Spring Creeps In
Despite the icy breeze, mother nature seems to have proclaimed that spring is on the way. In a much required boost to morale, the skies have cleared to blue, the sun has shone and in the brief respites of wind it has felt really quite balmy. Even the bees have come out.
The pond is looking glorious and the recent rain has certainly helped fill it back up from last year’s drought. I’m on a daily hunt for frogspawn at the moment; I like to keep tabs on when and where it appears, not only for chronicling yearly changes but aslo safeguarding it. If I know a heavy frost is due, I’ll pop out with a tea-towel and cover it over, keeping the cold off the spawn so it doesn’t freeze solid and kill the embryos inside.
The back meadow pond is currently the only site to have had spawn in, but now I’ve begun work clearing the hill meadow pond too, I’m hoping the frogs will also discover this as a lovely habitat in which to come and thrive.
With the warmer weather, both Saad and I have been heavy on projects this week. We got onto the roof of the office and finished putting the tiles on, made a big crack on finishing the cattery so we can move our feral cats on site, moved Raja (our Harris Hawk) and his shed to the farm and also collected some pheasant run panels so that we can build some more enclosures for our ever-growing pheasantry. We picked up a pair of Temnicks tragopans and a new Golden Pheasant hen. In addition to the Lady Amhurst and Silvers, we definitely need some more space.
The market garden doesn’t have a huge amount going on, but the warm weather has got the ranunculus going so I planted the first lot out today - under cover, of course. I also sowed some marigolds and cornflowers, and the peppers and aubergines are coming on well under the growlights.
Jock using the roof membrane as a cave
Iris reticulata beginning to flower
Indoors, we’ve got a couple of weeks to go before the sheep begin to lamb. All the jacobs have now begun to bag up, as has Tracy - our Bleu de Maine. The Norfolk Horns, which were scanned empty, are also showing signs of pregnancy. Connie and Coco are growing quickly and though no udder development yet, they’re definitely becoming more rotund. Cotton, whilst I’m confident she’s in lamb, isn’t really showing anything of yet. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for signs of lambing over the next few weeks!
So a super busy but fun week on the farm. The honesty stall has started bringing in an income again, lambs are not far off, the weather is brighter and spring is definitely on the way!