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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the photo page. All sent in by Simon.

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year. No wonder the Druids celebrated the Winter Solstice. I don’t mind if it had rained, snowed or even if there had been a hurricane, it was the shortest day of the year and the days will start getting longer telling Spring is on its way. Mind you I just went to look for one of our Emu in the Horse Field. It was so misty I could not see more than 3 feet in front of me.

Emu in the Horse Field. A week ago when I checked the Valley camera first thing in the morning I saw what I thought was a Deer in the distance. On zooming in to the Deer it turned out to be an Emu. We went to try to catch it fearing that it would start to run as soon as we went close. To my surprise it wanted to follow me, but it would not cross the Bridge over the Stream as the gap was to small. After twenty minutes of coaxing it to within just a foot or so of crossing we decided to go a different way just in case it got bored and decided to walked away. We decided to go through the gate in between the Valley Field and the Horse Field to make our way back to the Emu Field. It was our only option but the gateway was a lot wider allowing the Emu to see through from one field to the other. Without any calling or enticing it followed us for nearly four hundred metres. I didn’t push our luck to try to walk the Emu up our drive from the Horse Field to the Emu Field as there are a few places that it may have decided that it would rather go other than the way we wanted. So the Emu has been in the Horse Field ever since. Normally it waits by the gate when it here me going to feed the Mob of Emu on the Quad, but this evening I forgot his bucket. When I returned to feed him he had disappeared and the mist had come in and it was impossible to see where he was. The Horse Field is big, but I eventually found him and he followed me back to the gate. I take it that it is Male and that it was chased by another. How it got out of the Emu Field I really cant make out.

The Emus are producing lots of eggs, 57 up to now. We have 31 in the incubator and more to go in. I am not to sure how many of the first eggs
are fertile, or if any have been affected by the cold. Tonight just before dusk I went to collect a couple of eggs, the first time so late and for the first time I saw the Emu mating so I am sure we will get some Emu Chicks. I must admit the Emu are nice to have. They are very friendly, inquisitive and seem quite intelligent.

All of the other animals are doing well. The Horses are rugged up and stabled at night having the freedom to walk about in the corrals in front of the stables during the day. We did part with the Bagot Goats. The only place for them was in the Paddock with the Rhea. Although we fed them at the same time, the Goats wanted the Rhea food so we were spending nearly two hours a day stopping them. We made a pen for them to feed in, but they didn’t want to go in. The Rhea were not getting the amount of feed that they needed so the Goats had to go. They have gone to a nice home with young Children and a Field full of Sheep. Thornton is doing well. It is to cold for him of a night and he barges his way in very early.

Don’t know what dialect this poem is written in, but I am sure one of you will tell me.

Talking Turkeys. A tribute to Dennis who is still running about the Farm Yard at Denbury and he wont be going in the oven.

Be nice to yu turkeys dis Christmas
Cos’ turkeys just wanna hav fun
Turkeys are cool, turkeys are wicked
An every turkey has a Mum.
Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,
Don’t eat it, keep it alive,
It could be yu mate, an not on your plate
Say, Yo! Turkey I’m on your side.
I got lots of friends who are turkeys
An all of dem fear christmas time,
Dey wanna enjoy it, dey say humans destroyed it
An humans are out of dere mind,
Yeah, I got lots of friends who are turkeys
Dey all hav a right to a life,
Not to be caged up an genetically made up
By any farmer an his wife.

Turkeys just wanna play reggae
Turkeys just wanna hip-hop
Can yu imagine a nice young turkey saying,

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font color red Sorry just not had the time to…

Sorry, just not had the time to do the Photo Page or Diary. Not even had time to do any Christmas shopping or send any Christmas cards. Not even time to get to the shops. Will get back to it very soon.

I saw the Kingfisher this afternoon. First time at this time of the year. Also saw a Deer in the Valley last night.

We have had over 40 Emu eggs and have 30 in the Incubator. Check out the Hatchery Cam as there are Light Sussex eggs going into the hatcher in the next few days.

As you, we are very disappointed with the Northern Light webcam. I will start to look for a new location in Norway.

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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.

Adder in the New Forest, Mick (Hampshire)

Chaffinches nest with eggs in the New Forest, Mick (Hampshire)

Lapwing in the New Forest, Mick (Hampshire)

Lapwing nest with eggs in the New Forest, Mick (Hampshire)

Robin feeding chicks in my garden. Mick (Hampshire)

As you have seen on the photograph of the Emu eggs they are a very dark green, so I expected that I would not be able to candle them with a normal poultry candler. To make matters worse I was told today they are opaque so they will need a special infra-red device to see if the eggs are fertile or I will need to incubate for the full 55 days without knowing until the eggs hatch or not if we are going to get a chick. We have incubation space for at least 160 eggs but that wont take long to fill if we incubate all the eggs. So we need to know the fertility or we may get more Emu than we really want.

