Month: May 2007

Woody has been walking about in the field most of the day. We keep going out to make sure she alright, when we cannot see her on camera. She has not laid sprawled out in the field at all today, or in her stable last night , the first time for a good few weeks. She has also eaten her last two feeds and finished off her hay that we put in her stable. Don’t read to much into today’s good news about her, it is just one day and her condition could well change.

I finally finished the new Badger hide, our holiday quests this week have been using it for the past three nights. It has been very successful with our quests seeing the Badgers and Foxes live, that you can see on camera. I was watching on camera and only once were they startled. Probably some of you saw it, when three of the Badgers rocketed back to their sett. They came back out again very soon after.

For the past five years, maybe longer we have had a Wren nesting within inches of of our head when we go out of our house door. The nest is the original one that the first Wren made, and is still in good condition. I have fixed a camera into the top of the nearly fully enclosed nest. Conveniently the nest had been made with a small hole in the top, just the size for the camera. We haven’t seen the Wren use the nest this year. We maybe lucky, so I have taken the chance.

We have not managed to catch the Fox cubs on camera yet. They are definitely there and make an awful racket just before dust, we can hear the noise with our farmhouse door closed. Most years they can bee seen in the vicinity of the tree house, and along that hedge running down on the left hand side to the old Oak tree, the field that Lady and the Foal are in of a day time.

The person who manages our website has not been able to get the Osprey camera on our site, he has promised that it will be on tomorrow. In the meantime you can access the web cam on http://wm9.easystream.co.uk/swt
You can see the Osprey at night as there is an infra red lamp installed. Do not save this URL in your favourites as it will change on Tuesday, the web cams will then only be able to be accessed on our site.

The Filly saw the big wide world, I reckon she likes what she saw, once we had got he out of the stable. You would think that they would follow Mum, no way, they are all the same, Mum starts to leave the stable on the head collar, but you can guarantee the Foals don’t follow, Mum starts to panic because the Foal has been left behind, racing back to the stable with us in tow. Then its a case of pushing the Foal out. Suddenly there is so much to see that they walk into every thing in sight. It only lasts for a short time, the Foal gets its legs and away they go.

After Lady had munched her fill of grass she walked around the field, the Filly hugging close to her side. It did not take the Filly long to feel her feet, to get her confidence and having a little run and skip about, of course only very close to Mum. She soon crashes out, only to start again later. We knew when it was time for the Filly to come in, Lady waited at the gate to tell us.

We had to bring Breeze and Arnie in whilst Lady and the Filly were out in the field, for they probably would go on a mad one. In about a weeks time they will all be able to go out together. At the moment we will leave Breeze and Arnie out in the field of a night. Lady and the Filly of a day. It will be a good thing for Arnie as he is a bit overweight. The spring grass has a lot of sugar in it, that could well give him problems.

Both of the Blackbird fledglings, I suppose I had better call them that. I have never professed to being a Bill Oddy, just better looking. The adult Blackbirds are busy feeding them, and I have seen the fledglings fly a little.

A couple of questions on the forum. Foals do have teeth, as humans they loose their milk teeth.

Race Horses Foals are normally weaned at about five to six months old, as the Mares are normally put back in Foal within a month of foaling. We try to keep them suckling for eight months, as the unborn foal only relies on the Mother for the last three months. I think it is good for both. Very often though the Mare will stop feeding the foals, by raising their back legs to to stop the Foal from getting to the udder, then we will wean them.

Got a little extra sleep. Still wake to check the Foal, for a few nights

The Veterinary is coming to see Woody tomorrow.

Hopefully The Scottish Wildlife Trust will be running tomorrow. They will initially be using their own cameras, with the new camera I supplied being installed at the weekend. As I . have said before, we sometimes have minor problems, that may cause little delays. Please be patient.

For a couple of weeks we have been experiencing minor problems with the camera control system. The main Badger camera was affected more than the others. I changed the controller over this afternoon. You would have experienced some loss of picture and quality. The controller now being used only allow eight cameras, we have more installed. You may see the screens turn blue, this is because we are changing certain camera over manually. The usual controller has been sent for repair and should be back early next week.