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webcams

Over the past couple of months with the workload that…

Over the past couple of months with the workload that there is on the Farm I have found it difficult to find the time to do a Diary and I have decided that I will be unable to do any more.

I will continue uploading the photographs whilst they are being sent in, and let you know of any new webcams or other events of interest.

As a lot of you have guessed the new webcam is the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. It is being broadcast from the Ranga Hotel in Iceland. http://hotelranga.is/ I spoke to the Hotel this afternoon. An electrician should have fitted the camera today, but he didn’t turn up. With a bit of luck it should be going by the end of the week. I will keep you updated.

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webcams

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Starting to get short of photographs.

Red squirrel takes his turn, really had to squeeze in there BETTY CANADA

Chipmunk and black squirrel, might as well lay down on the job BETTY CANADA

Trillium wood near us, Ontario provincial flower BETTY CANADA

Trilliums again BETTY CANADA

Trilliums near us, also come in claret red but hard to find. BETTY CANADA

It is very rarely that those fishing at Denbury don’t respect the Wildlife and the animals. Probably only two that I can remember. One was last year and the other just over the past week or so. That person allowed one of the Black Swans to swallow a fishing hook and did not tell us that it had happened. Since the last time that it happened we have rules about fishing and the Swans. Nothing that would cause those fishing any disturbance, but would stop the Swans from getting injured. The worst part was that who ever it was did not tell us.

I only realised yesterday afternoon when I saw a swelling at the top of the Swans neck. A first I thought that it was the original Swan and that the injury had started to get worse. It was quite easy to catch it. This time we put a net right across the lake and walked it to one end trapping the Swan in the reed, it was then easy to catch it with a very large fishing landing net. Vicky I noticed on the Forum had seen me rowing trying to get the Swan up on end of the Lake.

I believe it is a Pen that is injured. We decided that we would send the Swan to the Swan Sanctuary at Shepperton, Middlesex on the out skirts of London. They have a great deal of experience with this type of injury. See their website www.swanuk.org.uk The Swan Sanctuary is a charity. They do not charge for any medical care. We will donate what we would have needed to have paid to a Veterinary. By the time we had caught the Swan it was getting very late but their volunteers met me half way from Dorset where the Pen spent last before being taken to the Sanctuary this morning.

8.55pm. Just spoke to the Swan Sanctuary. The Pen has been operated on and at the moment all is looking OK.

I did tell you that the new camera would be working by the beginning of September. But as it is not I will tell you about it on Tuesday. It could have been today but I thought that you wouldn’t mind waiting another couple of days.

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webcams

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Northern California , near San Jose/San Francisco:

Female sea lions on the boardwalk in Santa Cruz . They are not in a cage but in a fenced off area (for their own safety) on the boardwalk. They get into the fenced area by climbing up a ladder like ones found in swimming pools for people to get out of the pool. Penny

Little lizard on the beach at Big Sur. Penny

Another shot of the female sea lions. Penny

Sunset into the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur. Penny

Male sea lions, under the boardwalk at Santa Cruz. Penny

Yesterday the Butcher who we get our dog meat from gave us two large bags of beef trimmings that was a little bit off colour. Last night I decided to try putting some of it on the pole in the Valley in the hope that an Owl may have come and eaten it. It didn’t work for the Owl but a Buzzard did land on the Pole this morning and ate one piece. One of this weeks Holiday Guests managed to get a photograph. He has promised to send some of his photographs that he has taken on the Farm this week for the Photo Page, including the Buzzard on the Pole. You may have noticed that I have replaced an infra-red lamp bulb in the Valley. We may see a bit more Wildlife than we have recently, Although as we still haven’t managed to cut the grass for our hay in the Valley it is long and will stop us from seeing as much as maybe we would with the grass cut. If I get time tomorrow evening I will put meat on the Pole in the evening and do a close up on the webcam after the Badger have had a feed.

Some of you have asked about Thornton. Until last night he has been living in the Farm House for a good few weeks, only wanting to be a Sheep of a daytime. Last night he was on the drive with the rest of the Sheep and started to walk towards the Farm House as if coming in for the night. For some reason he changed his mind and turned back and stayed with the Sheep for the night. He would normally be waiting outside the kitchen door in the morning for his feed. He didn’t bother this morning. It wasn’t until this evening that we saw him, and that was because as we hadn’t seen him all day we went looking. When we found him we could see he had decided to stay out again tonight. It could well be that some of the Ewes are in season. Not that he is able to mate with them.

