Tag: valley

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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.

Disused wasps’ nest, taken on a walk in a nearby lane. GJ

Peacock posing in North Wales. Close up of a Dandelion. Lynne.

Pony and Foal New Forest Hampshire. One of the Pit Ponies that were used at our Colliery, what an awful life they had. Elsie.

I asked my Friends who host the Ghost Cam about the person that the other Elsie saw at I.30 pm today. There was no one in the House at that time of the day. My Friends went shopping this morning and didn’t return until this evening. On looking at the webcam this evening, I can see a shadow on the wall that I have not noticed before. I am told that there is nothing to cause a shadow on the wall. Strange.

I am not sure what the Bird was that Mary asked about on the Forum. It did look a first like a Willow Tit that we regularly get in little groups of, up to eight at a time. Then a group of Willow Tits started feeding and it was obviously not one of them. It was very similar but different markings on it head.

I looked in Bird Book to see what the Bird was but could not find it. Whilst looking I came across the Griffon Vulture. It is a very big Bird, standing about three and a half feet tall with a wing span of eight foot. Simon was telling me that when they fly towards him when he is on the rock faces they look enormous. Spain have the largest European population. They can also be found in Asia and the Middle East. They lay one Egg. I believe Simon told me every other year. Incubation is around fifty days and are able to fly after one hundred and ten days. As long as all goes well with the installation of the equipment it promises to be an exciting webcam.

Sorry i didn’t witness the outcome of the Fox mating session last night. The way the pair were acting it looked imminent. They may still be together tonight, or a least another Dog Fox may be with the Vixen. I was a bit surprised that there were not more than one Dog, so it could well be the beginning of the mating. Although I suppose it could even be the end. What ever there are no Fox feeding as they would normally be when I put the feed out, so something is going on to keep the Fox away from food. I will put the Valley camera on again tonight.

I did see a Stag as I was panning the camera around to try to see the Fox. It was the far end of the valley. It kept to the edge of the wood and I only just managed to get sight of it.

At 6.pm the sky is quite clear, a few small clouds. I don’t know if it is going to stay like it. The forecast is for cloud. Mars comes in sight at about 8.pm in the southern sky. If it stays like it is a the moment, I will put the Telescope on. The cloud last night cleared but it was to late to start setting the Telescope up. As I said last night, this is the first time that I have tried to show a Planet, so I really don’t know how it will look on the webcam.

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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 one.

The sunset pic was taken from our B&B when we visited Oban a couple of years ago. Oban bay is in the foreground, and in the distance, you are looking towards the Isle of Mull. It truly is a beautiful place and well worth a visit. Some of the many Gold Finches that visit the garden daily. they are such colourful little birds. Liz.

Ponies in the New Forest. Dad took this picture of a cow in Mid Wales. Lynne.

This is Peters House in the USA, overlooking the Lake where the Ospreys nest.

Tonight when I went to feed the Badgers I could hear two Tawney Owls calling to each other in the valley. We often hear Owls, tonight it was more pronounced as it is so very still here tonight. When I returned after feeding, I panned the valley cameras around the field hoping that I would see at least one of them perched in a tree. I will leave the valley camera on just i case one comes in view.

There is a chance that the Deer that were in the valley last night, may return tonight. The Deer were seen yesterday afternoon when Tass and Kye were taken for their walk. Kye was the first to see them. There were five Red Deer, they were in the small field that you get to through the gateway, that you can see in the far left hand corner of the valley. She went to start to chase them. She soon stopped when called back. They probably didn’t see the Dogs as they ambled across the field into the wood.

The two Fox that I turned the camera onto are ready to mate. That is another good reason to leave the valley camera on tonight. It depends where they go in the valley if will will see it.

I set the Telescope to look at Mars tonight. The forecast was clear skies. Unfortunately with the cloud there is not a Star in sight at the moment. If it clears, up to 9ish or maybe a little later I will put the camera on. It will only be on the Moon thumbnail. As soon as we get a clear night I will put it on. It is also a good time to see Saturn, although at this time of year you may not be able to see the rings very clearly. This will be the first time that we have tried to show one of the Planets, so I am not sure how it will turn out.

