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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.

Northern California , near San Jose/San Francisco:

Golden Gate Bridge with fog rolling in. Penny

Looking back up Lombard Street. Penny

Almaden-Quicksilver State Park. Penny

Big Sur. Penny

Dolphins off the coast near Monterey. Penny

I really thought that you would be more imaginative than you have been. Just a few guesses of what the new webcam is going to be. I have written down at least 50 ideas that there are with the clues I have given, and that was not even trying, and I know what it is. Still as long as it is up and running in the expected time you wont have long to wait.

The Cob Swan is still eating well and looking alright even with the lump on it neck. The new Cob is being collected on next Tuesday. Not to sure how he will be greeted when we introduce him onto the Lake with our three. Speaking to the person we are getting it from there is no telling how it will go. His experience has been with the Pen playing hard to get, chasing the Cob all over the place. They eventually got together but it took a few weeks. Another person has told me that the Cobs may have a bit of a set to.

Sorry that I have been neglecting the webcams recently. For the past few weeks we have been very busy. I need to replace a couple of infra-red bulbs. One in the Valley and the other on the Lake. I also need to find the break in the cable for the webcam that faces onto the Badger Sett. It is not the best of jobs, but it would have been worse still if I had of tried to do it in the rain. One of the webcam cables for the Swallows was broken earlier in the year. The Barn that it is wired to is the only place that the Swallows are still nesting in. Usually the Barn that the working Swallow webcam is going has Swallow nest this time of year, but since the Tawny Owl raided the Swallow and Doves nest a month or so back nest no birds have nested in the Barn.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

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

Need more photographs and please keep watching the adds.

A late photograph of our Black Silkie a little bit wet as you can see by her spiky hair. We hope that the Owl doesn’t eat her. Taken by year 8 year old Sam (one of this week Holiday Guests)

After the discussion about puffins earlier this week I thought I’d send in a couple from Skomer this year. Jill.

Does anyone know the name of this” pretty “! rockery shrub? It has taken me a few years to realize it is responsible for a vile smell, I used to think something had died in the area! It attracts horrible big flies.Cant remember where I bought it.Rose W’canton

The Swallows nest was empty this morning. We haven’t seen any Magpies near the Barn where the nest is. I can only think that it is either a Rat or more than likely the Tawney Owl that had the Silkie a week back. It was the same barn that the Dove chicks were on the webcam and they have also been taken. As have the eggs from another Swallows nest that I had intended to show once the Swallow chicks had fledged.

We have never had a problem with Owls raiding nests before, but we have never had an Owl take a Chicken either, be it that the Silkie was a youngster and only half of the size of our Chickens. We have been leaving the Swallow webcam on most nights, it was on last night so it is possible someone may have been watching when the Swallow Chicks were taken.

I have been looking for another Swallows nest to put on the webcams, as of yet I cant find one. It is still not to late for the Swallows to nest again this year. I should think that the Swallows that have lost their brood will try again. I don’t know If they will use the same Barn. I should think one pair will.

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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.

DAVE LEFT THE DOOR OPEN ON THE GREENHOUSE AND THE SQUIRREL THOUGHT IF IT HID WE MIGHT LEAVE IT IN THERE WITH ALL THE BIRD FOOD !! LYNNE

ALL TAKEN IN MY GARDEN THIS WEEK. LYNNE.

Quite a lot of Swallows returned to Denbury on Thursday, going in and out of the Barns busily repairing their last years nests or making new ones.

I have been working around the Lake today increasing the height of the electric fence to protect the Geese from what ever has been killing them. If what I am doing this year does not protect them there will be nothing else that I can do other than put a six foot fence all around the Lake. Unfortunately that will cost to much. Whilst working around the Lake I have been watching the Swallows skimming the Lake to catch their food.

