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Woody died this afternoon It was a very difficult decision…

Woody died this afternoon. It was a very difficult decision to have to make and one that I really did not want to make. Even up to the last minute I nearly stopped it from happening, but I knew that I would be stopping it for my feelings and not for Woody’s suffering. I just had to remember when we found her laying flat out in her stable unable to move with the pain she was having, or when she was pawing at the floor with her front feet or lifting her back legs up to her belly in pain.

Woody was collected from Denbury at 2.30pm and taken just a few miles to where her life was ended. I followed her and was with her until the very end at 3.pm. It was a very quick end and I promise she did not know what was going to happen to her, or did she feel any pain what so ever.

I knew last night that I needed to make a decision today. Once that decision was made it was important for the end to come immediately, or we may have changed our mind, leaving Woody to suffer for longer than she needed to.

It did not help that Woody seemed to be having a good day. To save Woody any stress by bringing her in on her own, all the Horses were brought in together. Although slowly she did actually trot in with the other Horses, who were all standing on the top of the hill in a group, fanning each other with their tails to keep the flies away. There was no fuss getting Woody into the horse box, she was spoilt with her favorites, apple, carrot and Herby Balls, even at the very end Woody was eating an apple.

I know that Lady is going to miss Woody, they have been together for about six years, always being stabled next to each other. Woody was the boss and she would let Lady know it. When we stable the Horses, we will put Breeze next to Lady to keep her company, although Branston is always next to Lady’s and Woody’s stable when they are in.

We know that we made the correct decision to end Woody’s suffering.

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The eggs in the Swallows nest at the top of…

The eggs in the Swallows nest at the top of roof have hatched. It looks like the chicks are a few days old by the down that they have on them. I think that I have counted five chicks. I wasn’t sure if there were any eggs in the nest, It seemed to close from when the first nestlings fledged. Again it looks that the chicks are hot, not really surprised as the roof of the barn is made of corrugated iron, that will attract the heat on hot and sunny days, as it is today. Although it is not over late for for the Swallow chicks to have hatched, it is always a worry that they will not be as strong as they need to be for their migration.

I spoke to the Manager of the Lock of the Lowe’s centre this morning. Any time now the Osprey youngsters will be starting to migrate, the female has not been seen for a couple of weeks now, so we must take it that she has already left the Lock on her migration. She has been breeding for at least nineteen at the Lock, probably for a good deal longer. It only seems such a short while ago, that we started to host the webcams for the centre, it has been a great success and I know that every one has enjoyed the experience. In October the centre is going to have a Pine Martin open evening. When the itinerary is done the manager will put the details on the Diary.

The Buzzard is this years youngster, I would think that it was eating a Pigeon by the colour of the feathers. If I get time I will go down the valley to have a look tomorrow. It could be a Magpie but I reckon they are a bit to cute to be caught by a Buzzard.

Woody has started to act a little strange for the past couple of days. Yesterday evening when she came in for her feed she didn’t seem to know where she was going. She finished up eating the grass on our lawn by the entrance of the farm house. This evening she didn’t move when the other Horses came in for their feed. We finished up taking the feed up to her on the hill. If we hadn’t of taken it to her, she would not have come down for it, definitely not like her to miss a feed.

I believe now that we might be prolonging Woody’s suffering for longer than it needs to be. We would not want to be guilty of that. It is hard to make the final decision, but we must make it for the good of Woody and not for how we think is best for us. It is going to be hard but it is going to have to be sooner than later.

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I do hope that many of you caught that eyeful…

I do hope that many of you caught that eyeful just after 8.pm, of the small herd of Red Deer with their Calves. They all seemed to be really enjoying themselves, prancing and racing around the field. I counted six adults and two Calves, but there could well have been a lot more. They didn’t stay around to long. They could be back tonight or tomorrow, as they were enjoying the new grass, that is coming through after the hay was cut. It was really good to see them. We often see a herd with up to twenty Deer, but rarely with their Calves, especially with the spotted coats.

I caught a glimpse of the Moorhen with her Chicks when I walked around the lake this afternoon. I don’t know where they came from but I also saw another four adult birds as I walked around.

Denbury never ceases to amaze me with the variety of wildlife that we have and see regularly. When we first did holidays here in 1998, we didn’t have webcams to see what wildlife we really had. It was obvious that like most farms there was a certain amount, and it was with that premiss, that we offered wildlife watching in our brochures. The webcams showed us, as well as those people who came here for the wildlife, what a haven for wildlife Denbury really is.

Last night the weather forecast was rain and cloudy. When I looked out of the window at midnight there was not a cloud to be seen. It would have been an ideal night to set the settings for telescope. This evening it looked promising that I could have done the setting tonight, it was little cloudy with some clear spots. Now the sky is so black it looks like it is going to pour down with rain. It did this morning for a good three hours, so heavy that it would have been unfair to put the Horses out after their morning feed.

