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The Bird on cam 1 this afternoon was a Buzzard…

The Bird on cam 1 this afternoon was a Buzzard, I must admit from a distance it did look slightly like an Osprey. Buzzards do come in various colours and sizes, so a lot a people do mistake them from other Birds of Prey. Now that we have made the hay we should be able to see the Buzzards more. We hear their screeching call a lot this time of year, as this time of year they will be teaching their young how to hunt, mostly catching Rabbits. I should think that is what it was eating this afternoon by the way it was ripping at the carcass. Quite often when we go down the valley we see the young Buzzard on a fence post eating what the parent birds have caught for it. It could well be that the close up shot that we saw, was the Chick calling for food. I am sure that the early distance shot was an adult.

Now that the grass has been cut in the valley I will leave the camera down there on more of a nighttime. With grass as long as it was there was very little chance of seeing much. With a bit of luck we should be able to see more of the wildlife in the valley, including the Deer.

I saw a Moorhen on the with a couple of Chicks on the lake yesterday, they were on the straw sacks. I haven’t seen them about today. We are still having a Rat problem around the lake, we saw one under the birds feeders and have had to put the poison down again. All I hope is that a Rat didn’t take the Moorhen Chicks. They normally last longer than the Goslings and Ducklings.

Touch wood the Sheep are staying where we want them, It took a good couple of days to fence the area around the lake to keep them in. There are so many places that they could of got out of, so we needed to make sure that it was all fenced. It is a good area to keep the sheep for they will keep the grass down, hopefully so that we do not need to mow it as often .We managed to catch all of the Lambs. The needed weaning off of the Ewes, and we have put them into one of the stables until we are able to take them to market to be sold. If the Lambs had stayed with the rest of the Sheep they would soon had been through the fence taking the rest of the Sheep with them.

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We have guests for dinner tonight so unfortunately there will…

We have guests for dinner tonight, so unfortunately there will not be a Diary other than, the Glorious Twelfth was yesterday, I personally think it any thing other than glorious. On checking the dates of the start of the shooting season I came across the website below. I have not had chance to read it properly, maybe one or two of you may get chance to, and let me know how it reads, for it looks to me at a first glance that restrictions on the shooting season have been relaxed.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2007/070802a.htm

The Dove hatched at least one of its chicks yesterday, I managed to catch it head above the side of the nest.

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Rose asked if the Fox is welcome at Denbury I…

Rose asked if the Fox is welcome at Denbury. I like Fox. There were as many as six feeding with the Badgers earlier this year. I believe that they are down to two at the moment. I had hoped to have shown some Fox Cubs on the webcams, but this is the first year that I have not seen any. There den is in the woods in the left hand corner of the main Horse field. In other years, I have often seen the Cubs in between the Tree House and the old Oak Tree, in the late afternoon, sunning themselves or playing. They were in the woods this year as we regularly heard them. They could well have been out as usual, but I haven’t seen them. Through the winter when I had the Sheep in the fields, we very often saw them on the webcams walking in between the Ewes, some of the Ewes had lambs. I know one time when the Fox was walking in between the Ewes one was lambing. Very rarely were the Sheep disturbed by the Fox, they just ignored it.

I wonder if any Sheep farmers saw the Fox and Sheep so close to each other. I must admit I was surprised, but it is easy give any animal a bad name. Maybe through the ages it was a good excuse for the Hunts. Don’t get me wrong I do not believe the Fox to be a saint, At Denbury we have had some not very nice experiences with the Fox. My Lads when they were younger had six or so pet Bantams, they were really friendly and would sit on the boys shoulders. One night a fox got into the Bantams hutch and killed the lot, and didn’t take any away. It also happened with some fancy Chicken that the Lads had, although it did not touch the Cockerel. But the worse one was when a Fox had one of our white Geese. We have a pond in the farm yard just in front of the farm house. I was out at the time, when a Fox in daylight, within yards of the farm house and with my Lads watching, jumped over a fence to get to the Geese, it jumped back over the fence with the Goose in mouth and started to eat it with the boys watching. I drove down the drive as it was happening. I had shotgun at the time and I shot the Fox. Believe me I didn’t like doing it, I really did not have an alternative, for sure it would have been back for the remainder of our Geese.

The hay is in the barn now, that is one less thing to worry about. It rained on it a little last night. the hot sun soon dried the little wet there was.

Don’t forget the Meteor Showers tonight from about 10.30pm. It is a bit cloudy here, but I must admit I am so tired I could well be asleep and miss it all.

Sorry about the loss of cam 1 and 2 just after 9.pm, one of our broadband connections went down for a few minutes.

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That s a bit of a worry out of the…

That’s a bit of a worry out of the way, as some of you saw, we baled the hay this afternoon. A couple of weeks back I was getting very concerned that the bad weather would stop us from making any fodder at all, let alone hay. With the hot sun this morning it had made by lunchtime. Just as well as the forecast is showers tonight. It was a bit of a gamble to try to make hay with the forecast for in the middle of the week being wet, but I did not have an option. Mind you I have never not made hay in all the time that I have been at Denbury.