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webcams

There are five more photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five more photographs on the Photo page, starting from the sixth one down.

Mushrooms in Chatsworth last month
This is what Blossom could look like after a day on the beach when she grows up a bit !!!! Lynne.

The cow on this photo had all the traffic held up at the New Forest Hampshire, the cars in front of it had managed to get moving and then it decided to get in front of our car. I could not stop laughing. Elsie.

Pollperro when we were there earlier this year on holiday. Sue.

Hello Mr. Farmer. On last night’s forum I mentioned about an encounter with a wolf at the Bath and West Show in 2006 – well, here are some photos! here is a picture of a Sow with her piglets – I wish you could see the video, it’s comical!!!!.Julia.

p. penhaigon. This time of year we are fortunate to see any Badgers. Although Badgers do not hibernate, there is a period in the Winter when they sometimes do not come out for a few days, More so when it is wet or cold. I should think that there are still in the region of fourteen in the Sett, most I should think will come out to eat the easy picking that we put out, within feet of the Sett entrance.. Unless there is a cold or very wet spell I should think that they will seen a lot more early February.

What a change in the weather we had today from yesterday. It started off a little cold after a frosty night. The frost after the rain caused our car doors to freeze, so that we could not open them. We needed to run warm water around the door rubber before they would open. By 10.am it was so warm I was working without a coat. I made it a point to walk through the valley after I had finished mucking the Horses out. The stream was running a little fast, but nothing like it was last night. It was running so fast last night that it was flooding the valley field and over the bridge. The flood on the field had retreated and the bridge was clear. All through the valley on muddy areas there were fresh animal foot prints from the night before. I have walked the valley for nearly fifteen years, and it is different every time I walk it. There is light rain in the air, but we have been promised heavy rain over the next two days.

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Going by the Forum none of you managed to see…

Going by the Forum, none of you managed to see the DENBURY FARM RUT last night. It as only by luck that I managed to see it. The last thing that I do before going up to bed, is to pan the valley camera, to see if there is anything of interest to be seen in the valley. It was quite late, about 12.10am that I first caught a glance of a Red Deer Stag grazing close to a Hind. I initially thought that it was the Stag that we saw a few weeks back, mind you it could well have been. In the distance I saw a couple of sets of eyes that caused me to pan around more. The Stag without me seeing it must have crossed the stream, and as I was panning he came into view just as he was covering a Hind. A little later I also saw a young Stag trying to mate, unfortunately for him the Hind was having none of it. I managed to see at least ten sets of eyes in the distance, some of them from the wood, I should imagine that there were more that were not facing the IR lamps, so it was a fair sized Herd. By about 12.50pm they had all gone into the woods. I managed to record a bit of it, but the view at the end of the valley was poor, my fault as I had not changed a bulb that had blown months back. My lads have also laid armoured cable in the stream, so that we could put another lamp further down the valley. The Electrician is coming at the weekend to wire it up. In the meantime I put a new bulb in the IR lamp that had blown. I think that the lamp is at the right angle, so if the Red Deer return tonight it should be a better view than I did last night.

I don’t know what time that the Deer came to the valley last night. I usually put the picture in picture on with the valley camera going, whilst watching the television, but since Monday when I fitted a camera up in the barn to try to see what had startled me on Sunday, when I went to get the Badger food, I have been watching that camera. ct and Karen asked about the camera. All that I have seen since watching the camera since Monday, is a Field Mouse last night. One of my Lads saw a Rat this afternoon in the barns doorway. It was not a Rat that I saw, it was either a Stoat or Weasel. I will only put the camera on if I see anything. Believe me its like watching paint dry.

My Duck cam is going to be started this evening. I only got the engine and other bits and pieces today. I had to go and buy another two Mallard decoys as I cut the hole in the decoys before I had got the rudder, and it is in the wrong place. Fortunately they were not very expensive. It is going to take me a couple of weeks to get it on to the water working, then I will have to get a very small wireless day night camera. It is not worth buying the camera until I get the Duck moving on the water.