Thornton after visiting the Holiday Cottages to see what treats he can scrounge is spending most of the rest of the day in the Horse Field with the Sheep and Lambs, returning to the Farm House as the night draws in. He is not getting chased away as much as he was when he first started to mix with the Sheep. Just now and then a Ewe if one is about will give him a little nudge if she thinks Thornton is to near her Lambs. I think that the Lambs are what is fascinating Thornton, for he is always getting close to them. He may well decide that he want to be a Sheep, We cant see it as he likes his home comforts to much. Thornton does not like the rain, that will be when we will know if he want to be a Sheep if he stays out with them in the rain.

The Diary is late as Thornton had followed the Sheep into the Woods. We went to make sure that he was alright. If he had of been we would have left him. But he could not find his way out of the Woods. As soon as he heard us he called out and tried to get back into the Field. We needed to show him the way. As soon as he was in the Field he gave a skip and a jump and ran back as fast as he could to the Farm House. He does like his home comforts. Better than a dark cold Wood.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number one. Only four photographs left.

Have a close look at the bark of the tree and experience the unbelievable figures of creatures engraved in the surface of the entire tree trunk!! Elsie.

Some fish Don’t know what sort they are or where she took it. Elaine.

The next two photographs were sent by Julia taken by Finn Julia’s seven year old nephew whilst staying at Denbury last week.

Thornton; (I’d changed the batteries in the camera and forgotten to change the date/time! This was taken on 1st September)

The lovely Reindeer. Finn.

The Swallows nest had been raided during the night or early this morning. When I changed the camera over this morning most of the nest was gone and on checking out in the barn their were the feathers of the youngsters on the floor. It was more than likely a Magpie. It was late for a Swallows nest, by the time the chicks had of fledged in over a week or more time in would be getting on for October. It wouldn’t have left a lot of time for them to have strengthened for the their flight to the south to migrate to a warmer climate for the Winter.

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webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting from number eleven. As we have lost our email inbox we have just a very few photographs left.

I told Karen of Stoke that I would send her some party photos of the raccoons. Hope everyone gets a laugh.

Party time in a ravine in Toronto

Me, I don’t like parties. Isabel.

Pine Marten on SWT2 cam. Not excellent quality but they were taken on the spur of the moment. Judy.

Piglets having a drink at Sherwood Forest Farm park. Vicky.

Marie/NJ seems to be having a problem logging into the webcams. Is any one else having the same problem. I have asked people that I know and asked them to try assessing the site. None have said that they are having problems.

The Swallows look as if they are nearly ready to fledge. Those on the webcams are the last nest that we have seen at Denbury, other than the Doves. The nest is the only one that we managed to see from the beginning. I nearly missed it as it was well hidden behind a beam in the Barn. Very often the Swallows use nests that have been used before so we tend to look in the old nests. This year only one old nest was used.

We have not had a reply from Elsie.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page from…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page from number eleven. Getting short of photographs.

Hi I recently bought a squirrel box off you . Here are some pictures of squirrels feeding. Only the 1 squirrel so far. First time it’s taken food today. Kids have called it Rusty! Grant O’fee.

Daisey Fleeblane taken along the Great River State Trail in Wisconsin, USA. Penny, Chicago.

Fruit bats photographed in the wild in N.S.W. Rose W’canton.

Still getting the Starlings!!! Julia.

We had Gordon the Goose working on the Lake this afternoon. Unfortunately it was a last minute decision to get it working, as I had a bit of trouble with him when I was getting it ready this morning. There was bad interference with the picture. I tried various things to get it right and had all but give up on it for the day. A small movement of the ariel put it right. Jack and Brian have done a good job as it works very well. For some reason the picture has a lot of blue in it, but it is only like it by the Lake, I will sort it out some how. I will let you know when we try it out again. The batteries that work the camera and wireless connection will last for maybe five hours, so as soon as I am sure that every thing is alright, I will tie Gordon somewhere on the bank of a night time. It is an infra red camera that will be able to see in the dark as the other Farm cameras can.

As Swallows return to the nest of a night and and when it is raining for a while after they have fledged I will keep the camera going for a while longer. We have found another Swallows nest that will be easy to put the camera on to. There are a couple of eggs in it at the moment, so I would expect a couple more to be laid before the Swallows start to incubate them.

