Signs of life...

Its still pretty chilly...sorry I'll stop whingeing...(how lucky are we to have such wonderful problems like "our grass wont grow" & "what paddock shall we fertilise first?").

...but there are finally signs that nature is getting on with springtime...whatever the weather!

How excited was I last Friday when on a mission to clear a clump of gorse around the horses water trough...and not being very careful...I spied these bright blue eggs on the floor!

Robins nest

The gorse looked fairly uninspiring so I was mortified when I realised I had unknowingly knocked the nest leaving it upturned on the floor!!  I quickly placed the nest and eggs back into the thickest part of the bush and piled up the cut gorse around it bush to protect it from the wind/horses/predators.  Feeling pretty awful about disturbing the family I kept my fingers crossed that mum would come back.

She did!  5 days later they hatched!  Phew!!  Woody and I are so glad that we did not flail the gorse...as much as we hate it!  Some neighbors recommended that we bulldoze and dig it out as soon as possible, no way.  We will wait a while until the birds have stopped nesting (this depends on if they decide to have a 2nd brood!) and we will continue clearing by hand...any help will be greatly appreciated!  Cider and a BBQ provided!

Mumma Robin done good!

So the leaves on the trees are pumping up, and the flowers are blooming....we're still waiting on the grass showing up though and still feeding hay!

the escapees under the little oak

Trefoils one of my most favorite plants.

A mutant white bluebell!

Boris & Magawags

Oh! I nearly forgot..... we have some new(t) pets :)  The pond has some springtime visitors, Smooth Newts.  I got terribly excited thinking that they were Great Crested as they are so pretty but they are the more common version instead and still very welcome.  Great to know there is life going on in the little muddy hollow of a pond.

see him....?

...how about now?

Soil Analysis

I sent off a soil sample at the beginning of May; a little zip-lock bag with 20 or so samples taken from all over the land.  10 days later ProGreen sent back the soil analysis.

It turns out the soil is very acidic, poor with little nutrients, "great!" you think, but what does that mean, there's plenty of stuff growing there.

Acidic soil allows valuable nutrience to leach out of the soil.  To improve the soil for grazing the ph needs to be raised by adding an alkali such as Lime to re balance it.  The Calcium is also very low so that will need to be added to provide the correct nutrience for grazing animals for healthy bones.  Both these issues can be sorted by easily adding Calcium Limestone.  Once the ph has been raised the soil will be more likely to "grab" onto any fertilizer we add so this has to be done in stages over time and is not a quick fix like adding "MiricalGro" to your tomatoes!

The report detailed brands of fertilizer and quantities however; this would boost the soil and grazing to produce lush rich grass, perhaps not the best for greedy horses that could eat themselves into bad health.  The other worrying element is the long term change that we could inflict on the soil and the plants and wild life that depend on them, can we have both?

Nature vs Nurture.....hmmm

999...."hello, yes....Springtime please...

....I want a word...Its mid May and it's freeeezing!"

Where has Springtime gone?  The two horses are still in winter rugs, the ponies are grimly hanging onto their winter woolly jumpers and we are still feeding hay daily.  The national radio news last Friday they said that this was "your last chance to got out and enjoy the Bluebells.." ours have not even peaked yet, a good thing as we wondered if they would ever turn up at all!

Bluebells who are usually nearly over and gone by mid/end of may are only just coming into bloom.

The slow start to the growing season means that the bracken and brambles that can taking over in some areas are struggling just as much as everything else giving us time to manage the spread of any unwanted weeds or poisonous plants.

I also noted that the Hawthorn in the hedgerows still had not come into full bloom, and is at least four weeks behind the hedgerows lower down near the river.  The Cowparsley is also much thinner and not really in bloom up at 600ft, it looks like our summer is going to be a short affair!

13th May - Hawthorn - still very much asleep!

BBC Springwatch is tracking the progress of the Hawthorn Bloom across the UK to measure the speed that Springtime is arriving and crossing the country.  It will be interesting to see what the results are to see if others have noticed the slow start this year.

Hopefully we see more of these over the coming weeks (and more of that green stuff too!)

...oh and a little thought on "Thorn" Identification

Hawthorn, aka Maythorn or Whitethorn; Leaves appear first, then white flowers.  Produces tiny clusters of red "hips" or "haws" that can be made into syrups/jams...but not worth all the effort for what you get after hours of boiling and sieving.

Hawthorn; spring and autumn

Blackthorn - dark stems where the white flowers (easily confused with the Hawthorn) appear before the leaves giving the shrub a black/white look.  Produces grape sized purple Sloe berries.

Blackthorn; spring and autumn

A little splash...

Early May bank Holiday weekend:  The last couple of months have been rather dry so I wont complain too much that Sunday afternoon was a bit of a washout.  On the lower pastures everything is green and crops are growing but 600ft up in the hills our grass has been slow to start.

To understand the grass and soil condition we have ordered a soil sample kit to test for the pH and levels of Phosphate, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Sulphur, Sodium, Manganese, Copper, Iron, Zinc, Molybdenum and Boron.  The results will allow us to fertilise and supplement the soil appropriately and provide a better start for the grazing next year.  Always making sure we include the likes of these guys in our plan...

Dog Violet

Wood Sorrel (yum, good eating!!)

Grassland management is something Woody and I want to get right so we will be taking advice, attending courses and making sure we get hold of...or buy the right kit...so far we have been doing everything by hand but now the growing season is upon us we may start to loose control.

Time for an upgrade?

In the mean time we will let the rain, sun, grazing animals and their natural fertiliser do their job.

Some welcome rain!