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.