2 hind not one
late as I was going to bed
large herd a few years ago at Denbury
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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, 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.
Jan Asked about the Skyscout that Susan sent on to me from the US. I have mentioned about it on another diary entry. In case some of you missed it I will give a brief description. Although we have a large Telescope at Denbury to show the Sky, I know very little about Stars, Planet, Constellations etc. The very little knowledge that I now have was told to me by a very good amateur Astronomer, who came to Denbury and pointed out different parts of the Sky, most of which I confess I forgot within a couple of weeks. I was OK remembering whilst there were clear skies. As soon as there was a week of being overcast, I could not refresh my memory and forgot what I had been told.
The Skyscout s a very cleaver piece of equipment that works by Satellite Navigation and GPS. You are able to look through an eyepiece at a Star, although it could be anything already mentioned. By pressing a button when lined up on the object it tells you what it is. Another way is to select an object on the vast memory that it has stored. As you look through the eyepiece flashing LED arrows direct you to the object, once aligned on the object all of the direction LEDs flash. This piece of equipment allows me to align the telescope so that it is able to track properly what I select.
The Bird on the SWT camera two is a Jay. I had spoken to the Manager of the Lock of the Lowe’s centre on Friday, and he was rather pleased that it was there. There have been Jay chicks feeding on Denbury Cam 1 today. It is the first time that I have seen them here.
A couple of people have asked about Lady moving her head from side to side. It is what is classed as a vice in Horses. She came to Denbury with it and was properly caused through boredom being stabled when in training. The habit can also be picked up from being with another Horse that has the habit. It properly causes more stress to us watching it as it does Lady. She does tend to do it more if Woody is laying down ill. Woody is OK today.
Concerning the Ospreys stopping off at the Chew Vally Lake on their migration. I have a person who lives nearby Chew Valley, who does Wildlife programs for the BBC, coming to the farm, maybe next week. I am sure he would be able to give me information, and I will let you know.
We sent twenty three of the Sheep to market today. I will tell you about it tomorrow.