Blog - Page 83 of 109 - Farm Holiday Cottages - Fishing and Wildlife Holidays

We have friends here tonight so the Diary is very short.

We got the camera going this afternoon to show you Bliss and Misty working tomorrow. The picture is not as good as I would like, as some of you may have seen this afternoon when we tried it out. The length of the cable is making it not as good as it should be, it should have been a lot shorter but I could not find any ends so that I could have made it shorter. It is over 600 metre long. I have also had to use a portable generator for the electricity. But you will see them working tomorrow.

Elaine, it was Bliss who was being ridden this afternoon, the white on her leg was a leg marking, called a sock.. The Farrier came this afternoon to sort Misty’s foot out. We had put a poultice on her foot last night, but it did not draw the poison out. The farrier found the problem within seconds, he dug in to her hoof and the puss poured out, giving her instant relief. She still limps on it, but in anticipation of pain, that she no longer has. She should be able to work tomorrow, but being that she will be working in the sand, we will have to put one of my old socks and a plastic bag on her foot to stop any sand getting into the wound.

Bliss and Misty will be working from about 10.15 am tomorrow, on CAM ONE only.

I went and got three decoy Ducks today to try to make my own remote controlled model Duck, so that I can put a camera on it. I phoned some suppliers in the USA, but what they can supply me will still need me doing some work on to get it as I want. I will cut a hole in one of the decoys to see how much room there is inside it, so that I can decide what I will use to get it working. I have a friend coming to stay tomorrow who I believe knows a little about remote model. He will be captured.

Elsie, the Sheep are on their way tomorrow. The five that are going are already loaded in the Horse trailer so that we can get them to market early. By chance there is a Rare Breeds sale on tomorrow, with a bit of luck some one may want some Portlands. What ever I wont get very much money for them I am not sending any of the Sheep that are around the lake. Taunton Market is only about twenty minutes from Denbury. Unfortunately it is closing at the end of the month after many years. A new market is opening, but it is a good way from us. Taunton Market is in the centre of the Town and is sited on a large area of land. No doubt the land is earmarked for housing. If it is, Taunton will have a few problems accommodating all the extra people.

As long a nothing out of the ordinary happens, we will be showing Bliss working on Sunday, I am not to sure if we will be able to let you see Misty, we have not been able to do any work with her at all today, her foot is really giving her a lot of pain. I think that I have found out where the problem is, we have put a poultice on the foot tonight, it may draw the poison out overnight, if it doesn’t the Farrier is coming tomorrow afternoon and he will find the problem, if the poultice doesn’t work. Once the poison is drawn out, with a dressing on it, Misty will be able to work straight away. With a bit of luck you may see her. We will be showing the Horses from about 10.30am but it may be a little later. Because of the age of Bliss and Misty they cannot be ridden for more than fifteen minutes

Karen I come from the East End of London, Canning Town. The roughest, toughest area of the East End, but a great place. Not so good now. The London Dockland Development Corporation, redeveloped the area, for the better as far as the infrastructure, it really is fantastic. Linda my friend who died last week, got the Riding Centre through the development. But it brought in a different type of people in to the area, that changed the area in to a place that I did not want to live in any more. But it was a good excuse to pursue my life long ambition to have a Farm.

We have friends here tomorrow, so if there is a Diary it will be short. What ever I will remind you of Bliss and Misty. Check the Diary and Forum as I have just realised that it is Remembrance Sunday this week and we may work around that.

Sue, I try to feed the Badgers earlier so that I can see what I am doing. Although the Badgers Sett is very close to the Farm House, on both places that I put the food down I have to climb up a steep embankment to get to the feeding places. Getting to the main feeding place is quite steep and slippery, but the lower feeding place is a nightmare to get up to. To get to it I have to climb a very steep embankment a good thirty feet up. I have a rope to try to stop from slipping down, I also need it for pulling myself up the embankment, but even with the rope I have very often slipped from top to bottom on my backside. When it is wet or icy I don’t like climbing up, as for sure I am going to come down a lot quicker than I went up. This year I have got my Lads to cut out steps in the embankment to make it easier for me to climb up, but it still slippery when wet. That is why I feed the Badger in my working cloths, coming down the wrong way leaves me very muddy.