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This morning I left the valley camera pointing to the…

This morning I left the valley camera pointing to the right hand wood, hoping that you would be able to see the beautiful colours, as the leaves on the trees start to change colour. With the valley having woods on both sides, we are surrounded within a sea of fabulous shades of brown, orange, yellow, green and red. The camera will never be able show the display as it is when you live here, but I hope it gave you an idea of how the valley looks at this time of year. I think the valley looks its best in the Autumn, unfortunately it last only a short time, even less in a windy Autumn, when the trees can be made bear overnight. It is then that you think of the long winter that is on its way.

Last winter was very mild here. The Horses were out in their field until late November. We could do with the weather we are getting now to last for a good while longer. It is only the rain that make us get the Horses in of a night. With their turnout rugs on the Horses are much better off being out. I must admit it also makes it easier for us not having to muck out the stables every morning. A few year back we started to have rain early in September, the Horses had to be stable very soon after. I remember that at the timed we worked out for how long it had rained for. It was over a hundred days that rained for none stop. Every day we were soaked through. I hope we never get that again. This year it has been so mild and dry that most days we are able to leave the Horses rugs off during in the day.

We have got to start thinking about weaning Willow off of Lady. Willow is now six months old and the time is very near. If you don’t wean the Foals you can cause them problems. Their Mothers know when it is the right time and will sometimes start to kick out at their Foals when they try to feed from her. In past years we have had two Foals to wean off each time. It makes it easier as we are able to put the Foals together away from the Mares, who we have to put in closed stables for about a week. With Woody loosing her Foal it is going to be difficult for Willow. Willow hangs out with Bliss and Misty a lot of the time. If Bliss and Willow had been staying on the Farm, instead of going to France we would have been able to shut Lady away, leaving Willow with the Youngsters. We need to decide how we are to Wean Willow soon.

The Ewe lamb is doing well now that she is not in the the rest of the Sheep. First thing this morning I went to look for her. I thought that when I called out she may of come my way. When she didn’t I thought the worse, but I soon found her, close to where I had seen her last night.

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Any thoughts of a lay in this morning were quickly…

Any thoughts of a lay in this morning, were quickly dashed when Willow started to call, letting us know it was breakfast time. There really is no point of the clocks altering twice a year. The animals know when it is feeding time. The Horses and Sheep are waiting by the gate at the times they expect to be fed, the same time as usual. If I fed the Badgers by the clock, they would be long gone thinking that they would not be getting food. I try to stagger the Horses and Sheep feed over a week or so after the clocks alter. This way they are not stressing by the gates.

I don’t think that I have ever told you that there is a stream that runs the whole way through the Farm. The reason it may be of interest to you, is that on the Dog camera, that we mainly show the valley on, the stream runs through the overgrown area in the middle of the field, past the Buzzard pole and the trees in the middle, that some of you made a face of a while ago. That is why the Deer are very often feeding in the overgrown area. There the Deer will find lush feeding, like watercress. They also drink at the stream. We always find Deer footprints in the tree area. The stream is also the main reason that the valley sometimes get a thick mist come down in it. We are very lucky to have a stream like ours on the farm. It helps bring in the wildlife and allows the livestock to drink from it.

When the Tass and Kye are taken for a walk down the valley, you often see them go in to the tree area, this is to get a drink from the stream. It is not a very large stream, on average two foot across and no more than a foot deep. There are a few areas were it may be three foot wide, it get deeper in the Winter and can run very fast. Kye when she goes to get a drink from the stream very often she tries to swim in it. She hasn’t worked out that not all water is the same depth, so she lowers herself down thinking that she will be able to swim like she can in the lake.

We were lucky tonight Sue. Fortunately Tass and Kye must have just been having a roll. We know it when they roll in Fox scent, it horrible and they need to be bathed.