The other problem that we have is that we cannot trace the Company who did at one time make the infra-red candling device. The Veterinary who owns the Incubator Company that sponsors the Hatchery Cam is the most experienced Ratite Veterinary in the UK and he once sold the device. He believes that the Company is no longer trading, so the options I had were to find a second hand one or find another method of seeing into the Emu eggs for a live embryo.

After a day on the phone speaking to different people we have, we hope three possibilities of knowing if our eggs are fertile after two weeks in the incubator. The first is with my connections in the CCTV industry through the webcams. An infra-red device is going to be made for us. The second again through my CCTV connections by Thermal Imaging, the same principle ish that you see on the Police Helicopters when the can see white images in the dark. It will mean taking the Emu eggs out of the incubator for a few minutes and letting them cool down from the incubating temperature. The egg shell will then be cooler than the embryo allowing the embryo if there is one to be seen by the thermal camera. The Thermal Imaging manufacturer is coming to the Farm after Christmas to see if it works. The final method is by sound with a Stethoscope to hear the Embryo heartbeat or by a powerful microphone in-cased in a box that the egg is put into. I don’t mind what method we use as long as we don’t have to wait 55 day to know if the eggs are fertile.

There is one other way of telling if an egg is fertile, although it can be a bit hit and miss. The egg is placed on a table, as the egg cools down the chick will start to move making the egg roll slightly from side to side.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

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

Sting Ray Hull Aquarium, Betty Canada

I believe this is a puffer fish, Hull Aquarium. Betty Canada

Feeding frenzy, Hull Aquarium. Betty Canada

Large Angel fish, Hull aquarium. Betty Canada

Wall of haberdashery store, beamish. Betty Canada

For over a week we have been concreting a large area of our Farm Yard. It has meant keeping the Chicken, Geese and Dennis in some days when the concrete was being laid. Yesterday and today were the main two days and to make sure that the concrete was not trod on we kept the Horses stabled just in case although unlikely they got out.

Although the weather has been crap with the rain we have been getting, the rain had not spoilt the concrete until this morning when it absolutely poured down and it spoilt a few areas. There was not a lot we could do about it as the the area was to large to lean over and smooth it off. We went in for a quick drink and on returning there were a long line of what looked like Dove prints. Worse still I went to feed the Emu and the Peacock passed me on the drive. I wasn’t that concerned as the Peacock always goes the same way on his way home, stopping by the Chicken houses where he finds the Chicken feed. Not today, when I got back to the concrete he had walked all over it. I couldn’t believe my eyes at seeing his foot prints in the still wet concrete.

This morning Thornton also stepped on yesterdays laid concrete leaving just one footprint. He is not going to be very happy tonight as we have shut him in the Barn next to the other Sheep just in case it happens again.

We put 20 Emu eggs in the incubator last night. We found that the Emu had laid another 4 eggs by Monday after collecting them on Saturday. The Temperature of 36.5c and the humidity level was good for nearly 24 hours so we decided to take a chance as we were unsure of the age of all of the eggs. The quicker we got them in the incubator the better it would be. Now we will have to wait 55 days to see how many will hatch. We will try to candle them in a couple of weeks time. Trouble is the eggs are very dark and the candle lamp we now have is not strong enough to see inside the eggs. When we kept Ostriches I made a candler for those eggs as small candlers did not work. I reckon I will need to make another with a very strong halogen bulb to have any chance of checking the eggs.

Barbara in a cold South Staffs, At this time of the year the Badger don’t feed a much as they do at other times. They live on their fat built up over the rest of the year. Also with the rain we have been getting the ground is very soft, making it easy for the Badgers to dig the ground for their favorite food of worms. I saw some Badgers spread over the night feeding on the bread and peanuts. If we get bad frosts for prolonged periods the Badgers will start feeding more on the bread and peanuts.

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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

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

Betty save the day by sending in over 60 photographs.

Chicken at our picnic table in Beamish Betty Canada.

Hay Rick at Beamish, is that a weather vane on top? Betty Canada.

Shark Hull Aquarium Betty Canada.

Emu eggs that I found.

Emu egg incubator warming up.

