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After filling the Bird feeders by the lake this evening…

After filling the Bird feeders by the lake this evening, I sat in the rowing boat that is on the bank of the lake. It is a really peaceful place and I do enjoy sitting there when I get time. A Buzzard was gliding above, hunting for food. I was a little surprised when a female Mallard flew in, landing near to the orange bags. She quacked and out from the reeds came the two surviving Ducklings. I had not realised that they would fly off and leave their young. It was good to see that they had survived for another day. I know that there are less Rats about. With a bit of luck they may make it.

I have been going to lake more often than normal as we have a couple in the holiday cottages, that fish. The man has spent most of the time here fishing. I always make it a point to see what people have caught when they have fished. He fished a nice 5 1/2lb Carps yesterday, that had been pierced by a Heron when it was younger. The man assures me that he has seen Carp of 8 to 9 lb. A couple of years back one person fished a Carp of just under 12lb. 15lb would be the largest fish that you would find in a lake of our size, that is about an acre. There is a pond in the same area of about a third of an acre.

Fortunately there are Fish Fry in the lake, I thought that most of them would have been washed away in the flood. Walking around the lake in the sun you see the Fry in the warm shallow water by the bank. As your shadow falls across the water where they are hovering thousands of the Fry dart away, returning quickly to the warm water after your shadow moves away. Every year it never ceases to amaze me, how many thousands of fry that there are in the lake. The warm weather bring most of the Fish to the top of the water, where you can see the different size and types of Fish, ranging through their ages.

One job we did manage to get done on the lake today, was to fix a tree branch into the pipe that we put into the lake a month or so back. We have put it there hoping that a Kingfisher may land on it. I am quite hopeful, as the man who is fishing has seen the Kingfisher flying in and out of the trees and bushes nearby where we have put the branch, It s very close to the Bird feeders by the lake that a Kingfisher was seen behind, a little while back. The siting was posted on the forum by one of you. I will pan the camera onto the branch now and then.

The main Rye Harbour web cam that is situated on an island has got a problem, and may not be able to be got going until the Terns have finished nesting, so that they are not disturbed. I know Barry is very disappointed and will try to get it working if he can. The installation of the camera is very complex, using solar panel to generate the electricity, and wireless transmission to carry the video signal nearly a 1000m.

The Osprey web cam was also down for a while today. By all accounts the electricity was turned off as a kite had got caught in the overhead electric cables nearby the Lock of the Lowe’s Visitors Centre.

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Hasn t been the best of days Been sitting in…

Hasn’t been the best of days. Been sitting in front of the computer trying to buy an in foal Broodmare from the Auctions, and didn’t manage to get one.

I have known that the auction was taking place for over a month, but thought that it started tomorrow. When I realised yesterday afternoon that it was today, I tried to make arrangements to get there. The auction is at Newmarket, about 250 miles from the farm. I not a great fan of driving and would have gone by train, but I managed to speak to a person in the Horse World who thought that he knew of an agent, who would be at the auction, and would bid for me, on any lots that I fancied. That was last night. He was to give me the details of the person this morning. I didn’t get the phone call, by the time I realised, it was to late to catch the train that I needed to get to be at the auction in time, for the main lots that I was interested in.

I was punishing myself by watching the auction live on their web cam. For sure I would have purchased one of the Horses that was of interest to me, if I had of been there or had someone to bid for me. As the Horses were selling I checked a list of the Horses that had not met their reserve. I managed to speak to one of the agents and I could go back to him to buy the Horse, but they want more money than what it is worth. Also whilst checking the list I realised that a person who I did know was at the auction. I managed to find his phone number. He did make a bid on my behalf on one lot. That went over my limit, but only by a small amount.

I do want another Broodmare. It has to be one that is in foal. Unfortunately it will be a replacement for Woody.