I had hoped that the new webcam would have been going by now. Not that you will be missing anything to much. There is still over three weeks to go before what will be able to be seen can be seen in the right conditions.

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webcams

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Three photographs of the work being done on the Stream bank.

Black Squirrel finding his nuts in mid winter BETTY CANADA

Our snowdrops do really come up in the snow, from our garden Feb.09 BETTY CANADA

I have put 3 photographs of the work being done on the Stream to stop the erosion. You may be able to work out the problem we have. The baskets that you can see are a metre high, a metre wide and two metres long. The are six baskets on the bottom row covering just over twelve metres and two on the top row. They are now filled with over 34 tonne of stone. The baskets will hold the bank from falling any further in the spot where the problem is the greatest. Through the rest of the length of the stream, about ninety metres there are over three hundred 2.4 metre post that are going to be driven into the stream bed. Behind the posts a very strong metal netting will be placed behind them. This will stop any more erosion. To hide the structure Willow will be planted. The Willow roots will bind all of the soil to give the bank strength.

The Swans are still getting on well together and the injured Swan is still looking well. The new Swan is not in quite the good condition as our Swans are. It is probably because our Swans where hatched at the Wildlife Park and were free as near as they would have been in the Wild and would have eaten naturally. The new Swan came from a small Wildfowl breeding centre and would have been fed a certain times through the day. He will soon change.

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webcams

Just finished work so it is a bit late to…

Just finished work, so it is a bit late to do a Diary or Photographs.

The new Swan has settled in well. He seems to be pairing off with what I hope is a Pen. The injured Swan still has the swelling or maybe permanent lump in its neck, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering him.

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webcams

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Just west of Penzance, swans on Drift Reservoir; Julia

Is this a Bullfinch? Spotted on the North. Julia

Cornwall coast between Portreath and Perranporth; Julia

Black Dragon Hibiscus in my garden. The very first bloom.
Karen, Florida (USA)

This was taken as the sun was setting – I thought the cloud looked a bit like a dragon breathing fire!; Julia

Another view of Drift Reservoir. Julia

Trying to make a few Chicken Houses, so just a quick Diary.

Sorry forgot to position the camera so that you can see the new Cob Swan. As soon as he arrived we made the decision to put him straight on the Lake. Our three were no where to be seen. The noise of the work being done around the Lake had made the hide themselves just behind the Kingfisher branch in a thicket that overhangs the water. It was just as well as it gave the new Swan time to get his bearings on the Lake. Where he had come from he was only on a small pond so it was a big difference. I didn’t see our Swans introduce themselves, but a few of our Holidays Guests did and they said it was as if they had known each other for ever.

The bottom layer of baskets have been positioned in the Stream and half filled with the stone. We were let down by the first people who were supplying the stone but we managed to find another supplier who delivered 32 tonne on two lorries within four hours, at a bit less money as well. The idea was to have it tipped on the grass close to the small Pond but I decided to put it in our drive just outside the Gates. I tell you 32 tonne of stone is an awful lot of stone. It partly blocked our entrance to the drive and spilled over on to the Lane out side our driveway. Half of it was moved this afternoon. So it is not a problem.

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webcams

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

JUST A FEW FLOWERS PICTURES. LYNNE.

The rain hasn’t helped the workmen doing the Lake. Once again the Met Office got it wrong. For the past four days I have been coping their forecast from their website and also the local weather. I am sure that I don’t need to tell you that over the past four days they got the forecast correct on one day. Yesterday the local forecast on the web was sunshine and cloud. It said the same this morning until about 10am when it told us that we were in for heavy rain. It had already been pouring down for two hours. Despite the rain the stream bed has been levelled and the bottom layer of baskets that will hold the stone are in place.

As long as all goes to plan the new Cob Swan will be collected tomorrow. To save it any stress we will probably let it straight onto the Lake when it gets here. I may just decide to let the resident Swans get use to it for an hour as the top layer of basket for the stone are not going in the Stream until Wednesday. They measure 2m x 1m x 1m large enough for the new Swan to go into for a short period as long as it does not get stressed.