We put in a new branch into the Lake in the hope that the Kingfishers will start to use it as the original branch. It is sited close to the Island where have seem them land on the plants on the Island.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number six. There are only five photographs left to go onto the Photo page that were sent in by Anjela. After tomorrow I will have no more.

Mute Swans Head. Anjela Connecticut

Stray Cat. Anjela Connecticut

Common Raven. Anjela Connecticut

Ducks down under. Anjela Connecticut

This how far the pomegranite plant has grown. Think it will make a nice house plant when it is bigger. Elsie.

We manage to find two Swallow nests today with the eggs in the nest that the Swallows are sitting on. The close up webcam has had eggs in the nest for about a week, but have only been incubating for a day. I don’t believe that the Swallows are incubating the second nest, although the adult birds are returning very often through the day. I should think that within a couple of days the incubation will start. The two nest are very close to the nests that I thought were going top be used, that I have had the camera pointed at. I will show one of the nest through the daytime hours.

Thornton wasn’t very well this morning. When we got up he was continuously bleating and was not at all interested in his bottle. We were quite worried about his condition. Last night he pawed at the floor a couple of times, but not enough to cause any concern, and this morning he did not seem to have a belly ache, as pawing at the floor indicates. We tried feeding him with a syringe, we got a little milk in to him but more seemed to go onto the floor. Early afternoon it was decided to try to take him for a walk down the Valley. Although he didn’t go far it made a great difference. He started to eat a some grass and when he returned to the Farm House he drank a full bottle. Within half an hour he had disappeared to be with the other Lamb. I can only think that he had eaten something that didn’t agree with him yesterday.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number six.

Wild Mute Swans over wintering near Glastonbury. Lindsay.

The Old Blacksmiths Shop. Gretna Green. Scotland Grey Mares Tail Waterfall. Queen. Judy.

Beeny and fuzz watching a film show in a mock old Cinema at the Lowry Art Gallery in Salford. Angela Kent.

The greenhouse at Leeds castle. Bec.

MY FRIEND IN AUSTRALIA WHO RESCUES KANGAROOS SENT ME THIS. LYNNE.

The Swallows that have been arriving for the past few days are chasing each other all around the Farm Yard, it must be some sort of courtship. For sure when they are doing it we know that Summer warm days are not far away. We haven’t done anything during the Winter that would stop them from using their nests from last year. We had intended to finish a barn conversation during the Winter, that just didn’t seem to happen. We wont do anything to it that would disturb them during the Swallows nesting period.

We had hoped this year to have had a Sand Martin nesting colony on the webcams. If you remember we were talking to people who I would not disclose who they were. It was the Crown Estates that we were talking to, but although I sent a camera and all the equipment for them to try I haven’t heard from them, and I must admit I had been to busy to pursue it. I will talk to them on Monday, but I shouldn’t think that any thing will happen for a while. The Crown Estates do a lot of work on their Estates for Wildlife and the Sand Martin nesting site is one that they made.

We did send last week a camera to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, for their visitors centre in Scotland. It will be used to show a Swallows nest in their visitors centre. They like our webcam site. If they can convince their powers to be at their monthly get together, the site is a possibility. Keep your fingers crossed.

This morning the weather was quite warm and we made the decision to go to Minehead this evening for fish and chips. We could well regret that decision as it is turning a bit chilly. That is why Elsie you wont see Tass, Kye and Thornton on their walk today. It is mostly after 3.30 and before 5.30pm depending on what time we decide to finish off feeding the Animals. Today we let Thornton out for the first time whilst we mucked out the Horses. He normally stays close to us in the Farm House and on our the walks. He didn’t when we were working. To be honest he was a nuisance. He just kept disappearing causing us to have to keep looking for him in case a car came down the drive. Thornton having no road sense would have been liable to have been run over. I wouldn’t have mined if he had made a visit to his family, but he kept right away from the Sheep. It took double the time to muck out, it wont be happening tomorrow.

