For about three hours to day, we have been setting a camera up to watch a pair of Pied Wagtail nesting. They are nesting in an extractor fan outlet hole, in one of the holiday cottages. After a few problems we managed to get it going, but on putting the camera and light into the hole, we found that the light did not have the power to light up the recess, that the nest is in. I will have to look at the alternatives, and try to get it up and running tomorrow.
The Swallows are starting to arrive on the farm, to start their nesting. I must admit they are our favorites for the nesting cameras, they really are cute. They have in recent years lost a lot of their old nesting sites on the farm, as we have converted two barns. I am putting up a few shelves in another of our barns, in the hope that it will encourage them to nest in that barn. I can then hopefully put a camera up to watch them there. If I get the time, and I can find four different types of Birds nesting, I will put a camera up on each nest. I have a piece of equipment, that will allow me to rotate the four cameras at intervals I choose, on the four nests.
We are not getting the rain that we need to get the grass growing as it should be. The ground is very hard and we need a fair bit of rain soon. Most years the Horses are able to graze a seven acre field, for all of the summer and part of the autumn, up to November, December time. That’s allowing them to start to graze the field, on about the 1st of May. What with the sheep still on the fields grazing and the lack of rain, the grass may not last as long as usual. I know most of you would rather have the good weather we are now getting, but long dry spells do cause problems in farming, that in turn causes price increases in the food you purchase. Dont worry how daft you may look, go outside and try a little rain dance.
We have the remains of a small Cider Orchard on the farm. For the first time since we have lived here, every tree blossemed and we had more fruit than ever. There were more Blackberries and other hedge fruits than usual, and the Wallnuts were large. And that was after the exceptional hot and dry summer. We thought that we were in for a hard winter, because of the large ammount of fruit. On the conterary, the Autume and Winter were the mildest that I can remeber. I dont know that I am convinced on Global Warming, but if it is happening, Farmers will need to change there ways of farming.