It has been very windy at Denbury today, it is still blowing a bit at the moment. The leaves are being blown off of the trees. The Badgers don’t like the wind. Normally when I feed them a few are waiting near the Sett entrance, and just out of site of the cameras a bit down the embankment where you can see them scratching themselves. When it is windy they only seem to come out after I have put the food out. I was back in the Farm House before any of them came out tonight.

The wind made Bliss and Misty hard to work with today. Both were on the toes all of the time that we were working with them. Couldn’t do to much with Misty, she is still quite lame and very uncomfortable on her foot. It is only just over a week before they are going to France, so Misty really does need to be working. All that we can do with her is to walk her on the Lunge line in the sand school. I have just phoned the Farrier to get him to take a look at her. I think that she may have bruised her sole of her foot on a stone. If the bruise is on the inside of the sole, you cant see any signs of it. It is very unusual for a good Farrier not to find out what the problem is if it is in the foot, which it looks like the way Misty is walking on it. Farriers are more likely to sort foot problems in Horses than Veterinaries. The apprenticeship of a Farrier, is or use to be seven years.

Elaine, It is mainly Bats that are flying in front of the camera. Now and then an Owl will fly across, and of course there are Moths. But I must admit at times I see object that I would not swear where Bats. I know a person who is well up on Butterflies and Moths, I will ask her about what may be Moths.

There has not a lot been happening on the Farm today. We lunged Bliss and Misty again. Bliss went exceptionally well, with some one walking by her side, she was going from halt to walk to trot and back again, all on voice commands. For the last few minute of the lungeing session she did it without any one by her side. Misty came in a little lame on her left hand rear leg this afternoon so we were unable to make her trot, but going from halt to walk and back, she was as good as Bliss in learning. Both a the easiest Horses that we have broken.

Both Bliss and Misty were ridden and lunged in the sand school today. It was quite windy, the first day it has been so since we started to break the Fillies. The rustling leaves, blowing branches and hedges, had both on their toes, with their ears pricked up and looking at everything. Misty we thought was going to give a few bucks when being ridden. She threatened, but it finished up as being a few backward jumping steps. One thing we have noticed today when lungeing the Fillies is that Bliss is right handed and Misty is left handed. Horses will go better on the leg they prefer. Some Trainers will also choose race courses, depending on what direction the course goes.

I don’t often watch Spring or Autumn watch. It is not that I don’t like wildlife programmes. These are the only ones I don’t watch very often. I get bored with the amount the talking that is done by the presenters, instead of showing wildlife, and I cant be done with the false laughing and silly antics that take up a large part of the programme. I did however catch a glimpse of the programme last night when the remote controlled model Ducks was on. They would be a good idea for the lake, to try to find out what is happening to the Duckling and Goslings. I have been looking on the Internet to try to find out where I can get one. I wont be able to get one with a camera installed, but I can easily do that myself. I don’t wont the bother of having to put an electric motor and all of the control mechanism into a decoy Duck. The decoys are easy to get. I have found a couple of sites in the USA that do remote controlled Ducks, they even do full size Geese, it would be easy with a wireless camera to get a good picture of the lake with a remote controlled model Duck or Goose that I could show on the website. It would need to be controlled from beside the lake, although it could also be left anywhere on the lake, without it moving, just to see what is happening in a particular area. What I do find strange is that the Moorhens do very well on the Lake. Most mornings you can see five Moorhen feeding where the Sheep are. I should reckon that they would have bred on the lake. I am waiting for a phone call from the USA. I may have some thing to tell you tomorrow.

We lunged Bliss and Misty in the sand school for the first time today. Horses are more often than not lunged before riding. Knowing Bliss and Misty it was important to ride them first. Lunging teaches horses to go in to different phases of walking, trotting, canter and halt on voice command. Lungeing also helps Horses to coordinate their weight and balance, it improves the Horses outline and strengthens their hind quarters. Lunging has many benefits for both experienced and unbroken inexperienced Horses. We are only using lungeing with Bliss and Misty to teach Bliss and Misty the voice commands of walking, trotting, canter and halt. It is then used when riding them, eventually the commands are made with the reins, knees and heels.

