Usually, the end of August is a lovely time of year with crisp mornings and amazing sunsets. It's not quite so lovely this year - as I write this my feet are freezing and we are considering a little fire tonight! It is palpable that the days are beginning to shorten and that autumn is on its way.

We have been busy on the farm cultivating our rapeseed volunteers. We have just invested in a new Kockerling cultivator and Merv has been hard at work.

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Well I have been holding off for some good news to share with you all,  but alas, it seems to be in short supply at the moment.  Harvest 2023 thus far, has been tricky. We do, however, have a bumper crop of mushrooms growing in the paddock and garden!  But for the other crops, harvest has been challenging. Earlier on in July, we cut our oil seed rape, which did look fantastic but the yield was disappointing.More...

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We had a very lucky escape on the evening of August 8th - when our combine harvester caught fire.

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Save 10% on your order when you select 'Collect from our farm' at the checkout!

We're pleased to announce that our Click & Collect service is up and running once again. This means that, instead of paying for delivery, you can now come and collect your Really Wild Bird Food products in person - we'll even help you to load them into your vehicle!

You can pick up your order between 8.30am and 4.00pm, Monday to Friday. As an added incentive, we'll take 10% off the cost of your purchase if you choose the Collect from our farm option when you check out.

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These last few months have been very stressful for many people as we have had to adjust to dramatic lifestyle changes, some of which have been incredibly tough, and we are hoping that easier times are around the corner for us all.

Our farm crops are all suffering the stress of this long drought period, and they are all trying to save water the best way they can. The hot weather, combined with many days of really high winds has really reduced the relative humidity of the air. The wheat is showing significant 'leaf curl' - an ingenious way to reduce the plant surface area and hence evaporative loss but we are really hoping rain is on it's way. It is incredible to think that those are the same plants that survived drowning during the severe flooding we had in the Autumn! The real extremes of weather that seem to be becoming 'the norm' are certainly a challenge and no two years are ever the same.

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Not long now until harvest starts in earnest; a very exciting (if a little nerve-wracking) time of year. Our winter oats (seen here) will be the first crop on the farm to be harvested and should be ready towards the end of next week.

Richard has been busy topping tracks and bumble bee strips with his beloved Massey Ferguson 675 which he bought way back in 1984 - making it a grand old 31 years of age! More...

It fills my heart with pride to see our Swallows back and swooping over our Really Wild Bird feed production farm. They are miracles of migration. It is very humbling to think that they navigated the 3,000 miles back from South Africa ( via the treacherous Sahara desert ) to Street End Farm, without any need for a post code or a TomTom! Weighing in at a meagre 20g (about the weight of 2 x £1 coins) - I wonder how much they lose during their trip? The coincidental arrival of Eleanor's pony, Megan, and the pile of associated pony dung will create an additional source of airborne insects for the Swallows to replenish their depleted stores. Isn't it amazing to think that Barn Swallows will feed their young about 400 times in a day…that is dedication for you! I can only hope that this summer will be better for them than last - surely it has to be?

Naturetrek are only just down the country road from us at Street End Farm. After a visit to us they say.....We at Naturetrek have been really impressed by Richard and Lesley’s hard work for our local wild birds at Street End Farm. It is unsual to find a neighbour with such worthy aims! We also found the bird seed extremely attractive to our birds at Cheriton Mill ... as well as very competitively priced.