New Year

So the old year wears to an end and the new one is waiting in the wings ready to emerge as we turn our back on the old. I always look forward to starting a new year. I suspect that beneath my jaded and sceptical exterior I am really an optimist, always expecting something good or interesting to appear on the horizon. I suppose that I'm lucky because as I get older I'm less disappointed when it doesn't happen, and I'm more thankful for what I have. But what do I intend to do with this new year that is about to be granted us? Well firstly I will try to avoid making any new year's resolutions. I usually forget any that  I make after the first two weeks. And if I do remember them I find them nagging my conscious and leaving a feeling of guilt when I don't manage to keep them. But what have I just done? I've made a resolution not to make any resolutions! Well as you see that the first one broken and the year hasn't ever begun. So since I'm not able to keep the first one here goes.
1. I intend to complete the two books I have started and have them ready to publish early 2015.
2. I intend to add to this blog at least twice a week.
3. I intend to stop putting used crockery on top of the dishwasher in the hope that someone else will load it. If the dishwasher is full or running I will wash it by hand, rinse it, dry it and put it away.
I think that is enough to be going on with.  Perhaps that's the secret, don't make too many and don't make them too complicated.  I will comment on my success or lack of it as the year gets going.

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The Orchard

It doesn't look much at the moment but I have to start somewhere.  There are nineteen fruit trees planted so far.  The two plum trees we planted in June appear to be well established, they were well watered all summer.  All but one of the other trees were pot grown and should take, if the rabbits from hell haven't done too much damage.  I am waiting for five more plum trees and four more apple trees to be delivered in the new year.  These trees will all be bare root maiden trees and will require initial pruning in the first year.  I have already pruned the apple trees, aided by the rabbits from hell!  I'm looking forward to spring, I'm impatient  to see if and how well the trees establish.  Even if they do set fruit I won't be leaving any on the trees as I would rather they expend all the energy they have establishing themselves.  That is apart from the two plum trees that were planted in June.  If either or both of these trees set any fruit I will thin it but I will leave some on the trees as I am believe both trees have established a good root hold.  Especially the Marjorie's seedling which held onto its leaves well into November.  I know this is a late plum but I was amazed by how long it kept its leaf cover.  

The only addition since mentioning the varieties in an earlier post is a bare root maiden Haganta plum.  The Haganta is the most expensive tree I have bought. I have never eaten or seen any of the fruit from this variety but it is described as one of the latest ripening plums. I'm trying to extend the plum season for as long as possible.  Partly to try to avoid a glut of plums at any one time but mostly because I love plums ripened on the tree and want to be able to pick them for as long as possible.  

This is why I believe that the rabbits in our orchard are from hell.  There is no shortage of grass, there are plenty of small shrubs in the surrounding hedge and there is no snow cover preventing them from feeding.  I wonder if rabbit goes well with apple sauce?

I hope you all have a very good Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.  

Kestrel

I once saw a Kestrel, and I'm sure it was a single bird, kill and eat over a dozen mice in a single morning.  I was rotevating kale stalks in preparation for ploughing.  There must have been a lot of mice living in the kale and as the tractor and implement passed over their nests they ran for cover.  But there was a Kestrel following proceedings and I saw it kill over a dozen mice in front of me and eat them before resuming the hunt.  Even though I saw this I still find it hard to believe a single bird could eat that many mice in so short a time.
I also remember having to stop my tractor and beet harvester very quickly to avoid running over the top of a kestrel that had dropped on a mouse less than six feet in front of the moving tractor.  This bird had been following me all of one winters day waiting for the chance of a meal and it was late in the day with the light fading fast when its only chance came.  It must have either had great faith in my ability and willingness to stop quickly or have been starving to drop so close to a moving tractor.  I waited until the bird lifted off before starting the  tractor to continue lifting beet.  The bird was on the ground for some time and didn't seem to be carrying anything when it flew so I suspect that its hunger was such that it ate the mouse on the ground.
I do enjoy my glimpses into the lives of the local birds and animals and over the years I have seen many other interesting things which I will mention as I continue to write.

Procrastination

Sooner or later I'm going to start writing again.  I've been avoiding it for the last three months.  I have started the sequel to my first book and also started a book which is mostly unrelated.  Trouble is I'm being lazy, I don't like to concentrate that hard.  That is exactly why I don't play chess. For me the concentration needed for chess is very similar to the concentration I need to write.   I have no idea if it is the same for everyone else, perhaps it is or perhaps I'm just not very good at what I'm trying to do.  I wonder if any of you who read this have any similar problems.  I would lie to know if you do it would give me faith to carry on trying..  Please feel free to comment,

The Seasons Turning

And so we, in the UK have got there, the shortest day!  Sometimes at this time of year I get a sense of the spring to come. It's difficult to explain and at this time of year it's always fleeing and ephemeral, easily buried back into deep winter. The feeling I get from the countryside is of anticipation, as if every tree and plant has cautiously opened one drowsy eye to check what is happening. It's a sense of anticipation and quickening. Yes at  this time of year it's always fleeting, lasting only an hour or so before being submerged back into deep sleep. But as the days slowly lengthen the feeling appears more often and lasts longer each time.  Eventually nature opens both eyes and the first green shoots appear.  As you may surmise from this I don't enjoy winter and am eagerly anticipating spring, longer day length and warmer days.  Roll on spring.