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We put up the new wire for the camera for…

We put up the new wire for the camera for the new webcam at the Trust. It will be in a barn that has a nest box and perching area focused on the orphaned Barn Owls. They are free to come and go as they please, so it should be interesting watching them. We have been having a problem with the camera that you can see on the webcam now, that is why it is in black and white. The new camera hopefully will allow the Barn owls to be in colour during the day. The new camera should be up and running over the next few days.

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The three Red Deer that we saw a lot of…

The three Red Deer that we saw a lot of last Winter, showed themselves this evening, one of them had a Calf. It is the first time that I have seen them for a while. I regularly hear them in the woods when we walk the valley. We heard them this afternoon when we went for a walk with Tass and Kye. With the grass now short we will see more wildlife on the valley webcam. Just after I had got the Deer on the webcam a Fox trotted into view. On our walk we also saw the Buzzards hunting.

The camera we have down the valley is a different type than most of the others that we use. It is a full pan tilt and zoom, but one than you can put larger lenses on, and IR lamps so that that turns with the camera. It is a lot slower and tends to bounce about a bit when you move it. We have a very large 300mm lens on the camera, when it is zoomed in every movement is exaggerated.

It is the first time that have walked the valley since we made the hay. The tractors tyres have made some large ruts and cut the ground up because of it being so wet. The ground is still very wet, this continuous bad weather is not helping it to dry, although the grass is growing very quickly.

Kye is getting quite big now, she is only a couple of inches smaller than Tass, it wont be long before she catches up and probably be even bigger than Tass. Tass is one of the biggest German Shepperd’s that I have seen, so Kye is going to be a big dog. Trouble is that she is on the go 24/7 and she expects Tass to keep up with her. Tass does try and mostly likes playing with Kye. This afternoon on our walk Kye didn’t stop nagging Tass to play with her, running around her, biting at her feet to try to make her run faster. What ever distance we walked, I reckon Kye must have doubled it. We haven’t heard lately, about any of the other pups from the same litter as Kye, if any of the owners see this let us know on the forum.

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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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The Veterinary came out today to scan Lady to check…

The Veterinary came out today to scan Lady to check if she is in Foal, blood test Willow and do her markings for her passport. Breeze was also examined, and he also had to look at Blisse foot.

As we expected Lady scanned in Foal. I was confident that she was, but we needed to make sure that she was not having twins. It is not good for a Horse to be in Foal with twins. If they are it would be more than likely that they would abort within nine months of the pregnancy. If Lady had of been in Foal with twins, one of fetuses could have been aborted.

Willow had to be blood tested to confirm her parentage and also have her markings taken for her passport. The Veterinary marks on a printed pictures of a Horse, both sides and a front picture of a head. all the different marks such as socks on their legs, stars or blazes on their head and whirls on their coats. It is a little difficult to explain, but every Horse will have a different marks that are unique to the Horse. All thoroughbred Horses have had passports for many years, so that they cannot be passed off as another Horse on the race track. Probably a better word would be nobbled. Now all Horses have to have passport, an EU directive, partly for identifying for theft, but also for the European Horse meat market to identify any drugs that Horses may have had for illness.

Fortunately Breeze is not in Foal, we were very worried that she might have been with the extra weight she was carrying. The Veterinary gave her an internal examination that confirmed that she was not pregnant. If she were pregnant the Foal would have been born in October, I really could not think of a worse month for any horse to have a foal in the northern hemisphere. The Foal would have very little, probably no time in the fields in the first important time of growing. Breeze would not have had any enjoyment of her first Foal. I will seriously think about letting her go to a Stallion March next year.

Bliss came in Thursday night, slightly lame. She wasn’t to bad when she went out that night. The next morning she came in crippled. I got the Veterinary to confirm what I had found. She must have pricked the frog of her foot on a sharp stone. It is a little soft and pussy under the hoof, and is very painful for her to walk on. Mind you this is the first time she has ever experienced pain, she sure doesn’t like it. Although it looks like she is in severe pain by the way she is walking, it is exaggerated being her first pain experience. If the puss hasn’t found its way out by the morning we will poultice it to draw the poison out.

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We have a farmer very close to Denbury he has…

We have a farmer very close to Denbury, he has little or no respect for wildlife or the public or other peoples property, when he is out shooting. Unfortunately he has taught his sons to be the same.

Back in the spring I found the son shooting in a wood that is adjacent to my fields, it is owned by Somerset County Council. No one has permission to shoot in the wood. All farms that are adjacent to the wood were sent letter to that effect only months before. He was obviously shooting at Rooks nests to kill the chicks. Rooks do need culling, for the right reasons, time and where you have permission to shoot. Not only was he killing Rooks he had also shot a Blackbird, I found the wounded bird and had no alternative but to kill it, it was not going to live.

This is just one of many incidents with these people. They regularly shoot in the woods without permission, on or so near to footpaths in the woods. Someone will be killed with their indiscriminate shooting. I have come very close myself, a friend of ours was horse riding on the bridel path in the same wood when one of the family who had not been seen by our friend shot their gun within feet of her, causing her horse to be frightened. Both our friend and her horse were fortunate not to have been severely injured.