The equipment used for lungeing, is a caveson and lunge line. The caveson is a type of head collar that has padding to stop any chaffing of the Horse. Some people will use head collars to lunge with, but they tend to cut into the Horse skin, if the Horse tries to resist being lunged and pull away. You also need a lunge line of about twenty two metres long. Initially one person walks around in a circle of about twenty metres, another person stands in the middle of the circle at the end of the lunge line. Eventually the Horse will, we hope, walk at the end of the line in the twenty metre circle. Then it is a matter of keeping the Horse at the end of the line, making it go into a walk, trot, canter or halt, all the time giving voice commands to let the know what they are doing.Horses never understand the words, so you need to emphasise the sounds and words. Both Bliss and Misty both were very good on their first try. Both tried to walk towards the person holding the lunge line. Both also got excited and gave a number of bucks and darted towards the exit of the sand school. I am sure that they will get the hang of it in a couple of days.

We had two Barn Owl nest boxes put up in our large modern barn today, by the Barn Owl Trust. I think that I have told you before that we haven’t seen any Barn Owl since we have been living at Denbury. We have left a couple of areas of pasture without being grazed, to encourage a rough area that is good habitat for voles, the Barn Owls main food source. We also have an old barn that was built with holes in the ends to encourage Barn Owl. The two nesting boxes have been positioned on two opposite walls of the barn, hoping that any Owl that passes has an opportunity to see one of them. There must be Barn Owls in the area. Hopefully with the new nesting boxes and the rough grass area we may get some Barn Owls visiting Denbury.

Yes Elaine they were Deer on the Puppy cam earlier this evening. I had only a little while earlier drove down the valley, with the dogs chasing behind, so I was surprised that the come out so soon after.

It looks very much like we have got lucky with weaning Willow. I haven’t seen her taking milk from Lady for about a week. I thought that it could have been that I have missed it. But on checking Lady’s udder tonight she looks pretty well dry. It could well be that it has been difficult for Willow to have got to the udder with Lady being rugged up. Horse rugs have leg straps that go between the Horses legs to stop them sliding about. We purposely left Ladies straps off so that Willow could get to the udder. I reckon the bother of going under the rug to get to the milk has stopped Willow from feeding from Lady. Willow tends to be with Bliss and Misty most of the time, so it could also be that she hasn’t bothered to go back to Lady for her feed.

It will be a blessing if Willow has weaned herself off of Lady. It will not be necessary for us to part them, which is always a very stressful time for both the Mare and Foal. We normally have to stable the Mares and put the Foals in a paddock on their own. Both continuously are calling for each other for as long as three weeks. Even then when you let the Mares out of the stable, they will look for the Foal in what ever field you turn them out in. On saying that Bliss and Misty were very good last year, it was only the Mares that were calling out.

I keep the Bird and Badger feed in an old chest freezer in a barn opposite the Farm House. I always tend to drop a bit of the feed on the floor, of course that encourages Rats. Every evening that I went in to the barn I heard the scuffling about of what I thought were Rats. If ever there was to much feed when I got a new delivery, I would put the bags that I could not get in to the freezer, over the bottom half of the stable door, in the hope that the Rats would not get to it. Of course nine times out of ten they did, causing the bags to spill some of their contents on the floor. A couple of days ago I saw some animal quickly dart in and out of the barn. I didn’t get a good view, as there was a machine that I had left outside the barn door, and the sun was also shining, making it difficult for me to see what ever it was properly. Of course I thought that it was a Rat. I was surprised, as I had baited the barn a few weeks before and their was still some of the poison were I had baited. This morning I saw the animal again coming out of the barn. Again I only got a quick glance, the shadows showing the shape rather than the colour. The shape was definitely that of a Stoat or Weasel. It could have had a home in the barn for a while, or had started using it for a food source of the poisoned dead Rats. If the latter is the reason for it being in the barn, it may well get secondary poisoning from eating the dead poisoned Rats.

