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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

18.3.09 018-2.JPG – Wood pigeons- “My favourite perch, what do you think”

18.3.09 022-2.JPG – Blackbird

18.3.09 015.jpg – Wren Surprised to see the M + F at our bird table

18.3.09 020.jpg – -Pam

A photo of the Pine Marten I took the other night. Merrilyn.

Elaine reminded us that it is Thornton’s Birthday on Tuesday. How time has gone. Vicky is going to take some photographs of him for Tuesdays Photo Page. That’s of course if he allows her to. For as Vicky and her Family have been spoiling him with treats, now every time he sees any of the Family he gives them a bash with his head to let them know he wants a treat. As you can tell he is well again. I am sure that he was sulking rather than unwell.

I don’t believe any of you saw the Buzzard take a Squirrel off of the new feeding tray David made this morning. We had hoped that the Squirrels would not be able to get onto the new tray, but they found a way. Unfortunately one paid the price, and its cries were not very pleasant to hear. David has put a wooden baffle under the tray, that we had hoped would stop the Squirrels from getting on to the tray this time. But that has not worked, by the time we got back to watch on the webcam the Squirrel had perched its self on the baffle and was happily eating. That’s it, cant waste any more time the Squirrels can get on with it.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Snowdrops At Denbury. Julia.

Thornton with his Ear Tag. Julia.

The Sun over the Lake. Julia.

The Island on the lake; Julia.

Everyday sight – Arnie and Peacock. Julia.

The Geese were on the Lake this Morning. They went on to the Island, the Goose looking as if she was placing a few twigs and grass, maybe the beginning of a nest.

One of the Reindeer has shed one of her Antlers. She must had done so when she got out of the Reindeer Field. Unfortunately when I walked around the Field to try to find it I could not see it. I had hoped to have mounted the three sets of the Females Antler to hang in the Holiday Cottages. It is one of the Reindeer that doesn’t normally get out.

It didn’t take one of the Squirrels long to get onto the tray of the new feeding site. I washed down the Squirrel Guard as I thought that the Squirrel may be getting a little grip on some mud that had got on the guard. I also put some oil on it to make it slippery, but one of the Squirrels still managed to get on to the tray.

The Fox in the Valley last night had caught a Rabbit for his supper.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Here are a few more photos from our stay at Denbury. Julia.

Finn leading Breeze to the field – Tass and Thornton in the background. I grabbed the small camera from Finn and managed a very blurred picture!

Tass the footballer;

Finn and Tass feeding the horses;

For Jordan – fungi in Denbury woods;

Karen asked if we’d seen the Peacock – well, yes we did, but he’s a bit camera shy!!

Some where I’ve got one of Finn with Arnie – I’ll search it out. Julia.

It didn’t take the Squirrels long to work out where the peanuts were. And the Cock Pheasant soon found them too. He could see the peanuts through the perspex front but unfortunately for him he couldn’t work out how to get to them. I wont extend the course for a few days to give the Pheasant as chance to work it out. It is entertaining watching the Pheasant and the Squirrels. The Squirrel seem to be a little wary of the Pheasant and seems to be trying to stay away from them. I have an idea for the first post to make climbing that a bit more interesting. I will look around the yard for the bits a pieces needed and will try to do it by the middle of the week. If I cant manage the time I will try to get Vicky’s boy friend David to do it when he returns next week.

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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Thornton and his mate (one of Dolly’s twins) Vicky.

Photo of Arnie. Vicky.

A Sulphur butterfly that emerged today (11/07/2008). Karen. Florida.

Fireworks. Karen, Stoke.

Vicky’s photograph of Thornton and his mate tells a better story than I could in Wednesdays Diary.

Vicky’s boyfriend David made the first part of the Squirrels obstacle course today. It is a very easy obstacle, being just a primitive bridge of thin wood that allows it to have a bit of give so that it bounces as the squirrel crosses it. The Squirrels will have to get use to the new post and Squirrel guard that will stop the Squirrel from climbing the post that the Squirrel feeder is on. You can never tell just how long the Squirrels will accept it. When they do, they will climb the original post that the feeder was on and they will hopefully see it on the new post and cross the bridge to get to it. The original post without a guard always needs to be the first in the course. Once the Squirrel have crossed the bridge we will put another obstacle for them to conquer. After two or three obstacle the Squirrel will start to realise that there is always food at the end and they will find it. Remember that this Squirrel obstacle course is at its very beginning. The Squirrels will start to use it.

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Sorry no photographs as we are still having problems uploading…

Sorry no photographs as we are still having problems uploading them again. We have tried using a different program but that is so slow that it times out before the photographs upload.

