Spring Happenings

It is so good to see the Spring action kicking off in the garden, woods and fields.  The birds are all of a flutter. The male pheasant is driving the females mad by chasing them all over the place and then circling them with one wing dropped saying, "Look at me.. I am sooo handsome..how can you resist" but unfortunately the females don't seem very impressed, as yet.  My friendly male blackbird has been more successful though and now has a wife in tow. They are busy gathering ridiculously large beak fulls of nesting material and disappearing into the thick ivy climbing up an old garden wall but the male still comes for his breakfast when I ring my little bell and still enjoys a daily bath to keep his feathers in trim..with such clean habits, no wonder he bagged a female so quickly:)

At the weekend I escaped the noisy rugby that my husband and son were watching on the TV, climbed over the fence and went for a walk in the fields behind us.  The sun was out, the Sky larks were up, a few butterflies fluttered by, the birds were singing in the woods adjoining the fields and Aconites, Primroses and two of my favourites flowers, Violets and Coltsfoot, were all adding a nice splash of colour.  My mother's middle name is Violet and when I was a child she used to make up wonderfully exciting stories about Violet Fairies rescuing bees, bugs and butterflies:))  It is easy to see why I believed the stories when one looks at the pretty petals:)

My other favourite, Coltsfoot, is regarded by many as a weed but I think it is beautiful so I was pleased to discover a large area of it growing not far from our garden.  Culpeper describes its virtues as good for coughs and also good to take away, '...the burning heat of piles...'  so if anyone is suffering you now know where you can get some:)

The nicer weather has made the volunteer work we do with the Downland Project's conservation grazing animals even more pleasant.  I always enjoy the tasks; the company is good and there is nearly always something that happens that I find amusing, although, I rarely let on when I find something funny (unless it's something silly that I've done) as I'm am not sure the others share my sense of humour and I don't want to embarrass anyone. Having said that I thought I would recount something my husband did recently  as he was complaining that I don't mention him in my blog.

We were at a site called Park Ham, near Caterham, on top of the North Downs and the sheep had been penned so we could trim their hooves. To do this we turn the sheep onto their backs and hold them in a sitting position, with their feet sticking out for trimming.  It sounds uncomfortable but strangely most sheep seem to find it very restful and often become quite sleepy.

The sheep are turned onto their back by aligning them sideways in front of ones legs; one hand then turns the sheep's head away and round towards its back end which makes it lean onto your legs, while the other hand pushes the sheep's side to reinforce the pressure of the lean. Then you move backwards and the sheep falls gently to the ground, where it can be easily manoeuvred into the sitting position.  However, for it to work, it is important to keep ones legs together.

My husband, being male, is not used to keeping his legs together, so he forgot this important bit! As a consequence, when he attempted to turn his sheep on its back, instead of the sheep going down, it ended up, still standing, but between hubby's legs with him straddling it (not actually sitting on it...thank goodness). The sheep, then very confused as it wasn't expecting that, started to walk off, but my husband didn't want to let it go, so a funny few seconds ensued while they both went stomping around the pen like some kind of sheepy rodeo until my husband managed to get it out from between his legs.  I found it very amusing, especially when it happened a second time, but as no one else made any comments, I thought I had better not laugh:))) 

It was great, therefore, when on another day, the Grazing Officer brought his 11 month old son to the farm to watch the ewes being scanned as, being a baby, he had no inhibitions about showing his true feelings and just the sight of a volunteer had him chuckling loudly. He really seemed to enjoy his morning at the farm and didn't cry once...sort of child I like.

The ewes are scanned to see how many lambs they are carrying (or not).  It is not 100% accurate but gives a good indication which is useful to foresee any problems that may occur before, during or after labour.  The images of the unborn lambs are displayed on on a screen in the goggles that the person doing the scanning is wearing.  He then calls out what the ewes are carrying and they are sprayed with different coloured dots to show if it's a single, twins or triplets.

After the scan, the ewes were returned to their pasture and because the lambs inside them are now growing very fast, they are given extra food in the form of sheep nuts.  At first when I went out with the nuts, they all turned the other way, saying that no way were they going to be caught again for more scanning, but when they realised I had a bucket of nuts, they came running over enthusiastically nearly knocking me over in the rush:)

It is not long until lambing now.  We have 12 ewes that we are lambing for someone else at the beginning of April, then the Project's 30 ewes should starts delivering anytime from the 10th April onwards and hopefully, if all goes to plan, we will get around 45 new little conservation grazers:)

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

People seem to gauge the arrival of Spring by different things. For some it is the arrival of Crocus flowers in the garden...

or Bluebells in the woods....