If I should be so lucky to only get 38 trash emails over a few days. I get hundreds a day. The largest amount are from people who use one of my email addresses as a return path for the trash that they send out. To stop them having mail returned to them for various reasons, such as email address’s that no longer exist, rejected spam emails etc they put a return address on those they send out that go to other people. My email address’s relate to various web sites and names that I have, so I really cant stop using them.

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I spoke to the SWT today and they have told…

I spoke to the SWT today and they have told me that one of the Osprey chicks is fifty days old today. They normally fledge at about forty nine days. It looks as if it will be any time now.

Although I penned the Sheep in some while back, I have not had time to sort them out to send them off to market to be sold. If I had sold them when I first got them in I would have needed to sort the Ewes with their Lambs by number marking them with a coloured marker. There would have been to many Ewes and Lambs to put into one pen at market. The chances of the Lambs going into the same pen as their mother is pretty remote, so it was important to have sorted them before they went off.

As it was, the lambs were able to go in and out of the pen as they wanted. Because of their size they could easily get through the pens bars, as and when they pleased. Now there are only six or so that are going in, the rest disappeared about six days ago. I was not on the farm when they went, and was only told the next day. By all accounts someone came through the farm with a dog as the Lambs were walking around free range, down the drive, from the pen area to a field, as they have done since the Ewes were first penned in. The dog was not on a lead and chased the lambs up the drive to the farm entrance. They have not been seen since, until today when I got a phone call from the Animal Health and Welfare, asking if was missing any sheep. Yes they were mine and had been put into a neighbours field, two farms up the valley. This is the second time that I have had to apologise to him in the past few weeks, because of the Sheep.

It is going to be a bit of a job trying to get them back home. As they are Lambs they will be pretty wild and will not be easy herd along the roads back to the farm, they will have a mind of their own and go every where other than the place we want them. The Farmer has got to move his sheep tomorrow, so he is going take them first into the field where my Lambs are, hopefully they will go back to his yard where we can sort them out and return them in a van we have back to Denbury. Being away from their mother for the past week they have weaned themselves, so I will be able to send them to market on Saturday.

The Fox I had on camera on this afternoon, by the Bird feeder, was a bit lucky. The feeder is very close to the farm house. At the time it was feeding, Tass and kye were within a few yards from it, it was only the lie of the path that made it out of sight from the Dogs, who for sure would have chased it if they had seen the Fox.

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Tass and sheep Elsie Emails return path Porno…

Tass and sheep
Elsie Emails return path
Porno

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Branston started to open one of the barn doors about…

Branston started to open one of the barn doors about the same time as Bliss started getting out of the field, to join the older Horses. The door bolt was designed in a way that you would think would be impossible to be opened by an animal. I should think that the previous farmer at Denbury, had his dairy cows knocking the bolt open, or sliding the bolt with their tongue. The bolt has been designed so that you need to pull it out before you are able to slide it across, and Branston has managed to do just that. At first we blamed each other for leaving the door open. I was only when we were making the feed up one day, and Branston started to open the door in front of us, did we realise that he was opening the door. For Branston it serves two purposes when he open the door. One he is able to get to the feed, the second he is able to walk through the barn, to an opening that let him out to get to the other Horses. He is pretty slick at opening it. It is only four or five steps from the door to where we make the feed up. Before we can get back to doing the feed after he has opened it, he manages to open it again. We now have to tie the barn doors to stop him.

There are only two Duckling left on the lake. Some of you probably saw them sitting on the sacks with their mother. They have survived for two weeks. That is longer than any from the previous clutch. I know that a lot of the Rats have gone. I moved the cage with the poison in, over a week ago back to the lake. The poison is still being taken, but not as much as when I first moved it. The weather has been dreadful for the Duckling. The first day that I saw them was on the morning of the flood. I should think that some of them have died for other reason than being taken by predators.

The last Swallows nest that we put a camera on, is up at the top of the apex of the roof in one of the barns. The roof is a corrugated metal roof. Yesterday was very warm for a change. The tin roof would have got very hot and it would have been very hot at the apex. The chicks did look as if they were gasping because of the heat. It is very high where the nest has been built. The nestlings are looking over the side of the nest as if they know it, and they don’t look particularly happy.

