We have suffered two setbacks this year. Our house martins did not reappear this year and my earlier account triggered similar reports from several friends. This has set me wondering if there was a problem in the wintering quarters or along the migration route. I do know that this species, as with so many others, is in decline.
All, however, is not lost, as non-breeding birds were seen building nests in preparation for next year. They had a hard time of it though as there was not much wet mud around at the time, but a seepage from adjoining …
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Paul’s Nature Notes July-August 2023
Paul’s Nature Notes May-June 2023
There are times when I despair of our politicians. Years ago Boris, when mayor of London, wanted to build an airport in the Thames estuary, an area of international importance for over-wintering wildfowl and more recently I read the disparaging comments from a Cornish MP about “the Attenborough effect” – clearly he is not a fan. Now it has been suggested that the Environment Secretary may be blaming wild birds for the poor water quality in a Suffolk creek. Local people want to swim in an area that dries out to mudflats at low tide and where …
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Paul’s Nature Notes March-April 2023
For those of us interested in wildlife and the environment these are depressing times. There are worrying declines in so many once common species. It is happening right around the world but the UK’s track record is not a good one and I suspect little will change unless there is the political will to do so. On the other hand it is easy to overlook some heart-warming developments.
Beavers became extinct in the 16c but recent re-introduction programmes have seen them re-establishing in parts of Devon. I saw them on the River Otter pre-covid and …
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Yellingham Farm – March 20223
I have literally just walked in from the lambing yard having seen yet another beautiful pair of twin Jacob lambs being born. Even after 40 years of lambing, that moment of new life, never dulls. If I was lambing 2000 each year, maybe my feelings might be different…. for me, it’s still magical. At this time, it always provokes memories of moments when lambing wasn’t always quite straight forward, emotional, or just hilarious.
Here are a few examples:
A Doctor, her family and another colleague, also a Doctor, were staying during lambing and one …
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Paul’s Nature Notes – March 2023
Clearly my optimism last month that spring might be just around the corner was misplaced. Instead we have suffered more than our fair share of cold nights, many of them icy. This has not had as much impact on the frogs mating as I would have thought, with the first spawn appearing on February 19th, only five days later than last year. On the other hand, and far more worrying, we have only had two frogs in our pond. In previous years there have normally been around twenty. A disease causing mass deaths has arrived in this country and so it is to …
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Paul’s Nature Notes January-February 2023
I was greatly saddened to hear of the death of Angus Forbes in January. The Payhembury Millennium Book tells us that three decades ago he carried out a tree survey, planted a 400 yard thorn hedge, 750 hardwood and 360 cider apple trees at Cokesputt and clearly mourned the loss of ancient hedgerows and trees in the parish. These days everyone knows about the need to plant more trees and hedges – here was someone way ahead of the times who understood the importance of bio-diversity. He was also the first person to bring the Payhembury daffodil to …
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Yellingham Farm – January 2023
March promises to be such an exciting month…..the anticipation is over and the 1st of March is D Day – we start lambing. On reflection, the word “exciting” is probably a little too over the top, but then you certainly can’t go into the month or so of lambing, without being positive.
Last Autumn it was time to purchase a new Jacob ram, as the boy I was using was not past his sell by date, but I had some of his offspring which I wanted to breed from and “tupping” his daughters is not to be encouraged – no incest in my flock thanks!
I never like …
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Paul’s Nature Notes December 2022-January 2023
Some people say that there are two types of people, the glass half full type or the glass half empty. I tend towards the former but there are times, and this is one of them, when I simply cannot help pondering about the state of the natural world and how human activities are driving so many species towards extinction. is so much gloom and despondency around I find it hard not to be affected by it all.
I was shocked to recently hear that another 1m species are expected to become extinct worldwide within the next 10 years. It has also been …
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Paul’s Nature Notes November-December 2022
I enjoy many lively and thought provoking conversations with my friends about climate change. Not everyone agrees on the causes but there are certain inescapable facts: ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising and extreme weather surges have become more commonplace. We now have to learn how to adapt to these changes as many of the old ways are no longer valid.
I have had to relearn how to garden successfully. For half a lifetime I enjoyed gardening on rich Sussex Wealden clay. When we moved to Devon I quickly found matters were different in …
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Yellingham Farm – December 2022
Yellingham fam is a lovely grassy farm and drains well and that has so many advantages, particularly in these wet wintery times, and particularly for our lovely Aberdeen Angus cross cattle…..in essence we can, in most winters, keep them out so reducing costs and workload……..well that’s the theory.
The theory went terribly wrong this week with the Christmas Festivities all around and everyone in a buoyant mood. This buoyancy changed one early morning as dawn was breaking. Edward had gone to work at 5.30am and I was in charge. No rush, only the …
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