Sorry, there will not be a diary entry tonight as we are going out for dinner.
The webcams will pages will put on so that you will be able to see as much as possible.
This morning we were standing by the stables whilst the…
This morning we were standing by the stables whilst the Farriers was attending to Bliss. A Robin that we often see, was picking up the left overs from the Horses morning feed, it is always about when we are mucking out or feeding the Horses. All the time we were outside the Robin was within a couple of feet of us. All of a sudden, so fast that it had happened before it had begun, a Sparrow Hawk came down and picked the Robin off. We all looked at each other to see what we had seen had really happened within a couple of feet from where we were standing.
I have seen a Sparrow Hawk take Dove on the wing a many times at Denbury. A few years ago we had one nesting in the cottages loft. It had got in the hole that use to be put into buildings to encourage the Barn Owls. It would perch on a telegraph pole very close to the cottages, waiting for the Doves. The Doves would wait on the roof of the cottages not daring to fly until the Sparrow Hawk had gone. But on many occasion as we were working in the yard, we would see him take a Dove.
At the time we had two nurses living in the cottage that was below the loft where the Sparrow Hawk was nesting. We were told later that they had been buying mice to feed the Chicks with. Odd pair they were. If I ever wrote a book they would defiantly have a mention or two.
We needed to have the Farrier in today to see to Bliss’s hoof. She has been limping on it on and off for some weeks. One day she would be alright on it, the next day she would be hardly able to walk. We have been poulticing it hoping we could draw any infection out. It didn’t take the Farrier long to find the problem. The infection had moved until it got deep into the heel. He cut away the dead hoof where the infection was hiding. Although the pain was relieved nearly straight away, Bliss has been limping in anticipation of her still having the pain.
I have all of the parts that I need to finish installing the camera on to the new tower. All I need is t find some one to take the old camera down. With a bit of luck it will be working next week.
I was pleased and surprised to see the young Buzzard…
I was pleased and surprised to see the young Buzzard on the pole in the valley this morning. Going by the forum it had been there for at least two hours. I must admit that I had not noticed it perched there when I changed the cameras over, and only when I was reading the forum did I realise and changed the camera back. The youngster has been flying over the valley squawking for a few days. I have left the valley camera looking into the sky hoping that I could show you it flying above the farm. When outside on my way into the farm house I look to see where the Buzzards are, by the time I get in to move the camera they are out of view.
I was a bit concerned when the youngster flew off of the pole and went into the trees just in front, as it fell to the ground instead of perching in the tree, it stayed on the ground for a long time before flying up again. The parents are not feeding it any longer. All I hope is that it is sufficiently able to hunt for its self. If it is not it will soon weaken and not survive.
I was even more surprised to see the Tawney Owl land on the pole in the valley tonight. It is the first time that have seen a Tawney Owl at Denbury this year. The picture was very poor, as the lens was zoomed completely in, it is very difficult to focus it properly. It made me realise that I need to put a PTZ camera in its place that has automatic focus, but I need to work out how to do the IR lamps, there is no facility to control the direction of the IR lamps with PTZ camera as there is with the current camera, that is now installed down the valley. I have heard the Tawney Owl for most of the year, but as have said it is the first time that I have seen one at Denbury. In previous years we could regularly see them in the trees in the wood on the left hand side of the valley.
The Raymond Blanc cookery / restaurant programme on the television last night, didn’t help me in trying to persuade people of how good Eels are to eat. It is the look of the Eel that turns people off of eating them. Although it was the people who were cooking them that made them out to be not nice. The people in the restaurants didn’t seem to complain as much as the Chefs.
Beth USA Doves in the UK or a least at…
Beth, USA. Doves in the UK, or a least at Denbury breed all year. As you can imagine we do have a few here.