Teach me to keep my eyes open. At least every other day I have been walking all over the Emu Field looking for any eggs that they have laid since I found one a few weeks back. yesterday afternoon I walked the Field again and came across a nest tucked away in the far right hand corner of the Field partly covered with grass. How I missed the nest I will never know as there were 20 eggs in the nest. Trouble is that I don’t know how old the eggs are. You can keep the eggs for about 14 days before incubating them but some that I found may be a lot older. By the look of the eggs I would think that the eggs were laid by 3 or 4 different Emu.

Today we have been getting the incubator ready for the eggs. I was waiting for a couple more eggs before cleaning the incubator ready to set the eggs. It will need to be running for a couple of day to make sure that it is working properly as we have only just got the incubator and I am not to sure how they work yet. I cant complain as I was starting to think that we may not get many eggs this year after the moving the bird only six weeks ago.

Asbo has been doing his job. We started to incubate some of the eggs he has fertilised earlier this week. On checking them last night a lot of the eggs are fertile so in just over two weeks we will start hatching the eggs on the webcam. Just a bit shorter than the time that the Emu eggs will take to incubate of 56 days.

Thornton has been coming in a lot more. I think it may be something to do with the weather. The only time he doesn’t come in is when it is raining at the time he normally knocks on the door to come in, then he will spend the night in the barn with some of the other Sheep. Believe me Thorbton really does knock on the door. Normally three times. At times when I need to knocked on the Cottages doors they are not answered as people think that it is Thornton who is knocking.

Dennis has got very big. If it wasn’t that he is a pet he would be just about be the size of a Turkey that we would buy for Christmas, saving a lot of money. We have never eaten any of the animals that we have kept at Denbury. Ostrich meat is very tasty and low in cholesterol but after working with them we couldn’t eat any. The same with Wild Boar. I use to give the Piglets away once they were weaned. We just may just have one of our Lambs next year. We usually send them to Market but the last time that I put any in to be sold they only fetched a small amount and after the commissions I was sent an invoice. This year we have sent three to the abattoir, partly because of the little we got but also because we do not like to see the stress that the animals go through when sent to Market, we also never know just how far they will travel before getting to their final destination. Two that we had slaughtered were sold to two of our Holiday Guests,and one to friends. Although the Lambs didn’t look that big the Butcher said that they were very well finished and the meat did look very good. All three people who had them said the the meat tasted very good. Two said it was the best that they had ever eaten.

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webcams

Sorry there are no photographs tonight as there are only…

Sorry there are no photographs tonight as there are only one days left. If you have any send them in.

Below a bit of interesting reading.

Feeding birds ‘changes evolution’

Bird-feeders, hung in many a garden, can affect the way our feathered friends evolve, say scientists.

European birds called blackcaps follow a different “evolutionary path” if they spend the winter eating food put out for them in UK gardens.

The birds’ natural wintering ground is southern Spain, where they feed on the fruits that grow there.

Researchers describe the impact this well-intentioned activity has had on the birds in Current Biology journal.

Dr Martin Schaefer from the University of Freiburg in Germany led the research.

He and his team found that blackcaps that migrated to the UK for the winter were in the very earliest stages of forming a new species.

He explained that some blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) would always have migrated “a little further north” than others and eventually “ended up in Britain in the winter”.

But those birds would have had nothing to eat,” he said.

It was when garden bird feeders became more popular in the UK, that an evolutionary division began to emerge.

“As soon as the British provided a lot of bird food, those birds would have had a much higher probability of surviving the winter.”

And because the UK is closer to their breeding ground, those birds would also have returned earlier to claim the best territory.

The researchers, from Germany and Canada, set out to discover if the birds that spent the winter availing themselves of garden bird-feeders were in fact a distinct group.

To do this, they studied the blackcaps at a breeding ground in Germany.

The team were able to use a chemical “signature” from the birds’ claws to identify where they spent the winter, and what food they ate.

“Then we took blood samples and analysed those to assess whether… we had two distinct populations. And that’s exactly what we found,” said Dr Schaefer.

“To a very large extent the birds only mate [with] birds with the same overwintering grounds as them.”

This initial “reproductive isolation”, Dr Schaefer explained, is the very first step in the evolution of a new species.

“This tells us that by feeding birds in winter we… produce an evolutionary split. And we have produced these initial steps in as little as 50 years.”

The team also observed differences in the birds’ beaks, wings and plumage.

Blackcaps that migrated along the shorter route to the UK had rounder wings, and longer, narrower beaks.

The scientists said these differences were evidence that the birds had adapted to their shorter journey, and to eating seeds and fat from bird-feeders, rather than fruit from shrubs and trees.

But, Dr Schaefer pointed out that the evolution of a new bird species “could take 100,000 to a million years”.