I noticed Vicky and her Mum who are here on Holiday for the next three weeks looking out of their cottage window earlier today, they told me that they were looking at the Buzzard soaring above. On looking I could see that it was above the Badger Field, I had noticed them for the past week hunting above the Field. It can only be that they have seen the Squirrels using the Squirrel feeder that they have been using for about the same time that we have seen the Buzzards above. We do have more Squirrels than we would really want but we don’t really want the Buzzards having the Squirrel that we are preparing the obstacle course for dinner. We will need to think of a way of protecting the Squirrels. The best refuge is for the feeder to be under a tree as are the Bird feeders around the Lake positioned, but the Squirrels would only need to jump from the trees to the feeder to get the peanuts avoiding the obstacle course. We cant put a cover above the feeder as we wont be able to see the Squirrels feeding. I will have to give it some thought.

I saw part of a program on the television a day or so ago about Squirrel being caught to be eaten. They were put in a sack and dispatched, I know that one of the dictionary meaning for dispatch is to kill but they only use the word to try to make the audience feel better, as they believe it is not such a severe word as kill. The thought of eating Squirrels makes me feel ill. They are rats with a bushy tail. I can look at Squirrels where I cant rats but there is not a lot of difference. There is an advert on the television for a supermarket with a chicken dish. We are told by the presenter that the Chickens are reared to RSPCA standards. I bet the Chickens don’t think that.

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Starting from number onethere are five new photographs on the…

Starting from number onethere are five new photographs on the Photo page from Lynne. There will be five from Lindsay tomorrow.

A FRIEND OF A FRIEND HAS A FARM WITH HORSES AND ALPACAS WE TOOK THESE WHEN WE VISITED LAST WEEK. LYNNE.

We have had to move the Bird feeders today to try to stop the Squirrels from using them. The amount of Squirrels using the feeders this year has got out of control. There has been as many as five Squirrels at a time on the feeders and the Birds are not getting a chance of feeding on them. Both feeders are now on poles with Squirrel guards on them, but a couple of the Squirrels have managed to get on to the feeders by climbing up one pole and jumping across on to the top of the guard on the other pole. Earlier this week one of our Holiday Guests had seen ten Squirrel at once along the track where the feeders are placed. That is to many. There are also Squirrels using the Bird feeders around the Lake. Soon after moving the feeders we noticed more species of Birds using them. We will put a Squirrel feeder in another place and show them on the webcams, it may even make me start the Squirrel obstacle course that I have been promising for ever. It will be some thing to see at the end of the Summer.

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Tonight Diary is Lynne s story of Squiggle the Squirrel…

Tonight Diary is Lynne’s story of Squiggle the Squirrel that she raised. The first four photographs on the Photo page are of Squiggle.

Squiggle as I called him was not the first squirrel I had raised. The first lot of 5 came out of my neighbour

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Elsie if you like the Sheep that much how many…

Elsie, if you like the Sheep that much, how many do you want? We are going to keep a few, not sure which one yet. It is a difficult decision. It would be nice to keep the Portlands as they are a rare breed and they normally only have one lamb and most of them have not escaped. The Texals and Cross Bred were hand reared by a Child whose Father was once the Curator at Cricket St Thomas, they are very friendly but they have escaped, although if I shake a feed bag they will come back. Mind you as they will not be going for slaughter, they could be here for a good while, with the Foot and Mouth restrictions that are in force.

I am pleased that some of you saw the Kingfisher this afternoon. I hadn’t seen it for over a week, and was beginning to think that it had moved away from the lake. There are not as many Birds using the feeders either. I have not seen a Greater Spotted Woodpecker for getting on for six weeks, we see and hear the Green Woodpecker every day, but they don’t use the feeders. I did see one earlier in the year on one of the feeders, but that was only once. This time of year there is a lot of seed and berries about for the Bird. Earlier in the year I thought that there were not going to be any Blackberries, they flowered very early without any fruit forming. I got that one wrong, there are now plenty of fruit on the bushes.

There are no Squirrel using the feeders at all, we can see them in the trees taking all the Hazel Nuts. With the amount that were on the trees, we thought that we may have have got some this year, but the Squirrels seem to have had most of them, even before they have ripened. Most years we do manage to get Walnuts. As soon as there is a windy day you can be sure that there will be lots on the ground to pick up. By the look of it the Squirrels have had them this year, as we haven’t really had any windy days, the walnuts are falling from the trees slowly giving the Squirrels time to hide them away. We also get a lot of Chestnuts on the farm, but in all time we have been at Denbury we have never had any that were worth eating. To get to the nut is a painful experience, more so when they are so small that you could do nothing with them.