For others it may be the arrival of new born animals...

But for me it is  all about the MUD.  Having been a rather feral child that could spend many hours happily playing with mud (great for my parents who didn't need to buy me expensive toys:)) I have the dubious pleasure of knowing mud quite intimately and as a child it fascinated me that, when Spring  arrived, the mud changed its consistency even if it had been raining for days.  It is something I still look out for each year, although, this year it hasn't been so dramatically obvious as, with the dry, mostly mild weather the South East has had, there hasn't been the glorious, boot gobbling type of mud that we usually get in the winter...my youngest son, (who was also a bit feral) was always loosing his little red wellies in boot gobbling mud but would carry on playing regardless, frequently loosing his socks as well!  Over the last couple of weeks there has been a change in the mud so, in my book, Spring has Sprung..Hooray!!!!

So here's a little celebratory ditty that my dad used to sing to me, his little Mud-Lark.  Actually it's not about a Lark, it's about a Hippo which is more appropriate as his nickname for me was Pudding:)...

From The Hippopotomus Song

Flanders and Swan

Mud, mud, glorious mud,

Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood,

So follow me follow. down to the hollow,

And there let me wallow in glorious mud.

Is it any wonder that I grew up playing in mud after having songs like that sung to me!!

Unfortunately, each Spring, I suffer the affliction of terrible restlessness...I want to do something life-altering like moving to the other side of the country or travelling the world.  If I go for a walk I have an urge to just keep walking and never go home; if I am horse riding I want to gallop forever; if we are driving somewhere I want to buy a new car.  My long suffering husband and family (who are always included in my plans) usually manage to keep my feet on the ground and curb some of my more extreme ideas, but over the years this Spring Bug has motivated us to do lots of things that we probably wouldn't have otherwise done. We've been rock climbing, white water kayaking, white water rafting, climbed mountains, walked a few long distance footpaths, built a big house extension, redesigned the garden several times over and visited quite a few interesting countries.  Last year it was re-doing the bathroom and my poor husband is still struggling with the many problems this has thrown up but we do now have a lovely new bath and toilet and hopefully the sink will go in this week.  So what am I going to do this year?  I haven't a clue but I am going to explode soon if I don't think of something. With my dear old mum needing a lot of attention, I feel my wings have been clipped, which is a frustrating... I wonder if this is how our hens felt when we clipped their wings...hmmm...there's an idea...maybe I could keeps hens again.

As I have to stay at home and as spare time is short, I am trying very hard to direct my restlessness to the many useful things that need doing around the bungalow and garden but they don't really inspire me with enthusiasm.  I could take up painting again as there are boxes of my half finished bird paintings in the loft...I only ever managed to complete one, The Barn Owl, because I was recuperating after surgery but it could be quite nice to complete the others.

Thankfully the build up to lambing is starting soon with lots of jobs to be done in preparation so maybe that will exhaust some of my pent up restlessness.

Happy Days Are Here Again

It is surprising what a few days away can do and last weeks grumps have well and truly gone. Besides seeing my son and his girlfriend again, we all braved the minus 6 temperatures of Saturday evening to see a brilliant demonstration by Monty Roberts (commonly known as the horse whisperer).  I have now been to several of his demonstrations, all have been interesting, informative and entertaining, but this one was the best ever.

Early in his life Monty Roberts developed a natural, non-violent, approach to training horses, after studying the ways of wild mustangs.  Since then he has demonstrated and taught his methods to people, worldwide, even to our queen who is a big fan, his mission being, '...to make the world a better place for horses and people too.'  Inadvertently he is also changing the world for other animals too as many handlers are finding that a more natural approach works better.  He is now 76 years young so hopefully has many years left to spread his knowledge.

I have always found the way animals interact with each other and ourselves very interesting and it is one of the things I enjoy most about working with horses, as to me, this is the ultimate in animal/human communication. When one considers we are fundamentally a predator on a prey animal's back and we are expecting this animal to, not only carry us safely, but also to interpret the many subtle signals we give, to make it do all sorts of clever things.  It's amazing!! 

I always try to take a natural approach when dealing with other animals too and have found a lot of the tactics used by Monty Roberts work universally when dealing with any prey animals, from pheasants to sheep and make life a lot easier.   

