Far Lands

Sorry, I meant what do they look like? Every morning at the moment we are greeted by either one, or hundreds of, cuckoo(s) and when I mentioned it to my brother, an ecologist, he told me he had taken his two children to a park at the weekend specifically to hear both cuckoos and curlews. 'Curlews?' I said. 'We have them too.' Apparently, living as we do, on the edge of an upland, we are ideally located for both cuckoos and curlews. And the cuckoo has become quite rare (joining the RSPB's red list in 2009). Which got me to thinking, what does a cuckoo actually look like? 'Normal brown job,' suggested Sarah. Actually it's more of a grey job . . .

. . . you know, one of those men (or women) on aircraft-carrier flight-decks who waves table-tennis bats around . . . Anyway, we need one because our greenhouse is v v hectic, with a tray of new plants arriving, ooh, at least every few minutes . . . The hot box (old cold water tank layered with horse manure and leaf mulch and then topped with 6 inches of top soil) is working really well - cut and come again lettuce mix and radishes as fast as we can eat it / them. Otherwise, the place is full of tomato plants, brasscias, sweetcorn, achocha. In fact there is even a queue; outside and on the far side I have planted a small grape cutting (a dessert grape). The plan is to have the roots outside but train the vine to enter through a window and grow it at one end and in the roof space. It's going to get busier. It's not just the plants that are queuing up; Sarah and I take it in turns to enter the fray.

Well, it felt like it. I am still digging my drainage system in the orchard; part drainage for the trees and part water source for the pond (old bath) and my plan for ducks. But digging the interceptor drain at the top of the orchard I hit an old land drain running at a different diagonal (top of the photo, running from the R to L but chopped in the middle). It felt like striking oil - there, surely, was my water flow for the pond. But when I broke into it last week, it felt as if it had been dry since 1934 (or thereabouts). However, I have connected it with a (very expensive) connection and incorporated it into my new land drain system. The pipe at the bottom of the photo runs straight down the middle of the orchard into the pond / bath at the bottom. The interceptor drain is almost there - just another 10cm (down) to go, and then I will add the new land drainage pipe (ie with holes in it) and the pea shingle (it will run from the bottom of the photo up the trench and about...

Firstly, the bees. Last week I went to a bumblebee conference in Chesterfield. Fascinating facts and figures; for example, the main reason for their huge decline in numbers is not what you might think - pesticides - but habitat loss. There are 250 types of bumblebee world-wide and 24 are found in the UK. They do all look quite similar but I am determined to improve my identification skills and set up a transect to count numbers once a month. See Bee Watch  bumblebeeconservation.org/get-involved/surveys/beewatch/ Photo shows a white-tailed bumblebee (not to be confused with the similar buff-tailed bumblebee, the male of which has a white tail). Secondly, then, to the birds. Well, chickens. The question we've been grappling with this weekend is why our 2 chicks look so different (see photo). They have the same father - Flash - and their mother is one of 5 Light Sussex hens (so they have a 20% chance of being sisters, and an 80% chance of being half-sisters). Or maybe not? ...

After T shirt weather last week, it was a bit surprising to wake up to snow this morning . . . The chicks were also a bit surprised; especially as at the weekend they had their first foreign foray:- Betfair has opened up a book on whether the chicks are male or female. (Look up Poultry under Sports if you can't find it.) Go on, it's worth a flutter!

Our kale bed has been the revelation of this Winter. I had a new plan which was to only pick the bottom leaves of each plant (rather than whole plants), and now, rather than 1 or 2 sad-looking Kale plants, I still have the original 30 and all of them have started growing like crazy! (See photo.) There's plenty to eat - every day! In terms of taste I really like it, and the newest leaves are, arguably, quite similar to broccoli. So the kale is keeping us (well, me (Sarah can't / won't eat it every day)) going until the Spring crops arrive - lovage is growing an inch every day and will soon be ready to eat (but is definitely an acquired taste). And in the greenhouse, our hot box (see photo) is about to be ready - I had my first radish (in photo - 10p sized) yesterday. The chicks are also growing every day - and they are beginning to imitate the Wright Bros! (Or maybe that should be Icarus and Daedalus.)

. . . sorry, if this is becoming Chickens' Corner. Normal service will resume next week (NB rhubarb, garlic, lovage all beginning to grow and grafts beginning to move). But while the chicks are still quite sweet . . . but their wings are already beginning to develop, and Sarah and I have had a bet on when they will start to roost. Sarah thinks 5 weeks, and I think 3 weeks. Anyone else? (Oh, and the (booby) prize . . . is cleaning out until they move back into the main chicken house.) So, the terrible twos . . . that's two-days old. And it seems to be continuing all week (y'day they were a week old).