More good news from the Barn Owl Trust. We have been asked to get involved with Web Cams where a wild pair of Barn Owls have nested for the past few years. It is in a Barn at a location near Liskeard in Cornwall. The Barn Owls nest box is in need of renewing. A new nesting box will be made to accommodate the camera. We hope that we will be able to broadcast in both colour in the day and mono of a night, with IR lamps. We also hope to be able to install a exterior camera to watch the coming and goings of the adult Owls and the Owlets when they fledge. I not sure if the nesting site is a permanent roost of the Owls. We had hoped to have been broadcasting a Barn Owl Roost from a site near Liverpool. Although the cameras were ready to be installed, we could never get together to make it happen. this one looks pretty certain, and should be up and running within a couple of months.
The Veterinary is coming early next week to scan Lady and Breeze. When he is here I will get him to look at Woody. She is still loosing a lot of weight and quite honestly looks a bag of bones. Although she does not seem to be in any pain. She is staying on her feet a lot longer than she has been in recent times and getting around well. We will keep her going while she is a the moment. With the feed that she is getting, she should be increasing weight, but it is the opposite, that in the end will make her so weak that we will have to take the inevitable course of action. What concerns me, and has for a week or so, is that at times she will aimlessly walk around the field. Part of it is that Breeze sees Woody as a threat to her herd,. Woody needs to show that she is still part of the herd, walking around in sight of the other horses, waiting for the opportunity to mix and be with the herd, gives her the feeling of security of still being part of the herd. Woody would be much better off grazing than walking around. It was my intention to put Woody in with Lady and the Foal in a separate field when the hay was made. The bad weather put a stop to that. It would not be good for Willow to not be able to mix with the Fillies now.
Jade is getting more tired by the day now. She spends most of the time sleeping, showing her face now and then and maybe going out for a little walk in the farm yard. Of course she knows when it is feed time. Jades favorite sleeping place, was in behind the Aga. There is an old inglenook in the kitchen, that use to house the old kitchen range and bread oven. The size of the Aga allows a gap both sides and at the back. When Jade went behind it you could not see her. She rarely goes behind it now, as it would be a struggle to get in and out. Kye is making it her spot.
I haven’t seen any Bumble Bees, Bees, Wasp or Hornets since the last hot spell, if you can remember it. Thinking about it, do blackberries need pollination by the Bees before they turn to fruit? If they do maybe that is the reason we have no Blackberries, only the flowers. We had a couple of Hornets in the farm house during the hot spell, so I know that there is a nest nearby. All of the apple tree were pollinated so there were Bees around earlier in the year. Thinking again none of the windfalls apples have been eaten by the wasps this year.