Reading up on Black Swans last night, it told that Black Swan are the only Swans that will live with others amicably during the breeding period. That may just make me decide to keep the two pairs.

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webcams

There are photographs but I have just finished work and…

There are photographs but I have just finished work and have not had the time to alter the size of them to put up. If you know how re-size photographs we need them to be 640×480. Some of you may.

TOMORROW I WILL BE FEEDING THE BADGERS AT 8.20pm.

Work starts tomorrow on supporting the stream bank to stop the erosion that is risking the Lake from finishing up in the Stream. At the end of last year we had a so called experienced erosion expert look at the problem. Fortunately we did not use them the sort the problem out as what they identified as being the problem was not. The problem that was wrongly identified was erosion by the stream at the bottom of the bank. The problem we have is the weight of the soil at the top of the bank that is exaggerated when we have heavy rain over a prolonged period, as we did in July. It is causing the top of the bank to collapse causing large parts of the bank from top to bottom fall away. The walkway in between the Lake and the Stream is narrowing so we have got to do the work as soon as we can. So it will be started tomorrow.

There is a stretch of over 25m that has to be supported with metal baskets up to 2m high filled with stone. It will need about 40 tonne of stone. It will need the top of the baskets to the top of the bank and back filled with soil. Another 90m of the stream will be staked about every 30cm. Behind the stakes there will be heavy galvanized netting. That to will be back filled with soil. Willow will be put in the soil next spring to let a willow bank form. We then need to hope that it will solve our problem.

This afternoon when we walked around the Pond next to the Lake. Tass and Kye found the scent of where an Otter had entered the Pond. They also found the bone of an Eel that the Otter had caught in the Pond. It is an easy food source for the Otter and I will need to electric fence the Pond as I have the Lake as there are Large Fish in the Pond. What also has concerned me is that inside the fenced Lake area we noticed a path where something had entered the Lake. It may be the Swans although I have not seen them use that place. I have altered the infra-red lamp to light the area and I will record the webcams so that if there is anything in the area using the path we will know what it is. It will be on webcam three after the Badgers. Let me know on the Forum if you see any thing.

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webcams

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Winter from our bedroom window BETTY CANADA

Rosie the cat having a snooze in our bedroom, for all you cat lovers. BETTY CANADA

Rosie the cat having a snooze in our bedroom, for all you cat lovers. BETTY CANADA

I knew they were there somewhere!! BETTY CANADA

Black Squirrel finding his nuts in mid winter BETTY CANADA

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webcams

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Northern California , near San Jose/San Francisco:

Golden Gate Bridge with fog rolling in. Penny

Looking back up Lombard Street. Penny

Almaden-Quicksilver State Park. Penny

Big Sur. Penny

Dolphins off the coast near Monterey. Penny

I really thought that you would be more imaginative than you have been. Just a few guesses of what the new webcam is going to be. I have written down at least 50 ideas that there are with the clues I have given, and that was not even trying, and I know what it is. Still as long as it is up and running in the expected time you wont have long to wait.

The Cob Swan is still eating well and looking alright even with the lump on it neck. The new Cob is being collected on next Tuesday. Not to sure how he will be greeted when we introduce him onto the Lake with our three. Speaking to the person we are getting it from there is no telling how it will go. His experience has been with the Pen playing hard to get, chasing the Cob all over the place. They eventually got together but it took a few weeks. Another person has told me that the Cobs may have a bit of a set to.

Sorry that I have been neglecting the webcams recently. For the past few weeks we have been very busy. I need to replace a couple of infra-red bulbs. One in the Valley and the other on the Lake. I also need to find the break in the cable for the webcam that faces onto the Badger Sett. It is not the best of jobs, but it would have been worse still if I had of tried to do it in the rain. One of the webcam cables for the Swallows was broken earlier in the year. The Barn that it is wired to is the only place that the Swallows are still nesting in. Usually the Barn that the working Swallow webcam is going has Swallow nest this time of year, but since the Tawny Owl raided the Swallow and Doves nest a month or so back nest no birds have nested in the Barn.