Spring is here!

Over the last 3 weeks spring has started showing itself and is now well and truly on the way. We are nearly 3 weeks into calving and they have been arriving thick and fast. We have 34 calves with 7 expectant mothers left to go. No twins. We are now just hoping for the fields to dry up then we can get them outside. As its been a mild winter we already have grass, so it could be a great grazing season ahead.

Its also been great to see the blackthorn now in full flower and cowslips which have gone from invisible to full flowering in a really short space of time. There have even been reports of sand martins around the area, so I'll be very excited to see those. One thing that you can't miss near the river are the coots. These are normally a rare sight on this farm, but since the consistent floods which started late September, the coots have moved in. We must have at least 5 pairs and there is currently full on coot wars for territory. The level of noise and aggression is surprising. We are also seeing regular barn owls which is great, but also means they are having to hunt more and harder due to the flooding and poor weather.

Anyway if you possibly can do get out for some exercise, Waterhay car park is just usable and with wellies the paths are passable with care.