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At last a Swallow decided to nest in one of…

At last a Swallow decided to nest in one of the Barns that we could put a camera in. In past year it is the first place that they have nested in. Then this morning we found in our ? outside our kitchen door that a Swallow is building a nest in ?above the door. They have never nested in this area before

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We have an old Cider Orchard at Denbury I suppose…

We have an old Cider Orchard at Denbury. I suppose you could count the number of trees in the orchard on two hands. The trees are old. In the 18 years we have been at Denbury we have done nothing to them, They need a lot of pruning but they always produce a great amount of apples.

Until about three to four years ago the orchard was the home of our Wild Boar we kept until they started to dig their escape under the fencing. An orchard is a great home for Pigs and Wild Boar who keep them tidy with their rooting and eating the surplus apples. We only ever used a few of the apples for ourselves and the Horses. Last year we were able to crush some and feed to the Emu. The Badgers make a meal of the windfalls but there are still a great amount that are left to rot on the ground.

Unfortunately once the Wild Boar had learnt how to get out of the orchard there was no way of keeping them in. They rooted up our pastures and on a few occasions they made their way to the Village, that didn’t go down very well with one of our neighbours who’s garden they rooted up. The rooting wasn’t that bad, just a very newly dug area that had been just planted. None of the plants were damaged until our neighbour decided to throw a wobbly and picked one of the plants up and threw it on the ground protesting that it was ruined. I couldn’t resist telling them it was now. So the Wild Boar had to go. Contrary to what you may hear about Wild Boar they are no more dangerous than any other type of pig. I found them more placid than other pigs and we found them a pleasure to keep.

The Orchard without the Wild Boar is now overgrown with weeds and looks an eyesore so I have decided to use the Orchard for what it was intended and make cider. Better still being that October is not one of our busier months we are going to offer cider making holidays. Watch out Diane, Vicky, John and David, and of course Margaret and Marie, regulars to Denbury I have some work for you. Mind you drinking all you can and taking a gallon or more home with you will make it worth while.

We have a small Barn that will be ideal for the Cider making and I have purchased an Antique Cider Press. Trouble is it is in France. Takes some believing that I have to drive to France to purchase a Cider Press when we live in Somerset
the home of Cider. The Press I have purchased is a lot nicer than the traditional Somerset Presses and will fit well into our Barn. Those I have seen locally, and believe me they are very hard to find are being sold for stupid money. In the main they are very big and in very poor condition. They will need to be kept outside because of their size. Not a good idea to be making Cider in the Autumn outside. Today I had four very large wooden Brandy barrels delivered for storing the Cider when made. That of course if there is any left to store.

Categories
webcams

We have an old Cider Orchard at Denbury I suppose…

We have an old Cider Orchard at Denbury. I suppose you could count the number of trees in the orchard on two hands. The trees are old. In the 18 years we have been at Denbury we have done nothing to them, but they always produce a great amount of apples.

Until about three or four years ago the orchard was the home of the Wild Boar we kept until they started to dig their escape under the fencing. An orchard is a great home for Pigs and Wild Boar who keep them tidy with their rooting and eating the surplus apples. We only ever used a few of for ourselves and the Horses. Last year we were able to crush some and feed them to the Emu. The Badgers make a meal of the windfalls but there are still a great amount that are left to rot on the ground.

Unfortunately once the Wild Boar had learnt how to get out of the orchard there was no way of keeping them in. They rooted up our pastures and on a few occasions they made their way to the Village, that didn’t go down very well with one of our neighbours who’s garden they rooted up. The rooting wasn’t that bad, just a very newly dug area that had been just planted. None of the plants were damaged until our neighbour decided to throw a wobbly and picked one of the plants up and threw it on the ground protesting that it was ruined. I couldn’t resist telling them it was now. So the Wild Boar had to go. Contrary to what you may hear about Wild Boar they are no more dangerous than any other type of pig. I found them more placid than other pigs and we found them a pleasure to keep.

The Orchard without the Wild Boar is now overgrown with weeds and looks an eyesore so I have decided to use the Orchard for what it was intended and make cider. Better still being that October is not one of our busier months we are going to offer cider making holidays. Watch out Diane, Vicky, John and David, and of course Margaret and Marie, regulars to Denbury I have some work for you. Mind you drinking all you can and taking a gallon or more home with you will make it worth while.

We have a small Barn that will be ideal for the Cider making and I have purchased an Antique Cider Press. Trouble is it is in France. Takes some believing that I have to drive to France to purchase a Cider Press when we live in Somerset
the home of Cider. The Press I have purchased is a lot nicer than the traditional Somerset Presses and will fit well into our Barn. Those I have seen locally and they are very hard to find are being sold for stupid money. In the main they are very big and in very poor condition. They will need to be kept outside because of their size. Not a good idea to be making Cider in the Autumn outside. Today I had four very large wooden Brandy barrels delivered for storing the Cider when made. That of course if there is any left to store.

Categories
webcams

Although the Horses are now turned out there is still…

Although the Horses are now turned out there is still lot of work to do causing the Diary entries to keep get putting back.

The Lake has really come to life this year with the introduction of the Black Swans, they have drawn more Waterfowl onto the Lake. There are two lots of Mallard Ducklings one having six the other three, lots of Moorhens with their young and of course the Geese with their four Goslings. We feed the Swan every morning and evening, that has made all of the other Waterfowl come to the feeding place for their share. Most evenings another pair of Geese visit the Lake. The resident pair let them know they are not welcome or I am sure that they would try to nest.