Karen. That was a Pheasant that you saw earlier this evening. We don’t get any Grouse in the West Country or a least not at Denbury. I should think that you meant Red Grouse, I believe that they are mainly found in the North of England and Scotland, where the are the preferred choice for game shooting. There use to be Black Grouse in the West Country, but unfortunately no longer. Some Farmer near Denbury put down Quail and Partridge for shooting. I did consider introducing Quail at Denbury, but they would not know where our boundaries ended, they would have soon been shot. Most of the Game Birds are very colourful, looking at their best freely walking about, rather than being on a plate. The camera that you saw the Pheasant on was at the lake. The new tower is replacing the main Badger camera. It has been installed and we are waiting for a couple of pieces that I am having made to put the IR lamps on. The telegraph pole that the camera is now on will also have to come down.
After seeing Elaine’s entry on the forum about the SWT webcams not working. I spoke to Peter the manager at Lock of the Lowe’s, who got both camera working again, when I checked the cameras a little later number two camera were off again. There must be a problem with their broadband connection at the Lock. They are at the end of the line, and I am surprised that they do not have more problems than they do. Peter does not like for his cameras to be down, so I am sure they will be on as soon as possible.
I didn’t get a chance to set the Telescope up last night. The idea was go up to the Observatory after I had fed the Badgers. Up to about 7.pm the Sky was reasonably clear, probably a better night for me to identify the Stars than the previous nights that I had tried recently. Half an hour later it was so cloudy it would not have been possible to even see any Stars at all. It is not much different tonight, the first quarter of the Moon is just about visible behind the clouds. hopefully in the next couple of days the Sky will be clear, so that I can set the Telescope up. I am a bit more confident that I can now do it. Cross your fingers.
I was concerned that the Swallows, that we are showing were going to be late in strengthening themselves for their migration. I had to go into the barn that we are converting, in there were two nests that the Swallows chicks were still being fed. It is getting late so I do hope that they can will make their migration.
Maybe out of view, the Badgers did have it on their toes when I went to feed them. I rattled the feed bags and made some silly noises and they did mostly disappear. One I admit did get brave after a few second, walking towards it, it did scurry back a bit.
Our holiday guest both last week and the week before…
Our holiday guest both last week and the week before, came for the fishing as well as for the wildlife watching. Both stayed for most of their holiday on the farm fishing most of the time. They caught some large Carp, our guests last week caught 10 and 12lb fish. Both of them also caught large Eels, although I never saw any of them, they both indicated that they were well over a foot in length. If they were not in our lake, I may well have eaten them, if I had had the chance. Other than myself I don’t know of any other people who do eat Eels. I suppose it is mainly because of the look of them. Believe me if you have never tried Eel, you don’t know what you are missing. Before I came to Denbury and started farming I was squeamish about the sight of different food, but never with Eel. It doesn’t matter how they are served , jellied, stewed with mash and liquor or smoked, I will eat them. Eel would be my favorite food. When ever we have family coming from London I make sure that they fetch me a bowl. I think a bowl would have about seven to eight pound in them, believe me I am well pleased no one at Denbury likes them. I reckon those Eels caught from our lake were pretty lucky.
I find it hard to believe but Eels start their lives as Elvers in the Sargasso Sea, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Somehow the shoestring thick worm type Eel, only inches in length, make their way into our waterways, eventually travelling overland to lakes and other waterways. When mature for breeding they make their way back to where they originated from.
When we first came to Denbury the pond in front of the farm house, that is stream fed was silted up with what the stream water had brought down with it. We got contractors in to clean it out. It took a good few days to finish the job with a large digger and two dumper trucks. When they were doing it, there were so many Eels being taken out we lost count. Over the period that we have been here the pond has silted up again and need clearing out again.