Yes Jill, the Telescope is all ready other that setting it up with the stars for alignment, with the Skyscout that was sent to me from the US. Unfortunately the weather other than yesterday has been to bad to have it going. Although it is in an observatory, I cant take the chance that it may get wet. I have a very good Solar telescope attached to the main telescope. I would put that on in the day if it was going to stay dry. But I need to set the main telescope up first so that the telescope tracks the Sun as it is moving. With the Solar telescope you can sometimes see flares and sunspots, that I gather are very interesting to Astronomers. As soon as it is possible I will put the telescope on. What we have done with broadcasting of the Solar System over the web has never done before. When we have had it going it has been very good.

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When we let the Horses in for their feed in…

When we let the Horses in for their feed in the morning and evening, we give Bliss and Misty their bowls in the field. The youngsters have larger helpings as they are growing. We could let them in with Arnie and Breeze, but Arnie being the escape artist that he is, would soon get out of his stable when he has eaten his small portion, and would start on the youngster’s food. It doesn’t go down to well for Bliss being left in the field with Misty when all of the other Horses are in. She has over the past couple of weeks decided that she would prefer to be in. She doesn’t quite make it. She gets out of the field leaving Misty on her own, calling for Bliss, that how we know that Bliss is out again, and wanders from one place to another, where the other Horses are behind gates. For the first few days we could not see how she is getting out of the field. We were left scratching our heads trying to work it out. To be quite honest we have never seen her getting out, we are only guessing with the little evidence that we have, that being a pretty high fencing rail being slightly out of place. Going by that we can only assume that she is jumping the fence. To jump it she would have to run very quickly, tightly against another fence. After jumping she would have very little space to stop herself, before crashing into the opposite hedge. She clearly hasn’t, or are there any marks on the drive, were she had landed.

Taking Bliss back to the field is normally achieved by getting her to follow Arnie, who we lead on a head collar. This evening she got out and we decided that we would try to take her back to the field on a head collar. The only time we have tried Bliss and Misty in head collars before, was when they were put in a fenced off area in one of the barns, last Autumn. Neither of them liked the head collars, and it was a case of them leading us, rather than the other way. Of course we won in the end, but it would not have been the best introduction to head collars that they could have had. We had expected a tantrum from Bliss as we tried to lead her. On the contrary, after her letting us put the head collar on, it could not have been easier, one of us led Arnie, and Bliss followed as if she had been led on a Head collar every day of her life. We will try Misty tomorrow.

Unfortunately the time has come when we have to make up our minds what is going to happen to a few of the Horses at Denbury. We cannot keep on not selling them. There are two Colts that have to be sold one way or the other, and then their is Bliss and Misty. Both are very special to us, and are both very well bred and put together. The decision is, do we sell them in the Autumn Yearling Sales or try to start up a racing syndication with them. Without any hesitation I know they are the best Fillies that we have bred. With the right Trainer I believe that they will win races. Whatever, the decision has got to be made this week.

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Tass and kye came in this afternoon with a pigeon…

Tass and kye came in this afternoon with a pigeon nestling in Tass’s mouth. When we are indoors the dogs rarely go more than a few yards from the door, so the nest could only have been very close, unless a Magpie had robbed a nest and Tass and Kye had frightened it off. It could well have been that, as the nestling had a few marks on its neck and body. Tass has on a number of occasions come in the house with nestlings in her mouth. She is very gentle and normally they are not marked. This was the first time that I have seen a pigeon nestling so close, other that on the web cams. With the shape of its feet and beak, it reminded me of picture I have seen in books of a Dodo. We looked around to try to find the nest that it had fallen from without any success. We found one nest that if the Adults had been looking for it, would have found it, but I don’t hold out much hope.