The Badgers were not all feeding at the same time tonight. I only saw eight at one time. Four on one camera and four on the other. I am sure that they were all there over the evening. You know I can never remember when they start to be seen less. Badgers don’t hibernate, but they do tend to be a lot quieter late Autumn and Winter. The first year that we showed them on the cameras, there was a long spell of not seeing any at all for some weeks. Last year If I remember correctly, a few Badgers would feed over a long period most nights. It could well be that they are starting to quieten down. Although it could also be the fireworks, and every now and then the wind is a bit gusty.

From last nights Diary. We do intend, subject to there not being any unforeseen circumstances to let you see Bliss and Misty being ridden. We think that next Sunday from about 10am would be a good time. It may not be right on that time. You will know we are going to show them, by a view of the yard in front of the Farm house on both Camera Two and the Puppy Camera.

Bliss and Misty need to be able to ride in control, to be able to do a figure of eight. We need to be doing that by next Sunday, as just a week later they will be on their way to France. We would like to have them trotting by the time they go away. The Trainer will take them on from there. We have not pushed them into do any thing that would not want to do. Just at a very easy slow pace and not more than fifteen minutes at a time. We will need to get them trotting on a head collar next week, that I reckon is going to be fun. When they trot and canter in the their field, they very often give a buck or two. We will need to get them out of that on a head collar and lead rope or they are liable to do it under saddle, and the riding will finish as a Western Rodeo.

As some of you may have seen on Camera Two we have a few Firework displays and parties going off in the area. I must admit that do like a firework party myself. Up to about four years ago we always had a display up the valley with the people living or on Holiday on the Farm. We use to build a large bonfire, get to many fireworks and have a feed and a few or maybe too many drinks, but it was always a goodnight. We really were being selfish. The Horses definitely don’t like the noise. Arnie as big as he is cant stand the bangs. He doesn’t run around mad, but you can see he is concerned. Even when there are shoots in the area he doesn’t like it. We did at one time stable the Horses, but they seemed a lot more restless inside. Now they all stay out on Guy Fawkes night.

The Badgers didn’t worry to much about the fireworks going off. When I fed them tonight there was a lot of bangs going off, it didn’t stop them coming out. The Badger were another reason that we stopped our displays. Their Sett is very near where we use to build our bonfire. If we had changed the place, we would have been near another Sett. Another worry was that a stray firework may have got into our barn with the hay and straw. We are fortunate that our nearest neighbours rarely have fireworks. That could cause us a few problems. Also our village is far enough not to have to worry to much about stray fireworks, and our closest large village would be over a mile away. That is where I am pointing Camera Two this evening. Being in the quite location and valley that we are in, we can still hear the fireworks going off as if they are a lot nearer than they are. Better go and make sure that the Horses and Sheep are all OK.

We have company this evening, so it will be a quick update tonight.

No Elsie, the Sheep did not go to market today, I had a lot to do this morning and by the time I had finished it was to late. They will be going next week.

Pat, I will definitely let you all see Bliss and Misty before they go off to France. We are not looking forward to be saying goodbye to them. They are enjoying their work being broken. We give them two days off a week, when we turn them out on those days they wait by the gate in expectation. It is not a promise, but we will try to let you see them being ridden before they go. if we can we will do it on a Sunday, maybe next. I will let you know well before.

After I finished my work this morning I phoned a wholesale nursery about the trees we are going to plant. When we plant trees we mainly use whips, they are very cheep, three foot wild cherry are priced at about 54p. Although very low in price they tend to do a lot better than pot grown. We will be buying some larger trees to put in areas as where we planted the Willow yesterday. We probably look at buying some Maple, Ash and we are also able to get some Elm whips, to replace some of the Elm that have died. The only large tree that we are going to get is a Weeping Willow to go by the lake.

Dutch Elm disease must have peaked over twenty years ago. The disease decimated all of the mature Elm Trees in the UK. It is a fungal disease of the Elm Tree, and is spread from tree to tree by a Beetle that gets under the bark of the tree, causing the tree to shed its dead bark, eventually the tree will die. The disease originated in Asia, not as the name suggests as being from the Netherlands. Spreading into Europe and America, where it has devastated native populations of Elms, which had not had the opportunity to have any resistance to the disease.