I tried to align the Telescope last night, but after an hour and a half I got annoyed with it, and had to walk away. It all started very well. After setting the time, date and nearest location, the Telescope automatically selects a Star and finds it. The Star selected needs to be centred spot on. Vega was selected and with the help of the machine that I purchased from the USA, I centred it. It then selects another star that you need to align spot on. It chose a star of the Plough, and slewed to it, nothing was centred, I needed to centre it, but the Sky was so clear and with it being upside down from the spotting Telescope, I could not be sure what Star it was. After an hour I had to walk away. The Sky is so clear above Denbury, when there are no clouds about that you see every thing up there, to untrained person as am with Astronomy it make it difficult to see a specific star through a spotting Telescope. I phoned the people who supplied the Telescope, they told me that I can alter the Telescopes selected choice. If there is a good Sky tonight, I will find a star that is easy to see and try again.
Bliss and Misty were entered into the Doncaster Bloodstock Sales…
Bliss and Misty were entered into the Doncaster Bloodstock Sales today. The sale is at the end of October. I don’t know that they will finish up going there or not. I have been looking at the different options. There is a chance that I may decide to race one of them if not the two.
I spoke to a trainer in France earlier today. What he has told me sounds very interesting, but I shall have to make more enquiries. Unlike the UK, the French Government run the racing industry and give it a lot of support. The winnings are a lot more and there are other benefits.
I had an email last week from an Abdul Kareen making enquiries about Branston being for sale. I checked out his email address and it turned out to be Kuwait Oil, Abdul Kareen being the Kuwaiti Oil Minister. He had checked out Branstons Pedigree that I have on the Ownaleg website and he was interested in buying him. A few emails passed between us. As I have not heard from him for nearly a week I should think that he is no longer interested. It would have been good to have known that Branston had got a chance at racing. I am not to disappointed as Branston is a really nice Horse, I should think that we will break him over the Winter for a riding Horse on the farm.
The night are drawing in and getting chilly at Denbury. I must admit I am not looking forward to Autumn and Winter, as there is a lot more work to do with the Horses. We need for it to be dry for as long as possible, for if the fields get to wet and muddy the Horses will need to be kept in of a night, and a lot in the day. We try to keep them out until late November with their turnout rugs on. If we are really lucky it can go into December, Although we have at time had to get them in their stables as early as the middle of October. That is part of the reason for me having to sell some of the Horses, we really need to cut down on the work. Mucking out the stables is not the best jobs, and they need doing every day.
No Elaine, they didn’t forecast those heavy showers that we got last night, just some very light rain that would hardly be noticeable. The ground was still wet this morning.
The Badgers are getting a bit to brave again. You probably see them run back to the sett just before I get in view. I do try to stop them being friendly, but it is becoming a bit harder every year. It is mainly this and last years Cubs that have got use to me from the start of them leaving the sett. It would be very easy to get them feeding from my hand, then they will not be wild animals, they will then eventually have no fear of humans, that would not be right. I will need to make them wary of me.
Tomorrow is the last day that I can register Bliss…
Tomorrow is the last day that I can register Bliss and Misty for the October Bloodstock Sales in Doncaster. It is going to be a very tough decision to make to register them for the sale. I have been putting it off for months, hoping that I could get people to go into a syndicate or partnership to race the pair of them with ownaleg.com, a website that I started some years back offering Horse Racing and Breeding Partnerships. But there has been very little response. They are the best two Horses that I have bred, I would like to race them myself, but as they are both quality Horses, but I have other projects that I should spend the money on.
Bliss being a three quarter sister to a Group two winner will fetch a substantial price at Auction, Misty because of Woody’s breeding and her conformation, should also get a good price. The trouble is that we are very attached to both Horses. Being literally at the very start of their lives, makes it even worse to part with them.
Being that I have been undecided about selling them, they are not prepared for the sale, that is about a month away. If I decide to sell them we will need to do a lot of work on them to get them ready for sale. They will need to walk well on head collars. Both have had them on, but neither walks to good on them. We will also need to prepare them by getting them fit, by walking out and a little lunging on long reins. This will tighten them up and hopefully show the best of their conformation and quality of their breeding. So there will be a lot of work over the coming weeks.