Recently my husband and I were asked to check on the cows that are calving in the barn at the farm.  In general I am a bit apprehensive when it comes to cows and, as I was required to enter the barn and walk around amongst the cows and calves, I first spent some time just watching them so I knew what I was up against....Oh dear.... I think I have fallen in love...they are gorgeous!!:))

They are so tolerant of each other and of the calves.  Several times I saw cows giving another cow's calf a good lick if it approached...very different from the sheep, who tend to head butt any lambs out the way, that aren't theirs. After I'd been standing there a while, they seemed to want to investigate me too, so I held my hand out for one cow to smell when she came over and after giving me a sniff she started to lick me. I was soon able to reciprocate her friendliness  by giving her a lovely scratch on her head:)  They are inquisitive too and frequently messed up a photo by smelling the camera...

When I eventually went into the barn, they were totally unconcerned, apart from one.  I was just standing still reviewing all the cows/calves for any odd behaviour.  They were all happily sleeping or ruminating, except for one, that I had previously given a friendly scratch on the head to, but was now standing over the other side of the barn, giving me the evil eye.  I was a bit confused as she had a calf standing by her back legs, so shouldn't need to be protective, however, having seen how they mother each others calves, I wondered if the calf standing next to me was in fact hers, so I walked away a bit and sure enough she came over and told her calf not to talk to those smelly human strangers:)

I really enjoyed my time with the cows and can't wait to visit them again.  So now I am back to my normal happy and rather silly self I think some cow jokes are in order:

Q.   What do you call a cow in an earthquake?
A.   A milk shake:)

Q.  Why should you never tell a cow something important?
A.   Because it will go in one ear and out the udder:)

Q.   What are a cows favourite school subjects?
A.   Moosic,  Cowculus and Psycowology:)

Lastly, if you like seeing new borns, the following two farms have lamb cams... be prepared to get addicted as you wait for one to give birth!  Signs of labour are...separating from the others, restlessness, scraping the ground, turning circles, getting up and down, not eating or ruminating (although I have seen one doing both all through labour), a fluid filled bag or mucus coming from its backside, arching its head up or backwards and straining. Good Luck:)))))))))                 http://www.willowsfarmvillage.com  &  http://www.meadopenfarm.co.uk

Grumps

I have to admit to feeling a bit grumpy just lately and even things that I usually enjoy haven't cheered me up.  This is unusual for me, for in general, life is good but I think hub and I have been so busy for so long we just need some chill-out time and it has certainly been chilly:)  With the first very light flurry of snow and bitterly cold temperatures we decided to forget all the things we should be doing and go for a walk .When I started this blog it revolved mainly around our walks in Biggin Hill but over last year we have had little time to just enjoy what is on our doorstep so this is what we decided to do. 

Our favourite walk starts from the back garden where we climb over the fence into a field that has been set aside for many years; then along a footpath, across the road and up a hill.  Many happy hours have been spent on top of this hill, having picnics while the children played or just sitting there with the dogs, taking in the view.  It looks down on our bungalow, across the valley to the Saltbox SSSI and further away, on clear days, distant views of London.

After catching our breath we walk round the ridge of the hill, back down into an off shoot of the main valley and up the other side where we follow an old bridleway sunk between ancient hedgerows which gradually slopes down to the main valley again; then over the road and up a track and we are back to our field again, looking towards home and a warming bowl of homemade Parsnip soup.

At one time I knew every badger set, every fox hole and lots of other secret habitats passed on this walk so it was lovely to re-familiarise myself..sort of visiting old friends:))))  A couple of days later it snowed with more vigour so we decided to take another day off and repeat the walk.  I like walking in fresh snow as it is so much easier to see what the wildlife has been up to by looking for tracks.  The view from the top of the hill was breathtaking.

Back at home the birds are flocking to the garden for a bit of extra sustenance and by adding a few extra fruity treats we have had Red wings and Field fares amongst the visitors.  Needless to say the female pheasants are permanent residents in this weather, spending most of the day under our trees and bushes.  However the male pheasants, being a bit thick, can't work out how to get into the garden now their gap under the fence has been filled in with snow...they walk backwards and forwards along the fence line for hours never thinking that they could just fly over into the garden:)) 

Although we have been busy with family problems, we haven't been doing so much work for the Downland Project just lately as they are in the midst of calving the City of London cows that are being overwintered at the Project's farm.  They are Sussex cattle which is a lovely docile and handsome breed that seem to make good mothers who are very particular about keeping their babies clean....

