May 2011

06/05/2011

Cherry time!  This year nearly everyone here had a bumper crop including myself.

 

 

 

 

10/05/2011

While wandering around near the pond I found another bee orchid with a slightly different pattern to the one in the garden.

It’s now marked and I hope it will flower again next year.

 

 

 

 

11/05/2011 & 12/05/2011

While clearing out the barn I decided to get rid of a bin of old wheat.  When I opened the lid I found some very surprised mice.

 

They all buried their heads in the grain bar the look-out mouse.

I carefully emptied out the bin and there were 12 mice living in there.  I think they were trapped in there a the lid was firmly on.

 

 

 

16/05/2011

Jewel brought in another friend, a western whip snake as before but a bit bigger this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17/05/2011

A walk round the pond revealed the headless corpse of one of the moor hens from the pond.  I’m now wondering if I have a mink around or if something else killed it.

 

 

 

The hayfield was also ready for cutting over the weekend but I’d not had a chance to check out the baler but was able to get someone else to cut and bale for me this year.

 

 

 

18/05/2011

This year I scaled down the collection using the small tractor and the large trailer rather than the hay waggon.  When I used the hay waggon a couple of years ago I ended up having to use the kitchen steps to get up onto the waggon and then had to leave a gap in the bales to enable me to stack the bales.

 

With the trailer I could get around 22 bales on at a time from ground level.  So while it seemed like a longer process, it was actually much quicker.

The first load was used to build a set of steps to reach the hay loft.  And before long the field was half done.

 

 

 

The field as cleared and stacked the next day with a little help from neighbours J & C and I helped them collect and stack their bales.

 

 

 

20/05/2011

Today was designated a cherry picking day

 

 

 

 

 

21/05/2011

And yet more cherries!

 

 

 

 

 

28/05/2011

Meet the new additions.  This is Pandora with her cria Brandy.

 

 

 

 

 

While this is Tabitha with her cria Bethany.  Missing from the photos is Mr Frizzle.  They are the start of my Suri herd and I travelled up to Brittany to collect them and while they were there they ere entered into a show.

 

 

31/05/2011

And this is what I came away with.  Brandy, Bethany and Mr Frizzle all won their classes and Brandy went on to be Reserve Champion Suri