Happy New Year

Well, we all survived Christmas, in fact it was very harmonious and the “oldies” who stayed with us all went home well fed and watered if not slightly pickled. We were also very grateful that no one left any in-laws, outlaws or children in the holiday cottages for us to deal with!

Christmas Day was sunny and beautiful and we all enjoyed a walk with the Alpacas. The Donks and Goats have moved into their renovated winter accommodation at New Barn and have all settled in well. We walked them all down together on their leads and amazingly they did not escape.  They are as cheeky as ever and have the space to escape the rain and cold weather. New Barn is a lovely place to go and chill and have a chat with the animals (much easier than making polite conversation to ones half deaf, ageing relations, or iPod connected cousins!)

Life on the farm is wet and muddy and we are catching up with all those jobs that need doing such as fencing and building repairs and trimming trees etc – but much more exciting is the fact that our resident owls had a busy summer and hatched 5 Barn Owls in various locations on the farm this year and they all survived,

Now the leaves have fallen they can be seen easier and one can be seen hunting along the village green and village pastures early in the morning – looking for the mice  (any that the cats have not killed,  if only the owls could catch a cat).  They love the various rough long grass areas and conservation plots we have in the corners of the fields where the field mice live – nothing better for Christmas Dinner than a fresh mouse I hear.

We have also seen some little Owls so they are also joining the party.  So far they all seem to be surviving and have not been threatened by the Buzzards and Red Kites which patrol the skies – they are truly magnificent birds and are joy to watch especially when they are being mobbed by the rooks.

We are feeding the small winter birds along the farm tracks and that has been successful with a possible sighting of a corn bunting, the first of many years.   We have lots of Yellow Hammers, Field Fares and Tits (mainly blue due to the cold weather).

Projects for 2015 include us getting planning consent for some camping pods – fingers crossed – as usual it is a long process but we hope to have something up and running this year!