Nearly every day a Heron comes to the lake. We are forever trying to chase it away but no doubt most times we miss seeing it. Heron cause a lot of damage to the Fish, but at this time of year it is worse as the Fish are spawning and they are in the reeds that makes it easy for the Heron to strike. Most Fish are to large for the Heron to eat but it still attacks the Fish causing a lot of injuries and sometimes it kill them.

Every day I walk around the Lake to check the electric fencing and to make sure that there are no other problems. This morning around the unprotected Pond there was a strong smell of the Otter. I haven’t seen a lot of evidence that it has been around a lot this year just a couple of piles of the fishes scales that the Otter always leaves, so i will not electric fence the Pond. I have an infra red lamp installed but i don’t seem to manage to find enough time to wire it up. it will make good viewing when it is working and it will let me know what sort of problem the Otter is causing.

The Swallows are now nesting, but this year they have not nested in there normal places so we have not been able to show them on the webcams as yet. We have noticed that there are not as many Swallows as there were last year, I should think down by more than 40% of what normally nest in our buildings. It could be that it is still very cold. A few weeks back for well over a month we had a good spell of really warm and dry weather, it made the Rhea nest earlier than they would normally do but now they have stopped laying completely. We have managed to put some eggs in the incubators and most are fertile. unlike Emu eggs Rhea eggs can be candled so that we are able to see if they are fertile early in the incubation period.

I have not managed to see the Badger Cubs yet. I keep seeing the entries on the Forum, although you that is not being used very much now. By the time I check the webcams they have gone. From one year to the next I cant remember what month they first show themselves. I could be wrong but I think that this year it is earlier that most years. I ha vent seen all of the Badgers eating the food altogether this year, so I am not sure how many adults are now in the Sett. I reckon that I have seen seven or maybe eight different ones but I wont be sure of the total until they are all out together.

Thornton is in his element now that we have Lambs. Until we get the Horse Field stock proofed all of the Sheep are housed in the Barn, other than Ewy and three other Ewes, one who has Lambs that are giving us the run around. The Lambs are able to get through the gates that their Mothers are behind, and can be found with Thornton who is free range. He still knocks on our Kitchen door for a biscuit or two, hangs around for an hour or so chilling out in the kitchen but now always returns to the other Sheep.

Categories
webcams

Although the Horses are now turned out there is still…

Although the Horses are now turned out there is still lot of work to do causing the Diary entries to keep get putting back.

The Lake has really come to life this year with the introduction of the Black Swans, they have drawn more Waterfowl onto the Lake. There are two lots of Mallard Ducklings one having six the other three, lots of Moorhens with their young and of course the Geese with there four Goslings. We feed the Swan every morning and evening, that has made all of the other Waterfowl come to the feeding place for their share. Most evenings another pair of Geese visit the Lake. The resident pair let them know they are not welcome or I am sure that they would try to nest.

Nearly every day a Heron comes to the lake. We are forever trying to chase it away but no doubt most times we miss seeing it. Heron cause a lot of damage to the Fish, but at this time of year it is worse as the Fish are spawning and they are in the reeds that makes it easy for the Heron to strike. Most Fish are to large for the Heron to eat but it still attacks the Fish causing a lot of injuries and sometimes it kill them.

Every day I walk around the Lake to check the electric fencing and to make sure that there are no other problems. This morning around the unprotected Pond there was a strong smell of the Otter. I haven’t seen a lot of evidence that it has been around a lot this year just a couple of piles of the fishes scales that the Otter always leaves, so i will not electric fence the Pond. I have an infra red lamp installed but i don’t seem to manage to find enough time to wire it up. it will make good viewing when it is working and it will let me know what sort of problem the Otter is causing.

The Swallows are now nesting, but this year they have not nested in there normal places so we have not been able to show them on the webcams as yet. We have noticed that there are not as many Swallows as there were last year, I should think down by more than 40% of what normally nest in our buildings. It could be that it is still very cold. A few weeks back for well over a month we had a good spell of really warm and dry weather, it made the Rhea nest earlier than they would normally do but now they have stopped laying completely. We have managed to put some eggs in the incubators and most are fertile. unlike Emu eggs Rhea eggs can be candled so that we are able to see if they are fertile early in the incubation period.

I have not managed to see the Badger Cubs yet. I keep seeing the entries on the Forum, although you that is not being used very much now. By the time I check the webcams they have gone. From one year to the next I cant remember what month they first show themselves. I could be wrong but I think that this year it is earlier that most years. I ha vent seen all of the Badgers eating the food altogether this year, so I am not sure how many adults are now in the Sett. I reckon that I have seen seven or maybe eight different ones but I wont be sure of the total until they are all out together.

Thornton is in his element now that we have Lambs. Until we get the Horse Field stock proofed all of the Sheep are housed in the Barn, other than Ewy and three other Ewes, one who has Lambs that are giving us the run around. The Lambs are able to get through the gates that their Mothers are behind, and can be found with Thornton who is free range. He still knocks on our Kitchen door for a biscuit or two, hangs around for an hour or so chilling out in the kitchen but now always returns to the other Sheep.