Categories
webcams

Although the Horses are now turned out there is still…

Although the Horses are now turned out there is still lot of work to do causing the Diary entries to keep get putting back.

The Lake has really come to life this year with the introduction of the Black Swans, they have drawn more Waterfowl onto the Lake. There are two lots of Mallard Ducklings one having six the other three, lots of Moorhens with their young and of course the Geese with their four Goslings. We feed the Swan every morning and evening, that has made all of the other Waterfowl come to the feeding place for their share. Most evenings another pair of Geese visit the Lake. The resident pair let them know they are not welcome or I am sure that they would try to nest.

Nearly every day a Heron comes to the lake. We are forever trying to chase it away but no doubt most times we miss seeing it. Heron cause a lot of damage to the Fish, but at this time of year it is worse as the Fish are spawning and they are in the reeds that makes it easy for the Heron to strike. Most Fish are to large for the Heron to eat but it still attacks the Fish causing a lot of injuries and sometimes it kill them.

Every day I walk around the Lake to check the electric fencing and to make sure that there are no other problems. This morning around the unprotected Pond there was a strong smell of the Otter. I haven’t seen a lot of evidence that it has been around a lot this year just a couple of piles of the fishes scales that the Otter always leaves, so i will not electric fence the Pond. I have an infra red lamp installed but i don’t seem to manage to find enough time to wire it up. it will make good viewing when it is working and it will let me know what sort of problem the Otter is causing.

The Swallows are now nesting, but this year they have not nested in there normal places so we have not been able to show them on the webcams as yet. We have noticed that there are not as many Swallows as there were last year, I should think down by more than 40% of what normally nest in our buildings. It could be that it is still very cold. A few weeks back for well over a month we had a good spell of really warm and dry weather, it made the Rhea nest earlier than they would normally do but now they have stopped laying completely. We have managed to put some eggs in the incubators and most are fertile. unlike Emu eggs Rhea eggs can be candled so that we are able to see if they are fertile early in the incubation period.

I have not managed to see the Badger Cubs yet. I keep seeing the entries on the Forum, although you that is not being used very much now. By the time I check the webcams they have gone. From one year to the next I cant remember what month they first show themselves. I could be wrong but I think that this year it is earlier that most years. I ha vent seen all of the Badgers eating the food altogether this year, so I am not sure how many adults are now in the Sett. I reckon that I have seen seven or maybe eight different ones but I wont be sure of the total until they are all out together.

Thornton is in his element now that we have Lambs. Until we get the Horse Field stock proofed all of the Sheep are housed in the Barn, other than Ewy and three other Ewes, one who has Lambs that are giving us the run around. The Lambs are able to get through the gates that their Mothers are behind, and can be found with Thornton who is free range. He still knocks on our Kitchen door for a biscuit or two, hangs around for an hour or so chilling out in the kitchen but now always returns to the other Sheep.

Categories
webcams

Although the Horses are now turned out there is still…

Although the Horses are now turned out there is still lot of work to do causing the Diary entries to keep get putting back.

The Lake has really come to life this year with the introduction of the Black Swans, they have drawn more Waterfowl onto the Lake. There are two lots of Mallard Ducklings one having six the other three, lots of Moorhens with their young and of course the Geese with there four Goslings. We feed the Swan every morning and evening, that has made all of the other Waterfowl come to the feeding place for their share. Most evenings another pair of Geese visit the Lake. The resident pair let them know they are not welcome or I am sure that they would try to nest.

Nearly every day a Heron comes to the lake. We are forever trying to chase it away but no doubt most times we miss seeing it. Heron cause a lot of damage to the Fish, but at this time of year it is worse as the Fish are spawning and they are in the reeds that makes it easy for the Heron to strike. Most Fish are to large for the Heron to eat but it still attacks the Fish causing a lot of injuries and sometimes it kill them.