When I spoke to the Manager of The Lock of the Lowe’s centre about week back, he to me then that the Osprey chicks would be fledgling in about two week. So it should be in about a weeks time. They do return to the nest for quite a while after. I had hoped to have seen the new camera up by now. The Centre Manager was hoping to have it working by the time that they had left the nest. If he does we should be able to see them learning how to fish.

The camera that is working at the Butterfly Farm is now positioned on to Locusts. The focus is not very good, but know that they are trying to get it better.

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Here at Denbury it has just been like a Autumn…

Here at Denbury it has just been like a Autumn day, windy, cold and showery. Don’t like it one bit. It has made clearing up the farm after the flood more miserable. The weather really does need to break so that we can make hay. The way it is going the grass is going to start to rot at the roots. You cant make good hay when it is like that. A lot of potato crops could be in danger of being lost, being under water. The blackberries that have been nearly two months early in flowering have come to nothing, the flowers are dropping, but no fruits are forming at all. Although the hazel nuts are quite large for this time of year.

The lake has gone back to it normal colour, if I get time tomorrow I will see if there is any fish eggs left. I saw the Mallard in the reeds but could not count how many Ducklings she had. The sacks Alex asked about, are full of barley straw. I wrote about them some time back, some of you saw the performance we had putting them in the lake, with one of my Lads in the rowing boat. They were meant to sink with two concrete blocks attached at the bottom. They must have untied, for sure they are not lifted the blocks. The barley straw helps to prevent algae. I think that the lake is now mature enough to control the algae, but I don’t like to take the chance. The flood did bring into the lake a lot of duck weed, I can only hope that does not establish in the lake.

Two of the cottages have dried out really well from the flood water. We managed to get the wet carpets out of those very quickly and put in air mover fans and dehumidifiers. It worked very well and were able to have the new carpets fitted in them today.. The other two are going to need a good few weeks of drying, with the air movers and dehumidifiers, before they can have the carpets laid. One of them was nearly two feet full of water. The kitchen units have swollen with the water and a false wall looks that it may have to be renewed. That will stop the cottage from being used for a good while.

Six ton of new stone has been put onto the cottage car park area. A large amount of the stone that was there, was washed into the stream. Although the load was spread out reasonably well by the tipper lorry, it still had to be levelled out. I like a bit of rain when I am levelling it out, the puddles show you where the holes are. I wouldn’t have been to put out today if it had stayed dry.

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A couple of footnotes to previous Diary entries Last night…

A couple of footnotes to previous Diary entries. Last night when we were talking to the Fisherman, our relations went on in front and did not hear the stories, that he told about the landslides. I couldn’t resist telling them about what he had told us. No, no one of the relations told us, I wont sleep. I wonder if they did.

In the conversation with the Fisherman, he told us that a couple of weeks back he was going out Mackerel Fishing. They were sailing past Hurlestone Point near Porlock, which is at most two miles around the coast from Minehead, when one of his lads on board pointed out a Peregrine Falcon on a crag with three chicks. I have only seen one on the farm, that was about ten years back. Unfortunately it didn’t stay around or return. About forty years ago the Peregrine were in a steep decline because of pesticides being used on farms. The Birds that they caught in flight to eat, mainly Pigeons, had eaten from the fields that had been sprayed with the pesticide, the poisonous chemicals in the pesticides were causing their eggs shells to be very thin, and very few eggs were hatching. They are probably the most exciting Birds of Prey to watch when they are hunting, reaching speeds of of as much as 120 miles per hour.

The Magpie and it fledglings have been feeding in the Bird feeders recently. Including the Adults I have counted six. It is the first year that I have seen them on the feeders. When they are using the feeders at least they are not raiding other Birds nests of the eggs and nestlings. I reckon going by the Magpie verse, I should be in for some gold.

The Swallows do seem to have suddenly got big. With the weather as it is I am surprised that the five chicks are all still alive. The other nest has three chicks in it, they are also ding well. I will put a light in that barn tomorrow so that you are able to see the nest more clearer.