There have been a few sheepy jobs though.  One recent task was to help with moving the ten Herdwick sheep from Tatsfield.  It was a bitterly cold day, with below freezing temperatures, so once the trailer was in the field it was decided to start with a warming cup of tea/coffee (actually most tasks start with a cuppa regardless of the weather:) before rounding up the sheep, which is a job that can take ages when we haven't got, Jack, the sheep dog to help, but the sheep didn't want to hang around in those temperatures and all but two walked themselves into the trailer...I suspect sheep aren't as silly as they look:))

I can't really think of anything funny to end this post so it is going to be a favourite poem that sums up why we should take time out for a bit of leisure and then I am off for a whole weekend of leisure at my son's in Bedfordshire where we are going to see my most favourite animal person, Monty Roberts, the Horse Whisperer.  I think the grumps will have gone by next week:)))))))))))))

Leisure

By William Davies

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

A Rubbish Post

The life of a conservation volunteer is wonderfully varied. One week we may be moving sheep and ragworting, the next it could be moving ponies or cows and rubbish picking.

Last week it was rubbish picking.  It seems that some of the chalk grassland sites we work on were once grand fly tipping areas.  A lot of the larger rubbish is removed when a site is initially cleared and fenced, however, when the area is to be grazed, the remaining smaller bits of rubbish also need to be cleared and it is amazing how much of it there is.

After a quick sheep move our task was to rubbish pick an area at Hutchinsons Bank that will possibly be grazed by the project's two Dartmoor ponies in the Spring. It is strangely satisfying when one reviews the big load we removed from the site.

It is even more satisfying when one sees all the broken glass, barbed wire and other dangerous things we removed.  I wonder how many wild animals may have suffered with injuries caused by this rubbish.

Most of our volunteer livestock work involves the conservation grazing sheep but another variation over the last couple of weeks has been tasks involving the Project's cows and ponies.

I am not very confident with cows as the only ones I have been involved with in the past were some rather dopey bullocks owned by my boss in a previous job. These big fellows would happily walk all over you rather than round you:)  Animals are quick to pick up if one is nervous and the biggest give away is the way one breathes so I had to use the 'boring' technique (see 'Boring' post 18/9/11) to make sure I stayed calm while helping move the cattle.  The first move was taking five of the Project's Sussex bullocks to the field next to Holly Lane car park at Chipstead. They were all very good which is just as well as they were sporting sharp little horns which on occasions seemed to be just a matter of inches from the Grazing Officer as he ushered them into the trailer.

The second move was taking the remaining three bullocks to Foxley Wood, Purley.  This is a surprisingly lovely site, a little oasis, close to the infamous, car infested, Purley Cross and with views across to Riddlesdown.

Following the move to Foxley Wood there was just enough time to visit the farm where the Project is over-wintering twenty conservation grazing cows for the Corporation of London. Even though I am not a fan of cows I have to say these are a lovely group who seem friendly and inquisitive.  One particularly caught my eye as she looks as if she has just had her top knot permed:)

My favourite stock move over the last couple of weeks has been the return of the ponies to my livestock checking area of Tatsfield.  The sheep were moved up a field and the ponies have gone in at the bottom, conveniently next door to the farrier as they will soon need their hooves trimmed again.  It is the first time they have grazed this field so after gobbling down some tasty grass they trotted round inspecting their new abode.

Then it was time to show off with a bit of bucking and galloping around just to inform any rivals or predators (being ponies they still think there may be wolves in Surrey:)) that they are tough guys.

Then they noticed the sheep staring at them from the adjoining field.  Both ponies and sheep looked shocked and quite horrified at first but it didn't take them long before they were politely introducing themselves....

Lastly I wonder if other people are having trouble with their blog sites?  I have had to change my 'comments' from embedded to pop-up as some people (including myself) couldn't access them. Also there are several of my favourite sites that I cannot access at all and others that I cannot access the comments on.  Is it my computer or is it blogger or something else?  Any ideas would be most welcome.

Where's Winter

The first job of the New Year was to get over to Saltbox SSSI to dig up the Ragwort. Although Ragwort is the host plant for the Cinnabar Moth, it is, unfortunately, also very toxic to grazing animals and eventually the effects can kill them.  Horses are particularly sensitive to the plant if eaten and for this reason one is obliged by Defra's Code of Practice, to remove it if there are grazing animals near by.

We thought we had cleared the Ragwort from Saltbox in the summer but, worryingly, not only are there plants still flowering and producing seed heads (each plant can produce 150,000 seeds!!) but there are new plants growing and beginning to send up new flower heads.  They are in a sheltered part of the field so with the mild weather they have just kept growing.  I dread to think what it will be like next Spring/Summer if we don't get some proper winter weather soon.

We took three bags over to collect the Ragwort we had dug up but after just an hour we had filled them all so will have to go back again this week.  While digging up the Ragwort we found some lovely fungus...

