lot of Deer activity going on. There was an entry on the forum a week or so from someone who had seen three Deer on the Badger webcam. I haven’t seen any for nearly two months

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webcams

Sorry that the Denbury Farm Web cams have been on…

Sorry that the Denbury Farm Web cams have been on and off today. We are just finishing off tidying the system up, to make some workspace available in the kitchen.

There are five Swallow chicks in the nest. With that many mouths to feed, with this wet weather it could be that the chicks are not having all of the feed that they need. I should think that was the main reason that the chicks in the first nest that we showed, did not survive. The weather is still not looking good and there will be little for the Adults to catch on the wing.

I caught sight of the Ducklings today, they were swimming in between the reeds so I was unable to count how many there were.

This weather is making more work on the farm than we normally do in the summer. Most of the time the Horses are out in the field during the summer. With the weather as it is, it is not fair to leave them out in continuous rain, when they are use to being stabled. For the past two night we have let Bliss and Misty come in for shelter. We let the Horses bring themselves in at feed time. The two fillies could not believe their luck following all the other Horses in. But when they are in we have to muck out the stable. The flood went into all of the stables, that made it necessary to clear the whole lot of the bedding out of every one.

We have still got Breeze fenced off on her own, as we really do not trust her not to be bossy with the other Horses. One of the other Horses has knocking down the electric fence. I didn’t realise that there was a bad on connection on the fencer. Bliss , Misty and Willow have been walking across the wire when it is on the ground, and going in with Breeze. Breeze although the fence is down will not cross the wire, she has probably had a little sting from a fencer in the past. The youngsters, although they have had a little sting have not experienced electric fencer for very long and forget about the consequences of touching the wire. When the youngsters are in with Breeze she is really good with them, but I know she will start her old tricks if I let her in with all the Horses. Lady and Woody will not go any where near an electric fence.

Woody is still loosing a lot of weight. She did look as if she was putting a little weight on, but it was only for a week or so. Although she looks unwell, she is not in any pain. The idea was to let her have a nice summer before we made a final decisions. Having a nice bit of heat on her back would have made her feel a lot better, it is not working out like that with this continuous rain.