When we came to Denbury, we did not realise that we had Elm in our Hedgerows, we had believed that the disease had wiped out all of the Elm, but in fact if hedgerows are cut back regularly the Elm survives in the Hedgerows. Thinking that, and even being told by County Council Farming Adviser’s that the Hedgerows should be left to grow, only cutting back every few years or so to encourage wildlife, that is what we practiced. Unfortunately what we didn’t know was that is that a few years of growth of the Elm makes it more susceptible to the disease, and most of our Hedgerows have now not got any live Elm in them. A good example is the view from the main Badger camera where I get over the gate to feed the Badgers. Most of the Hedge that is more like trees now, either side of the post where the IR lamps are position, are dead Elm.

Around the Pond in front of the Farm House, are a lot of Willow Tree whips, that have seeded from a Willow Tree that started to grow out of know where in our front garden. I must admit that the tree is a nuisance as it stops the light getting to part of the garden, and every year its fluffy seed cones get every where, including our kitchen. This Winter it will have to go. Seven years ago it was a whip itself, it is now a very large tree, nearly as tall as the Farm House.

With the growth rate in mind, I thought that it would be a good idea to dig up a few of the Willow whips in the pond area and transplant them into the hedge, where I get over the fence to feed the Badgers. In a few years time they would have grown, so that we would be able to cut down the dead Elm. My Lads spent an hour or two transplanting the whips today. I must admit that I have made a mistake in transplanting the Willow. They would very soon spread to places on the Farm that I would not want them. Come Monday we will be digging them out and replacing them with whips of other pretty quick growing species of trees. Maybe a few Cherry.

Another job my Lads managed to start today was to cut up a large Ash Tree at the end of the valley. It is obscured by the clump of trees in the middle of the valley. It was brought down when we had the bad flood in June. It just shows what a force of water came through Denbury that night. The logs from the tree when cut up will last us for most of the winter for our fire. We are only just now finishing off the work that was needed after the damage that the flood caused.

For the past couple of weeks the lanes around our area have been teaming with young Pheasants that have just been released for the shooting season. You can tell that they are young birds by their plumage. Some are found on the lanes have been run over, probably a better way to die that being shot. The others when approached by vehicles don’t know where to go, being more liable to be run over, as the quickest way of escape is to run in front of the vehicle, into the path of oncoming vehicles. In a few week time the Christmas corporate shooting parties will be starting. Very often with inexperienced guns, who will injure the Pheasant or other game birds, rather than an outright kill. In this area the public are not particularly safe. Most of the shoots are next to the lanes. Passing cars have been showered with shot, and on numerous occasions Horses and riders have been frightened by unexpected shooting, as they pass by shoots, just as the game birds are flushed out, into the waiting guns.

The recent report of the Hen Harriers being shot, shows that nothing is allowed to get in the way of these large shooting estates. The Scottish Grouse Moors are the worse, with regular reports of endangered species of Birds of Prey being killed to protect the game birds from taken by them. It cant be a large percentage that are taken by Birds of Prey, so why don’t the estates put a few more game birds down. Better still ban the sport. I have said it before, shooting is a far worse sport than hunting with dogs.

The Ewe Lamb that we put back with the Sheep last night, was laying flat out this morning and had obviously been bullied over night. I have taken her out again. I will not try to introduce her to the other Sheep as we can see that she may well be killed. I only put her back as she was waiting by the gate for most of the day. I will take her to Market with the others that we are sending either this or at the latest next Saturday.

Farm Holiday Cottages – Fishing and Wildlife Holidays

We have friends here tonight so the Diary is very…

I went and got three decoy Ducks today to try…

Sue I try to feed the Badgers earlier so that…

There has not a lot been happening on the Farm…

We lunged Bliss and Misty in the sand school for…

It looks very much like we have got lucky with…

From last nights Diary We do intend subject to there…

We have company this evening so it will be a…

Dutch Elm disease must have peaked over twenty years ago…

For the past couple of weeks the lanes around our…