...and also noticed that the Cuckoo Pint is shooting up.

It is so mild that I haven't really been able to do my new country boots justice which I had bought on the big side to accommodate thick socks to keep my feet warm this winter. When I first got them they seemed too lovely to use in the country (see pic below). 

However it hasn't taken me long to christen them and they are now covered in mud after walking across the fields to do a livestock check of the Herdwicks that we had moved from Chapel Bank to Tatsfield last week.

When we arrive to do the livestock check, the sheep seemed very interested in something going on over the other side of the fence, but when I looked I couldn't see anything unusual.  We moved them on to check that none were showing signs of lameness and then went off to check the fences. By the time we had finished they were back staring over the fence...

Very peculiar I thought...then, suddenly, a big lorry drove past very fast and the sheep all ran and I realised they had been looking at the traffic going past.  Although they are used to the sound of traffic, I don't think they have been in a situation where they could really see the traffic but at the point in the field where they were looking it was quite a bit higher than the road and so gave them a birds-eye view of all the vehicles speeding along this little country lane.  They obviously found it very entertaining:)

Happy New Year

2011 was full off BIG ups and BIG downs but it was never dull and as such I am sorry to see it go. Thankfully there were more ups than downs.

One of the things that stood out for me in 2011 were the wonderful wild flowers of the Spring and Summer, particularly the Bee Orchids.  I know they are not particularly rare but they are very beautiful and at one point last year, they were so prolific, we were discovering a new one nearly every time we went out.

Unfortunately there was also a profusion of Ragwort.  This is a plant that is very poisonous to grazing animals so much of the summer was spent digging it up.  Unbelievable, even after all that effort, with this mild weather there are still Ragwort plants flowering on Saltbox SSSI, so that will be one of the first jobs to do in 2012...my back is already aching at the thought of it.

Another highlight of 2011 was, of course, being involved with the lambing.  It was hard work and stressful as I was worried that I would do something wrong but it was also very, very rewarding seeing the a new generation of little conservation grazers gambling around the fields full of the joys of life.  Even now when I see them, all grown up, it still gives me a buzz of satisfaction.

The biggest down of 2011 was having to face the reality that my mother had Alzheimer's and then having to make her face the same reality so that we could take her to the doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment to slow its progress.  Even with the drugs, her condition has deteriorated a lot over the year.  This was brought home to us particularly when her Christmas cards arrived from friends and relatives and she couldn't remember who they were. Sooooooo sad, but as usual she put on a brave face and Christmas was a particularly lovely, happy family occasion...very special as I suspect this will be the last Christmas she can enjoy knowing all her grandchildren and her great grandchild. Maybe she won't even remember me next year:(

Unfortunately my three friendly pheasants weren't so happy or festive as they had the most almighty fight with each other on Christmas morning.  It went on for several hours with them ferociously pecking at each others necks and lashing out with their claws and growling (well that's what it sounded like) menacingly at each other.  The cause?  A male pheasant who stood by watching them for the first hour or so and then got bored and marched off, obviously deciding he didn't fancy any females that behaved in such an unlady-like fashion:)  All is calm in the garden again now, but it shows Spring is on its way.  I think it will be early this year.

As soon as we get in to the new year, I can't wait to get the Christmas decorations down and return everything to normal, but unfortunately the family won't let me, saying it must be done on the 12th night.  I am beginning to think I know why.  Forget all the traditional reasons for decorating the house with Holly and Ivy.  Whilst reading my favourite book, Culpeper's Complete Herbal, I found that he refers to Pliny observing that Ivy berries are good for 'preventing drunkenness' and also saying that, 'the speediest cure for a surfeit by wine, is to drink a draught of the same liquor wherein a handful of bruised ivy-leaves have been boiled.'  He also says that the berries of Holly 'expel wind.'  It seems they are the perfect plants to have draped round the house over the 12 days of Christmas, although personally, I wouldn't like to risk any of his cures:)))))

And so to 2012.  It's going to be a great year because life is too short and too important for it to be anything other.  My New Years resolution is the same as it was the New Year following the birth of my first child, 33 years ago, and has been every year since... that is to get fit and lose weight:) I think this might be the year I actually succeed as everything in the shops is sooo expensive and I don't want to have to go back to work so it will be half portions for everyone:)

Have a Happy New Year and instead of joining the gym please consider joining your local conservation groups for some volunteering.  It is needed this year more than ever as all the councils are having to make big financial cut backs and our precious countryside with its special flora and fauna is going to suffer if we don't get out there and help maintain it:)