What a change in a month – only 9mm rain in March; the lowest March record I have made in the last 12 years. That has brought our rolling average rainfall down with a thump - long may it last! The ‘gods’ I referred to in my last diary were clearly listening! Although you cannot please all of the people all the time; Ben, our agronomist’s first words when we saw him recently were “we badly need rain!” We didn’t agree.
It has really let the ground dry out and allowed us to get on the land. Having reviewed our wheat crops, we only have one field worth keeping, so James has sprayed off the weed grasses which compete with the growing crop and fertilized it to provide a boost.
Those who come through the farm will notice a tall tank at the Barn Owl Buildings. This holds fertilizer which James applies with his sprayer. Traditionally fertilizer comes in prills (small pellets) which are spun onto the fields by a spinner. They are easy to use and cheap to buy but the downside is that they are not very accurate and often fertilizer is wasted by going too far and into the hedges. Apart from being an expensive exercise, it is ruinous for the flora of the hedgerow whereas the sprayer puts it where the crop requires it in the correct amount.
The continued dry weather and slight warming of the soil also allowed us to drill herbal leys into those fields of failed wheat and after some of the winter bird food crops. The latter we have to kill before sowing to reduce the weed burden on the young crop. Our hope is that we will have a crop of grass to sell our neighbouring dairy farmers in the summer. The picture shows the thin wheat plants into which we direct drilled the herbal ley
One of the joys of this time of year is the patterns and lines created in the grass fields when they are rolled. It seems strange to be doing this which could cause soil compaction which we are trying to avoid. However that is outweighed by two other considerations: we roll the stones back into the ground so that they do not damage the harvesting machinery and also we roll in the mole hills – of which we have lots. If soil gets into the grass when silage making it can cause poor fermentation and contaminate it with ‘nasties’ such as clostridia which will create illness in the animals.
We have created much questioning over our construction as you approach the Lower Denhay buildings. Are we going to charge for entry? Will a barrier be going up shortly? It is nothing like that – it is one of the architectural projects created by the Swiss students who came here last year. Over the Easter holidays the Kingston children are going to turn it into a Bug Hotel and Hedgehog House. We will add a ‘Welcome to Coppet Hill’ sign on the front.
The spring brought us new life: one of our Shetland heifers, Guine, calved and produced a beautiful bull calf which we have called Joseph (St Joseph is the patron saint of March apparently).
We remain hopeful that Wite (after St Wite) is also in calf – she is wide as a barrel and starting to show a slight udder (known as springing)
The Government’s decision to instantly stop new SFI (Sustainable Farming Incentive) applications has caused the industry a great deal of concern, but we think we got our new application in just in time – on the day of the announcement. Looking at the options, there was one which seemed very attractive to us – creating areas of scrub. Much is talked about winter bird food, or woodland creation, but our birdlife has evolved in many cases as creatures of the ‘edge’ which means the halfway house of scrub. To create this in our two designated areas, we will leave the hedges to grow out into the field. But we are also dumping piles of hedge-laying brash. The idea is that they will provide roost sites and cover for small birds. In return the birds will ‘poo’ the undigested plant seeds through the branches which will then grow protected by the brash from being eaten by deer or rabbits. We will also plant some scrub plants like dogwood or hazel to increase the establishment
While on the topic of birds, Matt and Ellen have fired up their nest camera in the barn owl box in the barn. We were worried that we might have lost one of the pairs of barn owls but this shot shows us they are still in evidence. Luke, the bird ringer, has still been at work. He has been finding more cirl buntings, yellow hammers and even a bramling recently. His last visit caught nearly 100 linnets – as seen here, pretty birds
The dry weather has allowed us to prepare for the holiday season. Each year we have a mixture of basic maintenance and improvements to enhance our guest experience. The approach to our Two Hoots Landpod suffered in the wet last year, so Gary has built a walkway to it for our guests. We also need to make the outside kitchens a little more weather resilient with more larch boarding and our signs have a refresh and new coat of paint – here they are ready to go up!
Towards the end of the month, we have seen some grass growth where we don’t require it. Under Countryside Stewardship, we have two fields of ‘legume fallow’. The fields are to have only legumes in them such as clover or vetches. We are not allowed to crop it in any way and the idea is to improve soil structure, organic matter and natural fertility. One of the fields has a huge amount of ‘weed’ rye grass. In order to stimulate the legumes and suppress the grass we will need to keep it mowed all summer – starting now.
With the forecast good for the next three weeks, we are opening our glamping and camping from next weekend – let’s hope they are right.
