Tag: valley

There are five photographs on the Photo page starting from number six sent in by Karen.

These Photographs were not taken by me. My daughters Partner Steve ,took these for me and Emailed them for us to go on the Gallery. I hope you enjoy them. Karen. Stoke.

We started to make our hay today. Not quite as late as last year, but later than we would want. The grass seed would be ready to drop so when the gray is turned to let it dry evenly a lot of the seed will be left on the ground when it is baled. Early this morning the grass was cut and this evening it was turned for the first time. It will be turned again every day in the hope that we can bale it at the latest on Thursday evening as the forecast is for rain on Friday. We normally would like five days to make hay but for the past two years we have needed to take our chances as the hasn’t been many five days periods without rain. We managed to make thirty bales about five weeks ago. The forecast at the moment is giving us a chance, so with a bit of luck we can make our hay.

I had hoped with the new camera being able to look straight up into the sky that we may have been able to see the Buzzards hunting for food for their Chick in the Valley. There has not been one year in all of the time that we have lived here have they not hunted in the Valley except for this year when the are hunting in the small paddock that we kept Smuggler and Sonny. The three of the Buzzards can be seen in the trees most days. Unfortunately the nearest camera to the paddock is unable to look upwards very far. I am hoping now that we have cut the grass in the valley it will make it more open for the Buzzard to hunt. There are a lot of Rabbits for the Buzzards to catch there so we may be lucky. We have nearly finished the kitchen and cottage so next week I will be able to spend a little more time on the Diary and camera.

The sudden appearance of a strange light in the corner of the nestcam is, we think, a spider’s web/nest that is in front of the camera lens. The movement is the spider crawling across the lens. We are reluctant to go into the building at present as the two oldest owlets have not left the barn yet and we do not want to risk flushing them out. Again we will monitor the owlets’ activity and will review the situation if any circumstances change. Matt. BOT.

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo page. Three from Vicky and two from Jack.

Badger feeding at Denbury taken from the hide. Vicky.

Woodpecker at Denbury. Vicky.

Harlequin Ladybird. Vicky.

Gordon the Goose. Jack

Jack and Brian on Gordon’s maiden voyage. Jack.

As you can see from the photographs that Jack sent to me yesterday, Gordon is working very well. Brain in the red shirt, I have never met Brian, bit of an exhibitionist with that colour shirt if you ask me, and Jack worked on making Gordon. Gordon is in a box on his way home to me, and will be here tomorrow. I will find the time to show you him working with the camera over the coming weekend. I don’t know about Brian but Jack unfortunately is taken and unavailable, just in case any of those seeing his photograph are bowled over by his obvious desirability.

We managed to get the new Valley camera set up and working today. It is going to be a vast improvement on the old camera with the amount of panning around that we do so that we can see the large variety of wildlife that visits the valley. I don’t know about you, but I get very annoyed when I see the wildlife but we are to slow to focus before it has moved away. The new camera has about the same zooming capability but a larger wide angle view, that makes it able to see more of the Valley. At night time the cameras wide vision and infra red lamps will stand more chance of seeing the wildlife’s eyes that we can then follow and zoom in on, getting immediate good images with the automatic focus. The camera also has a windscreen wiper that I have tried and have found very good.

We have still to fix the infra red lamps to the camera, so we will be unable to use it of a night time until we have, hopefully that maybe tomorrow, but what ever it will be by the weekend. You will also have to be patient, as the camera is controlled from a computer and we will have to get use to this different way of controlling the camera.

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

Herons at Birdworld. Bec.

From yesterdays paper. Elsie.

Horses at markeaton park in derby. Vicky.

MY SONS FRIEND IS IN THE RAF AND THEY HAD AN OPEN DAY FOR FAMILY AND FRIEND.THEY GOT TO SEE THE PLANES AND HAD AN AIR DISPLAY. LYNNE.

Here as promised are the first photos of the new puppy. His name is Jet and he is just 7 weeks old but already he knows who is boss. Sue.

The new Barn Owl Trust nest camera is now working and we hope to have it on the web site within a day or two. The camera where you will be able to see the Barn Owls going into the nest box we hope will be working soon. When you see the webcam you may think that it is very light in the nest box. It is in fact very dark, and it is only possible to see the Barn Owls by using an infra red lamp.

We are also going to put the Osprey nest site from Delaware in the USA within the next week. Peter has got to raise the camera a little and he also needs to focus the camera slightly. I will be sending Peter a Pan Tilt and Zoom camera so that we are able to see more of the wildlife in Indian River Bay.

I am waiting to hear from Simon in Andalucia about the Griffon Vulture webcam. A new ariel was sent to him last week, as the distance was more than we allowed for with the wireless signal from the mountain range to the computer.

We put up an infra red light in place for the new Lake camera, to overlook the Island at night and to see what may be lurking about that may be a threat to the Goslings when they hatch. The Valley infra red lamps bulbs failed a few night ago. We replace the bulbs today.

At 8.15pm there was a very pregnant Red Deer Hind in the Valley. She wouldn’t have long to go before she gives birth.

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number eleven. I am sure that there must be some good photographers who have not yet sent any photographs in for the Photo page.

Photo is looking down from the top of Plodda falls. The falls are over 100 feet high, and one of the highest in Scotland, they are near Tomich, in Glen Affric. Jan.

Taken by my granddaughter last year on holiday in Devon and Cornwall. PM.

The late Freddie & Fiona these were my first two Ferrets. CH.

Three young cygnets taken at the Apex , Burnham on Sea. Marie.

Windmill in Norfolk we stopped at. FF (Rose)

I too was a little surprised on seeing two Lambs this morning when I went into the barn to make up the Horse feeds. I had only checked the Ewes udders a day before. A few of the Ewes were quite large, but two of them have been like that for a few weeks now.

It is Dolly who has Lambed. They are both Ram Lambs, both looking very healthy and strong. What I cant make out is who is the Father. Going by their colour they cant be Ramsdens, his off springs, even as crosses would not have the spots that they have. I have been trying to work it out all day. I cant remember any young Ram Lambs being in with the Ewes, that would have been that mature to have been able to mate with the Ewes and Father the Lambs.

It was a pity that the webcam was not on the Ewes when Dolly Lambed. A week ago when we had a load of bales of straw delivered, the high load hit the cable and broke it. I was so busy last week that did not get the time to repair it. On checking the Ewes again today I reckon that there is at least one of the Ewes that is going to Lamb very soon, and maybe more. I will keep an eye on them and probably put the Ewes on instead of Emmi and Sox after 10.pm. unless any look as if they are going to Lamb. I will also now and then change the webcams over.

The Lock of the Lowe’s new camera is very clear and is located in the Osprey nest. Being a pan, tilt and zoom it promises to be able to get some fabulous nest viewing positions. It should also be able to show the Ospreys leaving and returning to the nest. Peter had hoped to have got the PTZ camera that I supplied fitted in the last couple of days, but it does not look as though he has. A CCTV manufacturer is supplying us with a new camera that we will install down the valley. We were going to change the one that is installed now before the Summer as it is quite difficult to adjust the focus when trying to view close up at the end of the valley, when watching the Deer. The new camera is a posh affair. It has an automatic focus as do most of our other cameras, and we should be able to look high into the sky with the tilt that it has, making it possible to watch the Buzzards soaring. If we are lucky it will also have a 36x zoom, this will when at wide angle give a larger view of the valley. I will have to get a tower to install it on, as the post that the valley camera is now on is a telegraph pole, that has started to lean. We wont be able to fix the IR lamps to the side of the camera as we do now, so it will mean having to install them at different positions and angles around the valley.