Baylham
News - February 2010
The snow seems
to have gone but whether this is just a temporary clearance we will
have to wait and see. In either case, it is still very cold and
the lake remains partally frozen.
We reopen in
nine days time and, in keeping with well established tradition, we are
not ready.
...drive still full
of pot holes...
The drive is
still full of pot holes waiting to be repaired and the yard has all
been dug up in order to put in some drainage pipes and repair old and
cracked concrete.
Justin
proving to be a good concrete mixer.
On the bright
side, some snowdrops and aconites are out and the daffodils are now
showing three to four inches of green. Song thrushes are
beginning to sing from the tops of their favourite trees and some pairs
of Canada Geese are searching for suitable nest sites on the islands
and in the lakeside reeds and vegetation.
..Snowdrops and
Aconites...
We now seem to
have reached a stable situation with the duck population on the
lake. Tufted Duck are by far the most numerous and Mallard run
them a close second with Widgeon not far behind. For the past
week or so there have been about six male Pochard floating around in a
group but, every time that I have seen them each morning, they have
always been asleep with their heads tucked firmly under their wings.
Heaven knows what they have been up to at night as all the other ducks
are very active in the mornings. We have also had five pairs of
Shovelers present each day and Teal and Gadwall have been present on a
daily basis for several weeks.
I have just
finished reading - for the umteenth time - A Marshland Adventure,
by J Wentworth Day ( I note that Amazon have a couple of second hand
copies for sale ). It is all about the Norfolk and Suffolk
Broads, the old broadsmen, the wildfowlers and the wildlife.
Written just after the war it also tells tales of the previous
generations of broadsmen. The reason I mention it here is
that,much to my surprise, he records Gadwall as being a rare
duck. Ever since I learned to identify Gadwall a few years ago I
have not regarded them as being in any way rare as they seem to be here
throughout the winter.
I have seen
masses of Woodcock this winter. Always single examples but coming
across them, usually on the river banks, on a regular basis. In
December, on three or four occasions we were visited by both male
and female Goosanders.
I seem to have
rambled on a bit and those of you who find birds a bit boring will have
given up by now. The real reason for updating the news page is
that this morning at 3am our first lamb of 2010 arrived. A little
Llanwenog ram lamb who so far, like his doting mother, is doing well
and enjoying long sleeps under his heat lamp. Kate, our shepherd,
now has a baby to look after.
Kate looking after mother and new baby
Richard Storer
3 February 2010