Robin taken by sparrow hawk…
Robin taken by sparrow hawk
Karen asked about a camera in my favorite field I…
Karen asked about a camera in my favorite field. I purchase a piece of apparatus a few months back with the intention of putting a camera up there. The idea of the piece of equipment was that it allows the main transmission wire, coaxial cable to also carry a 24volt power supply to work the camera up to about a half a mile. The cable is the same type that you use for you television ariel. I did not read the instruction properly, there are different quality of coaxial cable. The type I needed was very expensive, and I wasn’t sure that it would have worked over the distance that the suppliers claim. I was not prepared to send the money that it would have cost on a maybe.
A camera in the area would have been very good viewing of wildlife, it would also be good to make sure that our neighbours on the next farm at the end of the valley were not poaching on my land or in the wood that the council own. I have caught them on both mine and Council land a couple of times. I will tell you about a few experiences that I have had with them very soon. I have had to involve the Police. They are prepared to have their Shotgun and Firearms licences revoked if they can get the evidence of the poaching. The shooting season has started and measures have been taken to have that area monitored.
Robin, I haven’t given up on the Telescope. It is my intention to try to set it up tonight. The webcams wont be working as there is a lot messing about to do setting it up. I had tried to bribe a person from where I purchased the telescope from, with a free holiday to come and do the setting up, but I don’t think that he can arrange it. i will have a go myself tonight as there is a really clear sky. My trouble is that I get bored very quickly when I start having problems with it. As the Observatory is a fair way from the farm house, I cant walk away from the telescope for a few minutes unless I go on a route march.
We have managed to get the new tower for the…
We have managed to get the new tower for the main Badger camera up today. I thought that it was going to be a little smaller than the telegraph pole that is currently being used. To my surprise it is the same size of 8 metres. We have got to get a bracket to attach the camera to the tower. That will add another metre to the overall height of the camera. I don’t know if it will make any difference to what we are able to see, but it may make it possible to see the Buzzards flying. I have a more powerful zoom camera, I am not sure if I should put that on the new tower, or use it in another location. The telegraph pole we are now using does cause the camera to have a blind spot, the new tower should nearly eliminate that. The new tower has a winch to raise and lower it, so that we can work on it from the ground instead of me having to find some one who will climb the telegraph pole.
I have an idea of how I can use the old telegraph pole that we are taking down. Seeing how the tower raises and lowers I may try to get a bracket made so that I can raise the telegraph pole the same way, If it works I will put a different camera down the valley, the same type that we normally use. It will give a much better picture, as most of the other cameras. It will mean using more IR lamps, but it could well be worth it.
Since we sold our Cattle about eight years ago we haven’t bothered about having gates through the farm. With Cattle you need to alternate the grazing of the fields. Once the grass from one field has been eaten off, you move the cattle to another field allowing the grass to regrow, so the fields had to have gates. We had about thirty Charolais Breeding Cattle, if we had allowed them the run of the farm we would have soon run out of grass. The problem without gates, even if you do not have a lot of stock, is that if you have any animals that get out of where they are meant to be, as we sometimes do, you are unable to reduce the size of the area that they can run back and forward in, making it difficult to catch them. With gates you can contain them from field to field. Today we decided that we should re gate through the farm. We have have had to dig the holes for the new gateposts, as the old wooden posts had partially rotted away and needed renewing. Only six new post were needed, so it was not worth getting a contractor in to knock the posts in with a machine, so the hole were dug by hand. It wouldn’t be the easiest of jobs digging small holes about three feet deep. I made sure that I had something else to do when my Lads were doing the digging. Most of the work was done today and the new gates should be fitted on Monday.
The young Buzzard has been flying above the farm for the past couple of days, squawking non stop and looking for its parents. Once I saw an adult Buzzard that seemed to be chasing the youngster away. It must have been its parent. Again it is the first time that I have noticed this happening, although it must happen every year. Seeing the Buzzards on the webcams lets you see wildlife without them being disturbed, letting you see what you would normally not be able to see.