Contains forums, wildlife live webcams, diary, blog, artciles and pictures of farm animals.
Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.
Only one days photographs left.
Monarch Butterfly lying eggs on Milkweed in my garden. Karen, Florida (USA)
White blooms on our water lillies in our pond. Karen, Florida (USA)
We’ve had hard rain all week long here in Florida. My flowers are loving all this rain. Here is a picture of my Hibiscus with rain drops on edge of petals. Karen, Florida (USA)
Highland Cattle. Jill.
Bob cotton. Jill.
Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.
ALL TAKEN AT RUFFORD COUNTRY PARK NEAR WORKSOP.
LYNNE.
Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.
ALL TOOK IN MY GARDEN LAST YEAR
THRUSH. Lynne.
LONG TAILED TIT. Lynne.
YOUNG BLUE TIT. Lynne.
YOUNG BLUE TIT FEEDING. Lynne.
NUTHATCH. Lynne.
Very close to the entrance of the Farm we have found the decaying remains of a dead Badger that going from where we found it must have come from our Sett. It had been hidden by long grass that had been recently been cut. The amount of decay would have made it nearly impossible for me to see how it had died. A month or maybe not so long ago I saw eleven Badgers at one time at the main feeding site and other site below. The most I have seen recently is seven at one time. I didn’t see it but a few of you put entries on the Forum that there had been quite a fight. In the Autumn this is a way of reducing the size of the Sett. The dominant Males will chase some of the younger Males away, but not normally at this time of the year. I would have expected to see most of the Sett feeding at the same time. Let me know on the Forum if you see more than seven Badgers at one time.
Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.
Cheeky Cyril the Squirrel trying his luck on the bird feeders. Jill.
Highland cattle on Hothfield Heath. Jill.
Bog cotton. Jill.
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For the second time we were caught out with the Turkey eggs hatching. The incubation period is normally 28 days, that would have been on Saturday that they were going to hatch. The intention was to put them in the hatcher today but on checking them this morning a good few of the eggs were showing sign of the Chicks breaking out (pipping) so it was a mad rush moving the Bantam Chicks from the hatcher to a box with a heat lamp above it. The hatcher needs to be thoroughly cleaned to stop any chance of the new hatched Turkeys Chicks from getting
any infections. In the hatcher the humidity is a lot higher allowing the Chicks to break through the shell of the egg easier. We have needed to help a few of the Chicks break out from the eggs already. I should think we will need to help a lot more.
We decided that until we have some success with hatching the Geese eggs we wont put any more into the incubator. There are about 40 Geese eggs in there now, some due to hatch next week and more the week after. Our Geese are still laying eggs so we have left them in the stable where the Geese are housed of a night in the hope that the Goose may sit them. This morning one decided that she was going to sit the eggs. With a bit of luck she may have more success than us.
Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.
Female Peregrine feeding her 4 chicks on Derby Cathedral. Vicky.
Male and female Peregrine with their 4 chicks on Derby Cathedral. Vicky.
Canada geese gosling. Vicky.
Canada geese goslings. Vicky.
Carpet of bluebells. Vicky.
In between the work on the Farm I have been try to catch up with the outstanding webcams. I sent to the USA Osprey a PTZ camera but unfortunately it was returned to the UK. Got no idea why, and I cant get any one to tell me, or even to let me know where it is. So sorry to both you and Peter in Delaware as the new camera would have been really good as it was to be positioned on Peters House that was only a 2 hundred feet from the nest.
I spoke to Paul in the US Virgin Island this afternoon about the underwater webcam on the Island. The delay has been caused by Michael the initial contact on the Island. Unfortunately Michael has had a serious accident causing him to have a very bad broken arm that he nearly had to have amputated. He has had to go the US mainland for a number of operations.
The circumstance of the accident was that his car left the road on the Island and landed into a tree. Michael and the car were left hanging in the tree. Michael by his arm that caused the injury. By all accounts he was in the tree for some hours before he was rescued. So Paul has not received the webcam equipment or the drawing that have to be presented to the Port Authority to confirm the permission that have been given verbally.
Michael at the SWT is going to try to finish putting up the camera and infra-red lamps at the Falls of the Clyde Peregrine Falcon webcam so that it can be viewed of a night.
Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.
Garden birds feeding on dried meal worms. Clive.
We went to Cricket St Thomas this afternoon to see the new Ostrich that we purchased for them. It was collected last week but it hasn’t settled in to well. When it was collected it should have been a very large Red Breed as the photograph that I put on the Photo Page, but the person who collected it decided for a number of reasons to take a Black type Ostrich.
On the first night at the Wildlife Park the new Ostrich was put into a holding area so that he could get use to the new surroundings. Somehow he got out and managed to get stuck in a muddy part of the Lake. After rescuing him he was put in a different holding area but was not at all happy. A Female Ostrich was introduced to him. That seems to have quietened him down a bit and it is hoped that he can be introduced into the main paddock Wildlife paddock shortly.