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Who s the cleaver one Within a few days of…

Who’s the cleaver one. Within a few days of putting the branch in to the lake, we got a Kingfisher on camera at 4.15pm this afternoon. I have only seen one twice in all the time that have been at Denbury, as you can imagine I am really pleased that we managed to see one today. I hope that some of you also managed to see it.

Both Swallows nest have now fledged. The way it was looking I thought that the Swallows in the nest in the roof would not be leaving for a few days. As it happens they have been flying around the farm yard all day, only returning to the nest in the roof this evening. On the other hand the first nest, although chicks fledged yesterday, have been perched on the wire by the side of the nest waiting for the adults to feed them. Unlike the roof fledglings they look as if they will perch on the wire, rather than return to their nest.

The Farmer who’s farm our lambs had eloped to, brought them back. The idea was that he was going to phone us when he was getting his sheep in, and we were to help. Because they are young he took his Ewes into his field, where my lambs were. They all mixed in together and he was able walk them back to his barn, where he sorted mine from his flock, and put them into his truck, to return them to me. They will be on their way to market on Saturday. Five of the lambs are still missing. It could be that they were washed away in the flood, although I have not seen any signs of them.

Woody is still loosing weight. She is not in any pain, with the pain killers we are giving her. Although if any one sees her in the poor condition that she is in, they will feel that I am being cruel and I am making her suffer. I don’t think that unless the weather changes that I can keep her going much longer.

The Osprey chicks should continue returning to the nest until about the 20th of August. The Bird box that you may have seen on the SWT camera two today, is where you may see the Pine Martin. There have been four around that area for the past couple of days. The camera unfortunately is mine, that has gone wrong. I am sending a new one to them tomorrow. They also have an IR lamp that is going to be installed, so you may be able to see some thing at night.

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Our first Swallows nest that was abandoned a few weeks…

Our first Swallows nest that was abandoned a few weeks ago, has now got residents. I saw the Swallows were going in the barn, that is being converted, On investigating I found that there were eggs in the nest. I wasn’t able to count them as the adult birds were causing a bit of a rumpus, with me being to near the nest. I will try to count them tomorrow. I will show the nest from time to time on the same page as the current Swallows nest.

Most of the morning we had a Jenny Wren chit chatting away as if something was disturbing her. I had found her nest a while back, in the same barn as the Swallows nest, that I found the eggs in today. She had managed to build her nest in between the old ceiling beams where they join together. How she managed to get in there, I don’t know. This afternoon we found why she had been making such a commotion, for just outside our door were six tiny Wren chicks, that must have fledged very shortly before. The Wrens have normally nested within inches of our house door for many years. I may have stopped them from nesting there this year, when I put a camera above the nest, although it was very lucky for the Wren, for four days ago when we opened our door in the morning, there was a large amount of nesting material on the ground. Some thing had pulled the inside of the old Wrens nest apart. It was more than likely a Magpie looking to eat the eggs or chicks.

Some of you may have seen that I had got the new IR lamp working around the lake. The lens on the lamp needs to be changed to widen the beam. The lamp will then light up more of the view. I watched it on and off for two hours or so, and managed to see two Moorhen or Coot. I should think that it will be a good watering hole for other animals in the night. The grass around the lake is thick, so I am unable to see any animal tracks. When I turn the lights out on the Swallows of a night, I will put the lake camera on.

The orange bags on the lake, are bags of barley straw. The chemicals in the straw stop the lake from forming algae. The bags are meant to be submerged, but it seems that we made a bad job of weighting them down, so that they would sink to the bottom. As some of you have noticed the Ducks are using it as an island.

Woody is having a good spell at the moment. As you have seen, she is grazing quite happily, but I am not holding my breath for her to get better. She has lost so much weight. With the feeds we give her every morning and night she should be putting on weight, rather than continuing to lose it.

I have been trying to phone the Stud where Lady and the Foal are, for most of the day, to see when they are going to bring her home. I haven’t managed to get an answer, I shall be trying again tomorrow, from the morning.