Every day I walk around the Lake to check the electric fencing and to make sure that there are no other problems. This morning around the unprotected Pond there was a strong smell of the Otter. I haven’t seen a lot of evidence that it has been around a lot this year just a couple of piles of the fishes scales that the Otter always leaves, so i will not electric fence the Pond. I have an infra red lamp installed but i don’t seem to manage to find enough time to wire it up. it will make good viewing when it is working and it will let me know what sort of problem the Otter is causing.

The Swallows are now nesting, but this year they have not nested in there normal places so we have not been able to show them on the webcams as yet. We have noticed that there are not as many Swallows as there were last year, I should think down by more than 40% of what normally nest in our buildings. It could be that it is still very cold. A few weeks back for well over a month we had a good spell of really warm and dry weather, it made the Rhea nest earlier than they would normally do but now they have stopped laying completely. We have managed to put some eggs in the incubators and most are fertile. unlike Emu eggs Rhea eggs can be candled so that we are able to see if they are fertile early in the incubation period.

I have not managed to see the Badger Cubs yet. I keep seeing the entries on the Forum, although you that is not being used very much now. By the time I check the webcams they have gone. From one year to the next I cant remember what month they first show themselves. I could be wrong but I think that this year it is earlier that most years. I ha vent seen all of the Badgers eating the food altogether this year, so I am not sure how many adults are now in the Sett. I reckon that I have seen seven or maybe eight different ones but I wont be sure of the total until they are all out together.

Thornton is in his element now that we have Lambs. Until we get the Horse Field stock proofed all of the Sheep are housed in the Barn, other than Ewy and three other Ewes, one who has Lambs that are giving us the run around. The Lambs are able to get through the gates that their Mothers are behind, and can be found with Thornton who is free range. He still knocks on our Kitchen door for a biscuit or two, hangs around for an hour or so chilling out in the kitchen but now always returns to the other Sheep.

Categories
webcams

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the photo page.

Adder in the New Forest, Mick (Hampshire)

Chaffinches nest with eggs in the New Forest, Mick (Hampshire)

Lapwing in the New Forest, Mick (Hampshire)

Lapwing nest with eggs in the New Forest, Mick (Hampshire)

Robin feeding chicks in my garden. Mick (Hampshire)

As you have seen on the photograph of the Emu eggs they are a very dark green, so I expected that I would not be able to candle them with a normal poultry candler. To make matters worse I was told today they are opaque so they will need a special infra-red device to see if the eggs are fertile or I will need to incubate for the full 55 days without knowing until the eggs hatch or not if we are going to get a chick. We have incubation space for at least 160 eggs but that wont take long to fill if we incubate all the eggs. So we need to know the fertility or we may get more Emu than we really want.

The other problem that we have is that we cannot trace the Company who did at one time make the infra-red candling device. The Veterinary who owns the Incubator Company that sponsors the Hatchery Cam is the most experienced Ratite Veterinary in the UK and he once sold the device. He believes that the Company is no longer trading, so the options I had were to find a second hand one or find another method of seeing into the Emu eggs for a live embryo.

After a day on the phone speaking to different people we have, we hope three possibilities of knowing if our eggs are fertile after two weeks in the incubator. The first is with my connections in the CCTV industry through the webcams. An infra-red device is going to be made for us. The second again through my CCTV connections by Thermal Imaging, the same principle ish that you see on the Police Helicopters when the can see white images in the dark. It will mean taking the Emu eggs out of the incubator for a few minutes and letting them cool down from the incubating temperature. The egg shell will then be cooler than the embryo allowing the embryo if there is one to be seen by the thermal camera. The Thermal Imaging manufacturer is coming to the Farm after Christmas to see if it works. The final method is by sound with a Stethoscope to hear the Embryo heartbeat or by a powerful microphone in-cased in a box that the egg is put into. I don’t mind what method we use as long as we don’t have to wait 55 day to know if the eggs are fertile.

There is one other way of telling if an egg is fertile, although it can be a bit hit and miss. The egg is placed on a table, as the egg cools down the chick will start to move making the egg roll slightly from side to side.