In all of the time that I kept Ostrich I never experienced any problems that the Wildlife Park have. The Ostrich was kept in an Ostrich Farm before I got him and may never had seen or been in the type of environment as the Wildlife Park,
the large area and other animals that again he may never have seen before properly stressed him out.
Whilst at the Wildlife Park we looked at the Black Swans Cygnets that we are having. They hatched in the Winter and should be ready to come to Denbury in a couple of weeks time. We have a bit of a problem of where we are going to put them. The best place would be on the Lake, but the Geese would have something to say about that wouldn’t have them intruding, especially whilst they have the Goslings. There would be a lot of scrapping with the Black Swan Cygnets coming off worse. Until the Geese leave at the end of the Summer we will need to find somewhere else for the Swans to go. If I can find the time I will fence the Pond, or there is a small lagoon close to the Cottages that if we get time to clear the weeks will do temporarily.
There are also some Joey Wallaby’s that have now left their Mother Pouch that we may also get very soon.
Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.
Only one person has sent in photographs for the Photo Page. There cant be a Photo Page with out photographs.
ALL TAKEN IN THE MOSS VALLEY NEAR SHEFFIELD
LYNNE.
The Geese intruders have been coming to the Lake most days. Our pair with the Goslings are starting to get use to them and the Gander has stopped attacking them. He just marches back and forward on one side of the electric fence with the intruders on the other. Last year another pair of Geese must have nested by the pond. The area was well over grown that must have given them protection from any predators. This year other than a small area around the pond has been mowed leaving it open. As last year I did consider putting into the pond a floating island made from a pallet so that the intruder could nest. I don’t think that it would be a good idea, especially as this morning the bottom two wires of the electric fence around the Lake were loose where some thing has tried to get into the Lake area.
Some of the Bantams that hatched over the weekend needed a bit of help in breaking out of the shell. Two that I needed to do had nearly broken all around the shell mid morning time. As far as I could see the Chick should not have had any problem getting out. By mid afternoon there was very little movement. On looking I could see that the Chicks were not going to get out as the membrane had dried out and was sticking to the Chicks. On breaking away the shell it looked as if I was to late to save then. I broke most of the shells away and one was having a good try, the other was all but finished, so I removed it from the shell and damped both down with water to get rid of the dry membrane and shell that was restricting their movements. It seemed to have done the trick as both after a good few hours started to look a lot better. Both seem to be alright at the moment. Although there is a chance that they may not survive. One of the two is only half of the size of the other Chicks, it is really tiny. The eggs were an assortment of eggs from various purebred Bantam that may have cross bred, so we wont know what type it is, or any of the other until they get a bit older.
There are no photographs for the Photo Page.
The eggs that have hatched on the Hatchery webcam are from an assortment of Bantam that we were given. Out of 14 eggs there are 10 live Chicks. Three eggs have failed to hatch and one Chick had tried to break the egg in the wrong place and died. We needed to help four of the Chicks to hatch by gently taking part of the egg shell away. The Bantam eggs were given to us from people that we had got some Geese eggs from. They have a large number of fancy Bantam so hopefully we may get a few pure bred.
We put 10 Goose eggs in another hatcher that we had hope to show on the webcam but unfortunately none are going to hatch. The embryos have died in the incubation period. We have more Goose eggs that are due to hatch over the coming weeks. After these failures we are not to confident that any will hatch. There are Turkeys and more Bantams due to hatch next week.
After a lot of running around and fencing with have finally managed to stop the Sheep from straying onto neighbours potato crop. They are staying mainly in the Horse Field. There is one gap in our fencing that they have managed om find but that leads onto our drive so that are straying local. This morning a few managed to find their way to the Lake area and were grazing around the unfenced smaller Pond. Fortunately our new gates have stopped them from leaving the Farm. Ewy has now gone back with the rest of the Sheep. She manages to feed with Breeze when we feed the Horses in the Field. We need to get the Sheep penned in shortly to get their fleeces cut off. Don’t think that is going to be particularly easy. Ewy has started to lose her fleece naturally. Just as well as she would have been a nightmare to get in. Her new fleece is very dark, nearly black. I cant remember it ever being that colour before. I cant imagine that it would have changed.
Starting from number six there are four new photographs on the Photo Page.
I thought you might like the following pictures to post in the photo gallery, they are all of the Canada Geese that nest on a lake near where I work and there are some pictures of ducklings with their mum on the water. Bec.
Starting from number one there are six new photographs on the Photo Page.
Photos taken in our local park, Edwards Gardens, which is City owned. The flowers and bushes in this park are beautiful but still early for many flowers here.
The Bridal Bridge – brides like to have their photos taken here. This is a new bridge since in the winter of 97, the Bridal Bridge along with others in the park, and the river edges, were washed away after a massive storm. Repairs are ongoing – will cost millions of dollars to put as it was.
A yellow Magnolia tree – they say this one will grow to 25 feet tall.
Another shot taken in the park.
Rosie’s Mum in Toronto.
The beautiful white beaches of the Outer Hebrides.Lindsay.
Ullapool,North West Scotland.Lindsay.