Mr Magpie

Travelling my usual routes this week I have noticed that the magpies are now paring up.  The family groups that have been in evidence until now are breaking up.  The magpie has been allowed to increase in numbers due to its adoption of a suburban life style and as the year turns they move out from the towns into the countryside.  These birds may be tolerated in towns but in the countryside they do massive damage to the song bird population, especially the shy and diminutive song thrush.  These little thrushes don't have the strength or will power to fight off a magpie attack on their nests, unlike their larger cousins the mistle thrush who fight aggressively and with determination to defend their nests.  Changing agricultural practice is often given as the reason for the decline of the song thrush but in my book there is a direct correlation between the decline of the song thrush and the rise of the magpie.  When I was young more of the countryside was under the protection of gamekeepers and the magpie population was well controlled.  Yes I know that any protection of the song thrush was accidental as the gamekeepers were only acting to protect game bird chicks, but the point remains there were more song thrushes.  As for the detrimental effects of changing agriculture,  in the case of some species this may be a cause, but with the increase in the area of the oil seed rape crop since my childhood the population of song thrushes should have at least held steady.  I say this because the dense canopy of an oil seed rape crop makes an excellent breeding ground for slugs and snails and I have watched thrushes of both species and blackbirds dashing into and out of the crop collecting food for their nestling's.   While I don't believe in the extermination of any species I do think that a much smaller magpie population would make the recovery of the population of the song thrush and other small song birds possible.

As it Is

If you face danger I would stand in front of you.
If you need support I would stand behind you.
If you need advice I would speak with care.
If you laugh I would laugh alongside you.
If you cry I would offer you comfort.
For I love you as I love no other.
But when you choose another to take my place.
I would wish to stand aside with a smile.
So choose well my daughter choose well.

That Time of Year Again

Once again we in the UK are on the run up to the day with the shortest length of daylight.  For me the good part of this is that the year is about to start again.  The wonderful pendulum that powers the seasons is about to start its return stroke bringing renewal to our countryside again.  Once we are past the shortest day hope seems to return to the countryside.  As the year turns I will start looking for the first snowdrops, the height of the lorry seat gives a great advantage in looking for these shy little flowers.  I find the snowdrop an amazing little flowers on gloomy days at the beginning of the year it gives me hope for the spring to come.  The sight of the first cluster of white flowers sheltering in the bottom of a hedgerow or low in a ditch bank brings joy to my day.  The snowdrop gives me a feeling of connection to the past, seeing clusters of white flowers huddled in a hedge bottom I wonder how many previous generations have looked to see these brave little flowers in the same place and gained hope for the year to come.   I will let my reader know when I see the first ones.

Putting up the Christmas Tree

This morning my wife and daughter are putting up the Christmas tree.  My attitude to Christmas decorations is best described as "Bah Humbug".  But I have come to realise that it isn't a dislike of Christmas or the clutter of the festive decorations, it's a dislike of the emptiness when, in a months time, everything is put away for another eleven months.  This dislike would, if I were on my own, prevent me putting up any seasonal decorations at all.  Well perhaps I would put up one bauble, perhaps!  We have a clash of ideas on the decorating of the tree.  My daughter would like the tree to be decorated in what she calls a tasteful fashion which means two colours with every bauble matching.  To me this is gives a very sanitised and clinical version of the festivities and doesn't correctly represent my feelings for the season.  I like a riot of clashing colours, the tree should be a glorious mishmash of bright colour.  My wife, as always has been diplomatic, and unbeknown to me has always chosen the decorations to match the carpet, but since our carpet is well patterned I haven't noticed until she mentioned it just now.  But the tree decoration also represents a repository of memories.  With each decoration comes a memory of where and when the bauble was bought or acquired.  Some of these memories go back well beyond the birth or our children back to my wife's childhood.  Perhaps this is what a Christmas tree really represents, a link with the our past. What ever it means I am enjoying sitting here listening to the banter and laughter passing between them, they are also gently taking the mickey out of me as they work.  Happy times!

U.F.O. In North Yorkshire?

About a year and a half ago I was lucky enough to see a U.F.O.  No it wasn't due to beer or wine, though I do admit to being partial to both.  It was in the early afternoon, the sky was clear I was at work and in the company of two colleagues both of whom saw the object.  Now I'm not saying that this object was populated by little green men or beings of any colour or gender.  All I am saying it that neither I nor either of my colleagues were able to identify the object.  When I first saw it I thought it was a helium filled balloon, one of the metallic effect flat sided circular ones that you often see at country fairs.  The object was high up, but as I'm not sure of its size I couldn't say exactly how high.  It was floating at a constant speed, flat side down.  As it crossed our view there was something strange about its movement, I think the speed was too constant to be a wind blown balloon.  When it had crossed our view from right to left is slowed down and started to oscillate from side to side.  Just after it had slowed down we lost sight of it because the a large hedge on the edge of our works obscured our view.  When we got round the edge of the hedge the object had disappeared from view and we haven't seen it since.  During the whole of the time we could see it there was no sound of engines or anything that might have indicated a propulsion system.  To this day I have been unable to find any rational explanation for the object and neither have my colleagues. I live in hope of seeing it again.
Since seeing the strange object one of my two colleagues has had a substantial win on the lottery.  No I don't think the two things are related.

