Harvest Time

The first (small) crop of spuds, these were delicious simply boiled with a dash of mint.

The cooking apple crop from the fallen tree also gave up a bumper crop...pies, pies and more pies!

The wildlife pond has settled in great. A bit of turf kindly given to me improved the steeper slope. Pond weed has establised itself well...though I can see myself having to periodically remove excess weed. There's plenty of waterboat men and diving beetles which naturally appeared. Rocks are set in place to provide shelter for overwintering newts and frogs/toads. The observation bench just to the left of the picture is a great spot to sit and contemplate things after a hard days weeding and digging. The other day I watched a dragonfly from a neighbouring wetland area arrive to lay eggs underneth the rocks.

Harvest Time

Stop growing you lot!

Everyting has gone a bit crazy in the orchard (formally 'top field'). Here's me without a mower!



The spuds are doing okay, they've spurted upwards...but closer inspection below reveals not too much progress...I think a late Oct early November might yield something, if the frosts don't come.



There's signs of slight blight so may have to get some Bordeaux magic to sort that out.





As for the pond....fantastic. Add a bit of water and magic happens, already there's diving beetles, water boat men, strange snot worms, mosquito larvae, pondweed and algae.


Rabbits and Muntjacs have been seen visiting too and a Roe came in for a drink.



Here's a little collection of the pond progress:

Choosing the site

Cutting out the desired area



banking up

I lined the pond initally with newspaper, then with carpet salvaged from a refuse dump

Like Mums apple pie it was ready to eat, well...fill with water

Adding some liner

Secured with rocks and stones

After a few days of rain the pond began to fill nicely (June 2007)

I'll add some more pics shortly with the pond in full sucessional flow.

Stop growing you lot!

I'm on Facebook too for more photos and friends

The first round of veg

The veg patch a few days before I left for germany

1 month later....veg! Mostly potatoes and a couple of very late pumpkins

Germany was an interesting experience...a mass of incredible creatures I havn't seen before, in particular lots of different birds of prey in a 1 square mile...3 Buzzard species, Ospreys, Red and Black Kites, Kestrels, Peregrinne to name but a few.

Also saw 4 huge Red deers and spied on a beaver twice....see pic below. Although the content and professionalism was lacking from the host partners the knowledge shared amongst our group was enough to keep me entertained for the duration.

For all the pics see my Facebook page (you may need to sign up!) http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=512010523

The first round of veg

work, rain, work, rain, work, rain.

In between the summer showers I finally got round to

fixing up the first raised bed for some late veg or fruit bushes.

Need to fill it with some manure, so I'll be out later covert,

ninja style to track down some cows.

Why have I decided to store my swiss cheese outside in a box?

Well, actually it's an insect hide - primarily for bees, but other squatters are welcome too.

Fruits are appearing left, right and centre!

Apparantly seeds and fruits are appearing about 4 weeks earlier than usual, which isnt surprising since the early spring bud burst. These cherries are taking on a lovely orange-red hue and if the birds don't get 'em, I'll be sure too.

work, rain, work, rain, work, rain.

National Bat Monitoring Programme 2007

The Bat Conservation trust has started up it's national bat counting survey agin this year and I have signed up to do a 'secret' colony to submit. It was a visual survey, which I aided myself by using a bat meter too to hear them coming when it got too dark to see.
The method was to select a known colony of bat, I chose Lesser Horseshoe, and arrive just before sunset to set up and then await the first bat emergence. This time was recorded and then each subsequent signting was noted...if bats returned to their roost then this was counted also, to be later subtracted from the emergence to gain the total....geddit??

There was a good show, about 16 bats in total...of which two I was unsure about (basically did not emit any ultrasound at the 109 kHz which picks up Lesser Horseshoes). They also put on a fantastic show above my head foraging for flying insects.

Prior to going to Europe I'll be conducting a more in-depth survey within a selected grid square to plan then walk a route. The idea is to create 'stop points' to then scan the area with the aid of a bat meter for any potential bats out on the town looking for a good time.

Should be interesting to navigate the route whilst dark, so I'd better eat my carrots!

What's a bat meter?? Have a look here http://www.magenta2000.co.uk/kits/bat-detector-mk2b.htm

National Bat Monitoring Programme 2007