Hello! Who has the January Blues?
Well I don't know about you, but January isn't my favourite month. It all starts off with good intentions; lose the 7lbs gained over the Christmas period ( failed so far ), stick to this year's New Year's resolution to label up food that I put in the freezer for easy ID ( failed - so we had a spaghetti bolognese rather than the chilli this week !) , spend less time on electronic devices and more time reading books.. so far only managed a couple of pages before falling asleep each night… there's room for improvement, and topped off with a lovely 31st January deadline for paying our Tax. Roll on February!
The farm work is quiet at this time of year and we use the fact that farm machinery is not in use to do essential repair work for the season ahead. Drilling usually starts in February so Richard wants to be able to ‘go- go- go’ when the soil conditions and weather are right - not be sitting in the farmyard with ‘no-no-no’ broken and worn-out kit - so now is the time to change all the bits that wear out over the course of a season ( I come into that category but so far he hasn't intimated that he wants to swap me out - so I may be here for another year ! )
We have had 2 bouts of very cold weather here on the farm. The first was in the middle of December and then again just recently, which hit the cover crops very hard, but they have done a really good job of protecting the soil from the heavy rain that we had in November and December. During the months of November, December and January nearly 20 inches of rain fell - which is around 60-65% of our annual rainfall! Climate change is becoming ever more challenging
Our rape and winter wheat are coming through the winter months looking strong. Richard is especially pleased with his winter rape, which looks the best crop he has had in 4 years with no evidence of flea beetle damage to date. It is pleasing for him to know that he CAN grow a good crop of rape, although harvest is still a long way off, and much can still go wrong - so trying not to get too confident at this early stage!
The Esso pipeline work has come to a complete standstill for the last 3 months due to the heavy rain and frost , but they are hoping to recommence work when things dry up, and the top soil will be re-instated. Although we won't be able to use the land this cropping year, we should have it back in work by late Summer/Autumn. So frustrating that what was promised as a one year inconvenience will stretch to 2 years.
Those of you who follow my news, will remember that back in the Summer we acquired two kittens for the farm, which we named Bubble and Squeak. A brilliant natural way to keep on top of vermin. So far they are doing a great job patrolling the barns. We haven't seen much evidence that they are actually catching mice, but I think their mere presence is scary enough to keep naughty nibblers away. It is almost impossible to photograph them together since they are constantly moving, but this is a nice shot of Bubble on Patrol.
I will sign off now. Have a super weekend, and for those of you taking part in the Big Garden Bird Watch, I hope you have lots of activity from many different species in your garden.
Thank you for your business
Enjoy Your Birds!
Best Wishes
Lesley
Countryside Stewardship 