Winter Blooms

I joined the A64 from the junction with the A1079 heading East.  On the left just outside the roadside fence I noticed a small gorse bush, the vibrant dark green foliage against the background of aged grass stood out like a beacon.  The bush was young it couldn't be more then three feet high and about four feet wide and above the dark green leaves was a could of yellow flowers.  I love to see gorse at the side of the road I have seen it in flower in every month of the year and I know of no other plant that can be found bearing flowers in any and every month.  I have no idea what triggers its flowering, can anyone tell me?  What I do know about gorse it that it is a legume, it fixes nitrogen from the air.  In the past it was cut for hay, I presume it has a high protein content but considering how prickly it is I wonder how it was grown and treated to make it palatable to livestock. One of lifes little mysteries.

Flying Rabbit Removal

In the last two days I have seen three buzzards.  Two of these were in North Yorkshire and could have been the same bird, the third was in East Yorkshire and because of the timing this couldn't have been the same bird.  The first bird took off from a tree about fifteen yards in front of the wagon, giving me a very good view for a short time.  These sightings are much less remarkable than they would have been thirty years ago.  The reason for my commenting on the sightings is more as an illustration of the changes that have taken in the bird populations in my life time.  One of the most remarkable and sad changes in bird life is the decline in the cuckoo population.  During the early years of my life I would hear cuckoos several times a day during May. Last year I only heard one the whole of May. I don't admire the cuckoo for its habits but I do find its lack very sad! 

Views from a tractor seat.

All my life I have had an interest in my local wildlife. One of my greatest surprises and delights was how most of the birds and animals would treat a tractor as part of the scenery.  A tractor seat has afforded me some of my most intimate views and insights of our natural world. Of  course the tractors I am thinking of over thirty years ago were rather different than a tractor of today. At the time off my starting work it had only just dawned on tractor manufactures that perhaps the operator would like s little protection from the elements and the cabs they fitted were little more than canvas shelters. These cabs afforded little more than partial protection from the elements but did give the driver a rather more intimate experience of the surroundings. The other difference to modern versions I is size, they were much smaller.  No radio, no air con and the only suspension was the thickness of the foam rubber seat.  But they did bring the operator into closer contact with the surroundings than is possible today. If you have never driven a tractor or talked with those who do you may be surprised by what the drivers see and do whilst carrying out regular field operations. The only instance I will give on this post regards landings and their nests. Mappings were much more common thirty years ago, and at that time we used to run an inter row cultivated through the subscribers at least three times. Mappings like on the bare ground between the rows of beet. It was our habit to mark every nest with a stick on the first time through and ensure we lifted the cultivated clear of the ground over the eggs on every subsequent pass. While I'm sure we didn't save every nest we did save as many as we could. Farmers do care more than people know and more than most will admit. This post has been too long already so l will leave the many remarkable things I have seen for later posts.

Of Rabbits and Fruit Trees

As I have mentioned elsewhere I am in the process of establishing a small orchard in our paddock at the back of the house.  I've wanted an orchard of my own for many years but I don't seem to have had the time or a good site or both, until now.  The paddock has a good slope, it's well sheltered and gets good sunlight exposure.  Apart from three ash trees large ash trees in the neighbours paddock I think the site is excellent for my purpose.  I have reseeded the paddock and the new grass has established well.  We have bought and planted eighteen fruit trees so far, these are six plums, two pears, two cherries and eight apples.  Yes I know we stand very little chance of ever getting a cherry but Rosemary likes the blossom and I don't really begrudge the birds a little food, providing they don't touch the plums.  For anyone who's interested the trees are as follows.

Plums:- one Greengage, one Marjorie's Seedling, one Opal, one Avalon and two Victoria.

Apples:- two Bramley's Seedling, one Spartan, one Ellison's Orange, one Discovery one Braeburn one Sunset and one James Grieve.

Pears:- one Doyenne Du Comice and one Williams.

Cherries :- one Sunburst and one Stella.

Most of the trees came from Reighton Nursery near Hunmanby, they have a large selection of pot grown trees which are very reasonably priced.  They were planted in good conditions and I saw no reason why they shouldn't establish well in the coming spring.  Then came the rabbits!  I had put guards each tree but these rabbits from hell used the guards as a platform to reach higher up the young trees and chew off the bark.  I bought higher guards and have managed to fend them off all but the lowest branches.  But in what can only be a fit of spite these evil creatures have almost stripped the bark from round a small spruce tree.  A spruce tree!  A tree that must taste terrible.  A tree that they have left alone until this point.  It's not as if there isn't a good supply of fresh grass or plenty of shrubs in the hedge.  The only conclusion I can draw is that these seemingly innocent friendly looking creatures are actually completely evil. Perhaps I should eat the rabbits, I bet they haven't thought of that!