We made 141 bales, that is with out cutting a small paddock at the end of the valley, that we would normally cut, up about 19 more bales from last year, although the contractor reckons that the bales are tighter than last year. I will try to sell 50 of then. Last winter we used 109, about four a week I would guess. Some people would say tat we feed more hay than we should, but I would rather have fat warm Horses in the winter months.

All going well the bales will be taken from the fields and stacked in the barn tomorrow. So that the bales can be put into the barn we have had to let the Sheep out of the pen, that they have been in for a six weeks or more. The Portlands should have been taken to market this morning for the Rare Breeds Sale, but the restricted movement of Cattle, Sheep and Pigs because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak, the sale was cancelled. I had intended to keep the friendly Texels, so we have put up netting and gates around the lake to hopefully keep them in. All the Lambs have now been weaned off of the Ewes, so we should not get them breaking out of the area we have put them in.

Although the distance from the barn to the lake is only about fifteen metres, it was a bit of a problem getting them to their new area. The first thing that they wanted to do as the passed out the gate was to graze, and they wouldn’t move. Tass and Kye were deliberately put where the sheep could see them, which blocked off one area, just in case they decided that they wanted to go in the direction that I didn’t want them to, I stood on the other escape route. After about ten to fifteen minute, with a little coaxing they went into the lake area. Hopefully that is where they will stay.

It is possible we could soon be looking for a live in Groom to help with the Horses, and other odd jobs on the farm. The person would need to have experience with Horses. If you think that it may interest you, please email me at info@denburyfarm.co.uk telling a little about yourself.

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Sorry but it is going to be a short one…

Sorry, but it is going to be a short one again tonight. When we are haymaking the day goes so quick, that other than making the hay we really don’t do much else. Other things to write in the diary just do not happen.

I cant believe after the rotten summer that we have had, that we are now getting so much warm sunshine. So much so that we may well be able to bale the tomorrow. As the hay is making there is a really good smell with it. It doesn’t always guarantee good hay, but it is a fair indication. There only seems to be one problem area, that is a three acre area that was hit by the flood. The field of five acres is dissected by the stream, although further down from the main flood. I hadn’t expected that the field would have flooded as much as it had, until I saw it and thought about it. What seems to have happened is that a culvert under a lane, that parts the five acre field and another about five and a half a from the main farm got quickly blocked with the streams bed stone, this caused the lane to flood about a hundred metres or more both sides, the soil that had come off of the hill with the rain spread on the grass as mud. When the grass was cut it brought up the soil in the grass, making it very dusty. probably forty bales will be spoilt.

I got the telescope computer back this evening and tried it straight away in the observatory, but unfortunately I could not get a remote connection from it to the farm house. It seems that although the computer did have a problem, it was not the reason for me not being able connect to the observatory. I should think that the wire connection from the farm house to the observatory is the cause. I will try to get another wire put in as quickly for the new moon. It would have been good to have had it working for Sunday, as it is going to be a good clear night for watching a spectacular meteor shower. If you look towards the east, this is the bad part, from about 11pm Sunday to 2.am Monday it should be a good if you have never seen any.

I don’t know if any one else counted, but I am sure that I counted sixteen Badgers feeding at one time tonight. The youngsters, both this years and last, are getting too brave when I take the feed up. I have said before that I don’t want to humanise them. I will make some sort of noise that will make them run back to the sett when I feed them in future.

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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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p from us same as you bale of…

p from us same as you bale of

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We managed to mow the grass to make the hay…

We managed to mow the grass to make the hay today. the weather forecast for the next week or so doesn’t look to bad, so with a bit of luck we should be able to make some sort of hay or haylage.

I went to the Barn Owl Trust this afternoon as the contractor was starting to mow the grass. It was a bit cloudy with a bit of warm sun shining through the cloud and also a little wind. Just a few miles from Denbury I hit heavy shower. Most of the way to and back from the Trust there were showers, some so heavy I could not see very well out of the car windscreen. You can imagine that I was a bit concerned that before the grass had even been cut, it was pouring down with rain on it. Not a good start for haymaking. When I got back to Denbury this evening there had not been any rain at all. I really don’t know how we missed it. It is either a good sign or it is going to pour down tonight.

As I expected the foot and mouth virus has spread to another farm, and I shouldn’t think that it will be the last. It is a virus that is very hard to confine. That is why it beggars belief that it was only this evening that the public footpaths and bridleways in the restricted areas were closed. What world do these people who are meant to safeguarding our interest come from. You don’t need to be brain of Britain to work out that walkers and ramblers are just as likely to spread the virus as animals who cannot be moved in case they spread the virus. I know that I will be cursed for saying it, but until it is known if the virus is going to breach the restricted area, a nationwide closing of footpaths is essential. It could easily be done on a weekly basis. This is the main holiday period when walkers and ramblers use the footpaths and bridleways. No one knows from what area they may come from, or who they have been in contact with. Yesterday one of them could have been walking across farmland in the restricted areas. Drastic measures need to be taken for drastic situations.

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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.