That was a Deer last night Pat, I had been following it earlier in the night and it laid down where you could see the glow. The wire has been run to put up another couple of IR lamps further down the valley so that we are better able to see the wildlife down that end. Mind you if it gets as misty as it has tonight in the valley it will be a waste of time. I saw the mist starting to form as Tass and Kye were ending their walk. We had quite a lot of rain today, then this afternoon a bit of sunshine and now it has got quite chilly. That is why we have the mist this evening. It may go later.

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webcams

Just before I went to bed last night I checked…

Just before I went to bed last night I checked the valley webcam, I saw the Stag that was in the valley, in the afternoon laying down at the far end of the field. There were two Hinds with him, not one that he had with him a few hours earlier, in the afternoon. The second one was probably in the wood out of sight. Although he wasn’t very old, he was a good Stag, so he may well have more Hinds in his Harem. I will leave the valley webcam on most of tonight, in case the Deer come back.

This is the first year that we have not seen any large herds of Red Deer at Denbury. We regularly saw herds of up to fifteen in the valley, and in the far end field. It is more likely that I have not seen them, rather than them not being here. When I had Cattle I wasn’t best pleased to see large herds of Deer here. I needed the grass they ate for the Cattle, The herds Of Deer would eat as much grass as my Cows, and they would always be there in the Spring when the grass was growing for the silage we made. I didn’t have webcams when I had the Cows, but you could tell that a large herd of Deer had been here, by the grass that had been eaten and the flattened grass where they had been laying down in the field.

We finally started to get Bliss and Misty the Fillies ready for Auction, that they are entered in to at the end of the month. We have left it late. We have just over three weeks to get them ready, and there is so much work that needs to be done with them. Before today we have only ever had head collars on them twice. On both occasions they didn’t like them and pulled away, thinking that the head collars would not follow. Today we put the head collars back on to them to get them walking as we lead them. Quite important really, as they will need to be lead around the auction ring on head collars. Both Fillies were no better or worse than we thought that they would be. They started pulling away from us, as we thought they would. This time they are a lot bigger. When we first put head collars on them they were a lot smaller and we could manage to pull them back. The size they are now, we would have stood no chance of holding on to them. If they had decided to have it away, we could only have watched them go. Fortunately they are very laid back and kind Fillies, so the pulling that they did was half hearted to try to see if they could get away with it.

We soon had them walking with us, not necessarily by our sides, but it was a start. Misty was in front and a lot better than Bliss, which was a bit of a surprise. Initially they danced about on one spot rather than walking, but a little touch on their back ends from one of our Lads, got them walking forward. We kept this first session short, about fifteen to twenty minutes and by the end they were taking to it better. Within a couple of days they should be walking properly on the head collars. I will let you know how they progress.

As from tomorrow I will be feeding the Badgers from 7 to 7.30pm. The nights really are drawing in quick

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I was pleased and surprised to see the young Buzzard…

I was pleased and surprised to see the young Buzzard on the pole in the valley this morning. Going by the forum it had been there for at least two hours. I must admit that I had not noticed it perched there when I changed the cameras over, and only when I was reading the forum did I realise and changed the camera back. The youngster has been flying over the valley squawking for a few days. I have left the valley camera looking into the sky hoping that I could show you it flying above the farm. When outside on my way into the farm house I look to see where the Buzzards are, by the time I get in to move the camera they are out of view.

I was a bit concerned when the youngster flew off of the pole and went into the trees just in front, as it fell to the ground instead of perching in the tree, it stayed on the ground for a long time before flying up again. The parents are not feeding it any longer. All I hope is that it is sufficiently able to hunt for its self. If it is not it will soon weaken and not survive.

I was even more surprised to see the Tawney Owl land on the pole in the valley tonight. It is the first time that have seen a Tawney Owl at Denbury this year. The picture was very poor, as the lens was zoomed completely in, it is very difficult to focus it properly. It made me realise that I need to put a PTZ camera in its place that has automatic focus, but I need to work out how to do the IR lamps, there is no facility to control the direction of the IR lamps with PTZ camera as there is with the current camera, that is now installed down the valley. I have heard the Tawney Owl for most of the year, but as have said it is the first time that I have seen one at Denbury. In previous years we could regularly see them in the trees in the wood on the left hand side of the valley.