I hope some of you managed to see the Badgers playing last night. There were as many as seven at one time. They were really enjoying themselves, play fighting and running around jumping on and over each other. I will try to catch it on camera tonight.

We had the insurance assessor look at the damage that the flood had caused to the farm and cottages. The assessor has had to come to the farm on a couple of occasions, very recently when a contractor who cuts the hedges, reversed into a bridge on the drive, causing a lot of damage, and leaving it in a dangerous state. The Contractors insurance will pay for that damage. I was rather annoyed as I only found out about the damage a couple of weeks after it happened. It wasn’t very noticeable when you drove down the drive and the Contractors labourer, somehow forgot to tell me about it. I came across the damage when I walked around the lake and decide to make my way back to the farm along the drive. The Assessor knowing the farm was surprised at what damage had been caused by the flood. He was very understanding and fair. Now we can get on with the work. But it is going to be costly for our Insurance Company.

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There was a little bit of sun about today made…

There was a little bit of sun about today, made a change. It gave me the chance to walk down the valley to to look at the hay grass. A good deal of the grass has been flattened when the stream went from being two foot wide to thirty foot. The flattened grass is going to take a long while to dry, as it will be stopping the ground from drying underneath it. Could well be that we will not be able to cut the flattened grass. Unless this weather changes, we wont be able to cut any.

We have family staying at Minehead for their holiday, so with the weather being a bit brighter we went and had our fish and chips on the harbour with them. We have only been going to the harbour part of Minehead since we found the cottage for the family to stay in. They are getting on a bit and like the seaside. We found the cottage a couple of months back, when we had that really warm spell. We had purposely made our way to the harbour area to find a holiday cottage for them, and was fortunate to have seen a local fisherman, who we asked if he knew of any holiday accommodation. He pointed us into the direction of a lady’s cottage who had a holiday cottage next to hers. She only had this week available. It has turned out to be the perfect little cottage and location for their holiday. All the widows overlook the harbour, that is under twenty feet from their front door.

We sat out on harbour eating our fish and chips. We were sitting in the shade, it was absolutely freezing, so I suggested that we walked around the harbour wall, to the area where the sun was shining on. When you visit a place regularly you tend to take little notice of the area. Today we realised what a very pretty and picturesque little harbour it is. Looking straight over from the harbour wall you can see the cottages that they holidaying in, one of a long row of period fishermen cottages, that sit at the bottom of a massive rocky mound that levels out at the rear with the contours of the land, that must be a quarter of Minehead. Part of it has roadways leading up to homes, that I reckon that I would suffer from vertigo, if I lived up there. The side that their cottage is on, is nearly a sheer rock face drop, with pine trees growing out of it. From the distance of the harbour wall you can see a retaining wall behind their cottage, that you would hope would stop any landslide, although I was not convince that it would.

Walking back with the family to their cottage, we bumped into the Fisherman who had told us about the cottage. Every time without fail that we have gone for our fish and chips, we meet the Fisherman. A little bit of banter passes between us, finishing up with a little laugh. On one occasion we helped him lift one of his fishing boats, of which he seems to have many, a bit of a lump it was to. How come I keep on meeting you, what are you doing here today, he joked, I couldn’t stay away from you I replied. We got into conversation and I asked him about any landslides. Yes there have been a few he told us. He had lived at the harbour all of his life where he was born and bred, and earned his living from the sea, as did his family and most of the people who occupied the fisherman’s cottages. A stone fell on the cottage that your family are staying in, maybe a little bigger than a stone, more a rock, he continue, indicating with his hands, a rock of about three foot square and telling that the weight would have been about half a ton, went through the roof, smashed through a rafter and crashing to the ground. Had to use a jack hammers to break it up. He told of another incident when a rock went through the roof of the cottages that he was born in. The family who lived there at the time, were lucky to be alive, when a landslide of about three hundred ton crashed into their home. The occupants were found in a protected area, that miraculously somehow had been left around them.