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I also read about the Golden Eagle being poisoned to…

I also read about the Golden Eagle being poisoned to stop it from taking the Grouse. The glorious twelfth they call the start of the game shooting season. It is any thing but glorious, in my opinion for what it is worth game shooting is the most evil of all blood sports. Worse even than hunting with dogs, that is now banned. Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone hunting with dogs, but how that was banned and not game shooting I really don’t know.

Hunting with dogs although cruel, had a purpose to control. Game shooting only to kill. Like it or not there has got to be a certain amount of culling in the countryside. At Denbury we have a problem with Doves. Doves breed all through the year. Try as we might with oiling and blowing the eggs, we have even advertised them to give away. The population just keeps on increasing to an unacceptable amount. The mess they make is not nice, at times what ever you touch you finish up with droppings on our hands. A young lad culls the Doves at Denbury, he takes them home to be eaten. Rabbits, Fox, Deer and Badgers do not give us any problems. Other farmers do find them a problem. With Fox and Deer hunting banned, farmers who would let the hunts control Fox and Deer will now allow shooting on their property, which sometimes results in animals being wounded, rather than being killed outright, they die in agonising pain through infected wounds. As much as I dislike hunting with dogs, it is very often preferable to shooting.

To me there is no justification in game shooting. I have no objection to someone who goes out and shoots Rabbits or Pheasant to put on their table. Game Birds Pheasants, Grouse etc, are bred for one reason, to kill. They are incubated, sold normally at day olds and then hand reared in pens. In the summer they are then released into the open countryside to fend for themselves. Near to Denbury for the first days of the Pheasants release, they can be seen along the lanes, they have no sense of taking cover. Some drivers don’t wait for the Bird to get out of the way and run them down, many more are taken by the Fox until the learn how to survive, by hiding in the artificial cover that is grown specifically for that reason.

In the shooting season organised shoots are arranged. Beaters with dogs and calling to frighten the birds, flush them out of the artificial cover into the direction of the waiting guns, to be shot. Many of the organised shoots are corporate or company events, as a perk to employees, who have never handled a shotgun in their life. They are given minimal training in the use of guns and let loose to the slaughter. And that is what it is. Over the country every year millions of game birds are shot with shotgun cartridges that are packed with small shot that gives a wide spread, so that the birds are hit by even the most inexperienced shot, not really mattering if they have been killed outright, for the gun dogs will find the frightened injured Birds, to be taken back to the guns to be bashed on the head. Many of them are not killed outright only wounded and not found, left dying for days.

At the end of the shoot, the beaters and those shooting, get an unprepared brace or two of the game birds, some are sold to game merchants and local butchers, but vast amounts are dumped. Those taken home by corporate or company employees are also mostly dumped. Their partners take one look at the dead bird, they haven’t the slightest idea of how to pluck or gut them, why should they.

This is only my thoughts on game shooting, I would not expect any one to agree with it, or would I try to influence any person with my opinions. I did have a shotgun and Jade our Springer Spaniel was a gun dog, I went shooting once, but never again. Man is naturally a hunter gatherer, nowadays they can do that in the super market.

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Woody has been quite ill for the past two days…

Woody has been quite ill for the past two days, so much so, they for the past two nights we have had to keep her stabled, I also thought that I would have to get the Veterinary in to have her put to sleep. She was lying flat out and obviously in a lot of pain, when she did get up she was tucking her legs up, showing that she had pain in her stomach. We controlled the pain and eventually she was able to stay on her feet. We have let her out in the field with the other Horses tonight and she is grazing happily. I will have to make the decision over the next couple of days, but I know that with the pain she is getting, although we are able to control it to a certain degree, I can not let it carry on for much longer.

The Veterinary is coming this Friday to scan Lady to see if she is in Foal, I will get him to check Breeze over to see if she is also in Foal, it wont be necessary to scan Breeze, if she is in Foal the Veterinary will be able to tell by an internal examination. The Veterinary also has to blood test and microchip Willow. Willow being a thoroughbred, it will confirm her breeding.

Willow is turning out to be quite a size. A few of you have commented on the length of her legs. To notice that on a webcam shows just how long in the leg she is. I cant remember any Foal on the farm being as big as Willow at her age. Looking in the Stallion guide her Father, Lucky Owners is 16.0hh about the average for a Stallion, Lady her Mother again is average size, so I really would not have exspected Willow to quite so big at this time. She is also a very good shape. If she continues to grow with the size and shape she is, she will be a very nice Filly.

The Buzzard did pick a good spot to perch this morning. The post it was sitting on was to run the wiring across for the new IR lamp, to see down the farther valley, when I eventually got the time. That changed and the wiring can now be run on the stream bed. I had meant to take the post down as I had another place for it to be used. I will leave it were it is until the Buzzards stop feeding the youngster.