The Raymond Blanc cookery / restaurant programme on the television last night, didn’t help me in trying to persuade people of how good Eels are to eat. It is the look of the Eel that turns people off of eating them. Although it was the people who were cooking them that made them out to be not nice. The people in the restaurants didn’t seem to complain as much as the Chefs.

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I made it a point yesterday to walk through the…

I made it a point yesterday to walk through the valley, I went on my own at about midday. The main reason for me walking the valley was to see if I could see or hear the Buzzards, I would usually have taken Tass and Kye with me, but being that we have recently seen a number of Deer on the webcams, there would be more of a chance of seeing them , if I were on my own, if there were any. Tass will come to heel immediately she is called, or when we need to be very quite, I only need to click my fingers. Kye is very good, but she does hesitate, and has not yet got use to coming to heel as Tass, when I click my fingers.

Although the whole Denbury is in a valley, I call the part where the valley camera is, the start. To get to where the valley starts you need to pass through the orchard on the track that also passes the Bird and Squirrel feeders. Once into the valley I crossed the stream making my way up the hill to the wood, that you can see on the right hand side. I walked along that wood first, as it is the wood that I believe that the Buzzards nest. Every year I try to find the nest, but I have never managed to find it. You can also usually see the Adult Buzzard fly close to the side of the wood.

There was no sign of any of the Buzzards. I turned left at the end of the wood making my way down the hill, crossing the stream at the far end, then turning right into the little paddock that I described as my favorite spot on the farm. The small bales of hay that we had made last week were still lying where they had been made. Seeing them reminded me that the contractor had not brought them in. They need to be in before any rain, being small bales they would spoil, if rained on.

There were a number of the bales of hay under the old Ash tree. I pulled a few of them together so that I could lay out for few minutes to listen to the quietness. I must have dozed off for a few seconds, only to be woken by a distant shotgun being discharged, At the same time a movement to my right, made me look into that direction of the wood, just as a Red Deer Calf came out of the wood. With the paddock being small, the wood is only at the most ten metres from where I was laying. I didn’t move a muscle as it made its way to my direction, grazing the new grass that was shooting up after being mowed to make the hay. Within a minute the Hind followed into the paddock, after jumping over an low barbed wire, that was once part of an old fence.

I was surprised that the Hind had not noticed me, especially as a light breeze would have been blowing my scent into her direction, obviously she hadn’t, for both the Calf and Hind carried on grazing, at times within three metres of me, for at least twenty minutes. Keeping still in the position I was in was making me ache and stiffen up, giving me little alternative but to sit up. I moved very slowly so as not to frighten the Deer to much. The Hind looked at me then carried on grazing. It was not until I stood up did she slowly make her way back into the wood, with her calf following close behind. later that evening I managed to catch them on the webcam.

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webcams

Finished the concreting in the base for the new camera…

Finished the concreting in the base for the new camera tower today. As one of my Lads said, just got to hope that we don’t find one of the Badgers cemented in, when we check it in the morning. The concrete will take a few days to set, so that we can put the tower up.

It was good to see the report that Ospreys have been seen on the Chew Valley waters. Of course unless we know if they are ringed and what number they have, we can never be sure where they have been nesting, or what nest they originated from. It would be good if they came from the Lock of the Lowe’s, but I should think that they are more than likely to have come from a site in Wales.

Osprey were once visitors all over the British Isles. Being that they are using Chew Valley as a stop over, there could be a chance that a pair may nest there at some time. As I told you last week, Peter DeMarie from Delaware USA, contacted me last week about webcams at a site that is just a couple of hundred yards from his home. Peter is a Osprey monitoring volunteer for the State of Delaware. He has emailed me some photographs of the site that is by his house. The Osprey nest is a platform on top of a pole. It is in the middle of a lake surrounded by houses. The complete opposite to the sites in the British Isles, that seem to be in isolated areas or on Water Companies Lakes and reservoirs. I will try to have a word with the people in charge of Chew Valley. Who knows they may be interested in a webcam at their site, for at a quick glance, they do have a large assortment of wildlife there.