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June 2009 - Lambs, bombs and bees
Honestly, we are not publicity seeking! We were infact very dismayed to unearth another mortar bomb in our pig field. Infact mortified (excuse the pun) that Wiltshire Radio somehow found out. Cameron found the young sows playing with the bomb just as he was trying to get home on Sunday evening (31st May). IT WAS rather embarrassing calling the Police yet again but we were so pleased the Bomb Disposal team were able to come out so quickly and deal with it straight away. This time they had very sophisticated X-ray equipment so were able to X-ray it to establish that it was a dummy practice bomb and thankfully not live. We sincerely hope we won't find any more although we have been warned that many different nationalities used those ranges over the years so anything more-or-less is possible. The children are getting quite used to providing policemen and soldiers with tea and cake!
At the end of May the two pet ewes had their lambs and we now have two healthy black lambs much to the childrens delight. They have been called Amy-May and Tikka. Tikka is a ram-lamb so will have to be sold for meat in due course but Amy-May we plan to keep to increase our breeding flock - by 50%!
I have heard a lot about honey-bees disappearing in parts of the country. Our garden is always full of bees but on closer inspection they are mostly not honey-bees. I thought I would look up the species but when I discovered that the UK has 260 species of bee including 16 bumble-bees - I'm afraid I gave up. We do have an interesting colony of ground-nesting bees in the garden which I believe are stingless. I took several photographs of an empty hole before I finally capture a shot of a bee emerging.
Lots of other wildlife about including this beautiful day-flying burnet moth. It also seems to be a good year for swallows on the farm with several pairs nesting in the stables and barns. Also a few pairs of house-martins nesting under the eaves. I see plenty of swifts too although I don't know if any nest around the buildings.
Real farm work is happening all the time of course - two inspections in consecutive weeks beginning next week. Silage needs to be made soon. Preparations are beginning for harvest and planning for next harvests crops. It never stops! We did however manage one weeks holiday in Cornwall in May - we are still trying to catch up!
Email: Naughton@Farming.co.uk