I am getting very annoyed with the unreliable weather forecasts, It is absolutely tipping it down here tonight. The forecast was maybe a shower. Because of the forecast we left Breeze without a rug, if it continues as hard as it is we will have to get her in. It would be interesting, if a few of you may try out an experiment, to see how reliable the forecasts are over the Country. It would be interesting if a number of you could from tomorrow, for about two weeks write down what weather was forecast for your areas including my area, either from the forecast on the BBC TV, or the Internet from the BBC or Met Office websites, some sites you can also put your postcodes in. Although don’t put your postcode on the forum , just your area. The following night let us know what the forecast was, and how accurate it was. If it proves that the forecast are unreliable, I will ask the BBC and the Met Office for their comments.

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I was asked on the forum about my Bird Feeders…

I was asked on the forum about my Bird Feeders being busy. They may look it, but over the last week or so they have had some of the feed still in the feeders when I fill them in the mornings, when normally they are empty. I should think that the Birds are busy nest building and some will be sitting on their eggs. I had a period in the late summer of last year, when we had very few Bird visiting the feeders, the Squirrels also disappeared, the Squirrels only returned recently. I thought that I had given the birds a bad lot of feed, and that it had killed the Birds off. If I remember correctly the feeders were very quite for a good couple of months. When they did return the Green Finches came in larger numbers than the Tits, when it was the opposite way round, before their disappearing act. When the bird did return we had a lot more Gold Finches visiting the feeders.

We have also have more Woodpeckers on the feeders this year. We have a few Green Woodpeckers on the farm, I have never seen any on the feeders as yet. We had a bird feeding on Monday that I did not recognise, I will look it up to see what it was, If any of you saw a different bird feeding, and you know what it was, please let me know. Be careful that you don’t leave any whole peanuts that the Woodpeckers may be able to get. I am told that the young bird have been known to choke on them, when fed by their parents.

On the Farm Cam 1, in the position when you can see the Squirrel feeder, as well as the Bird feeders, very often feeding below are Pheasants. They wait for the Birds on the feeders to drop seed. I cannot show them as there is a large amount of bramble to clear, that is obstructing the camera view. It is a very busy area, there are always Rabbits that you can see in the background.

Another question on the forum today, asked about seeing the Otters. There would be a good chance of seeing them if I had the time to move the Lake camera. We could also see the Geese sitting on her eggs on the island. One pair have nested on the island. I cant make out why the other pair are hanging about, If I had the time I would secure a pallet on the lake for them to nest on, for I am sure they would.

I hope that I have not offended you Ladies concerning the chat. The entry on the forum was right, it was taking away part of the forums idea. I liked the banter and the information you were giving. If you cut it down, I am sure you will not get any more negative entries. I am sure that interesting subjects concerning pets and ideas would be welcome by all.

Please do not put your email address on site, It can be dangerous for all, but mainly children.

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Over the past two weeks there has been two Squirrels…

Over the past two weeks there has been two Squirrels feeding on the birds sunflower hearts. At the end of last summer the Squirrels disappeared and stopped using the Squirrel feeders. They had used the feeders for nearly two years up to then. We did not even see them about, maybe they had got a disease and died, we could not imagine what had happened to them. Although we had a very dry summer the hazel nuts were very large, maybe they had plenty of feed stored, and did not need to feed on the peanuts in the feeders.

At about the time they disappeared I had obtained various items to make a squirrel obstacle course, I had been planning it for a few months but never got it up and running. If they stay for a few weeks now, I will start it up. I have seen one Squirrel near the Badger sett at camera two location, that looks to be an ideal site.

I don’t know why I encourage Squirrels, they are very destructive to trees, especially saplings and the younger trees, they eat the bark, this kills the trees. They also raid bird nest for their eggs, all in all they are a menace, but a lot of people do get enjoyment watching them at the feeder, lifting the lid of the feeder to get the nuts out. They also remind me of rats, they are one animal that I hate, I cant even bear to look at them, if I see one I run as fast as I can in the opposite direction.

When our Springer Spaniel, Jade was younger she was a very good ratter and would dispose of them within a few seconds. On one occasion someone had left an animal feed bin open all night, I went to feed the animals and there was a rat in the bin, I screeched, nearly had a heart attack and ran. As normal Jade had heard me and knew instantly it was a rat, she jumped into the bin, by this time the rat had buried itself in the corn. Jade was nosing about in the corn trying to find the rat, who in turn bit her on the nose, did Jade yelp, she was having none of that, she got the rat and where normally she would dispose of it instantly she played with it in revenge for the bite. She is to old and slow to catch them now. Fortunately now we don’t see many rats. Just as well, for Tass is not a very good ratter.

It looks like Lady will have the Foal any time in the next week. The Veterinary is coming tomorrow to check her and Woody out, I will let you know tomorrow what his thought are.