“At this stage this is reversible,” he added. “And it’s hard to envision a species change, because if there’s another economic crisis and people stop feeding the birds, the whole system might just collapse.”

Man-made change

In this case, Dr Schaefer thinks the human impact on blackcaps has been a positive thing.

“[The birds have] found a better overwintering area that is closer to the breeding ground, where they can obtain food easily.

“And I also think its positive news for us, because it means not all the changes we produce are necessarily bad, and that some species have the potential to adapt quickly to the changes.”

Grahame Madge from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said that this was “a fascinating piece of research” and that it fitted in with the birds adapting to a changing climate.

“Blackcaps have been able to start this behaviour because of the milder winter we’ve experienced in the last few decades,” he said.

“And because they’re getting food, this reinforces the behaviour and will enable them to survive a colder winter [in the UK].”

Joseph Tobias, a biologist from the Oxford University in the UK, agreed that the UK climate may have been a more important factor contributing to the changes observed in the blackcaps.

“The study clearly demonstrates that a new lineage has arisen… [but] it doesn’t actually demonstrate that food hand-outs by humans are the root cause,” Dr Tobias said.

“It is possible that the main reason for the switch in migratory behaviour was a warming winter climate in the UK. The best we can say on the basis of the evidence is that the increase in bird-feeding in the UK may have contributed to the switch in behaviour.”

Mr Madge added that putting food out for birds in the winter was “very important” and that many birds “need the energy boost at this time of year”.

It’s positive news for us, because it means not all the changes [humans] produce are necessarily bad. Martin Schaefer, University of Freiburg.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the photo page.

Only one of photographs left.

Blackbird & Song Thrush in the snow (my back garden), Mick

Cock Chaffinch in apple tree over my garden, Mick

Jay in my garden, Mick

Wren in my garden, Mick (Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire border)

Photograph of Tiger to go with article.

Fortunately none of the Animals from Cricket St Thomas went to Noah’s Ark.

The Tiger have been returned to the Circus probably so that the Zoo can reapply for membership to The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA)

Zoo expelled from industry body

A zoo in North Somerset has been expelled from an industry body over its relationship with a circus.

The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) said Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm kept dealings with the Great British Circus hidden from it.

BIAZA, which pledged to investigate last month, has now terminated the Wraxhall zoo’s membership for bringing the association into disrepute.

An association statement read: “There has been a breakdown of trust.”

The Great British Circus is the only UK circus which still uses tigers in its shows.

One of the Noah’s Ark tigers is used on a Great British Circus promotional DVD and is seen performing tricks during a training session in the circus ring.

The circus insists none of the tigers at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm [NAZF] has actually taken part in performances.

BIAZA is a charity which represents and promotes the UK’s and Ireland’s zoo and aquariums.

Its statement reads: “The reasons for termination are due to a refusal to provide BIAZA with information when requested and entering into an arrangement with the Great British Circus, which contravenes the Animal Transaction Policy, despite having been warned of possible consequences.

“Council believes that the behaviour of NAZF has brought the association into disrepute and that there has been a breakdown of trust between BIAZA and NAZF, and this has unfortunately resulted in a parting of the ways.”

Secret filming

In October BBC Inside Out West revealed the Captive Animals Protection Society (CAPS) had filmed secret footage at Noah’s Ark.

That revealed some of the staff at the zoo were unhappy about its links with the circus.

An undercover researcher working for CAPS also discovered the zoo had buried a tiger carcass on its land instead of sending it off for incineration as the law demands.

Anthony Bush, the owner of Noah’s Ark, said at the time he had since dug up the tiger and corrected his mistake.

Mr Bush refused to comment on the expulsion from BIAZA

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

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

I am only sending these as Karen Stoke has told me to !!!
They were taken about a month ago.
The pleasure of feeding Ducks( not wishing to open that debate again).
My passion which is cattle, I could stand by a field all day just watching them. Rose W’canton

Please don’t go on holiday again. Betty Canada

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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page sent in by Lynne.

The Emu have not started to produce any more eggs as yet. December is when they are due to start laying but although we are looking every day there are none to be found. The Field that the Emu are in is quite steep and when we kept Ostriches we needed to look in the hedge at the bottom of the Field as some of the eggs would roll down the hill into the hedge. Last summer I found one egg in the hedge and we had not kept Ostrich for nearly eight years.

Another problem we had with the first year of laying young Ostriches when we kept them was that they would lay their eggs standing up. With Ostriches it is a long way for the eggs to drop to the ground and every one got cracked or finished up with a hole in them. At the time Ostrich eggs were selling for