Pond in the May Sunshine

Tom has been working on our dipping platform - so I abandoned my painting of the kitchen and went out in the sunshine to take some photographs.

The willow screen we have planted to screen the bird hide entrance, is coming in to bud.

Tom still has a removable section of front rails to attach to the dipping platform.

This hard path runs from the Piggery, our new farm resource centre, up to the pond.

Lady's smock growing in the pond margins. There were lots of damselflies enjoying the sunshine.

This row of garden canes (in the foreground) marks out small plots of varieties of wheat, barley, oats, beans and oil seed rape. Small quantities of the seed were kindly donated to us by Lowick Silos and we've planted the seed in small squares next to the disabled path to help visitors to the farm see the difference in the growing crops.

Home!

The clematis in our garden has formed a wonderful arch by growing in the whitebeam in the garden.

Tommy takes to the water, and shivers a lot!

Tom and Tommy have made a start on the dipping platform today. After a few minutes in the water Tommy assumed a slight blue tinge and began playing castanets with his teeth!

Where to start..?

The beginning

Using insulation as a temporary float to support the platform

and it really was cold!

Tommy placed a paving slab on the bottom of the pond, under each of the platform supports.

Getting the uprights straight

The supervisors

OK, you can come out now

Across the pond

In the woodland next to the pond

A wonderful piece of bark

Bees on the blackthorn

Across the pond

The Last Tree

On the 5^th of April the last tree was planted in our community orchard. The Croasdale family, back for a visit from Germany, planted a cherry tree in the remaining 112^th space.

The wind blows straight across the orchard from the sea, so we’ve been planting a shelter belt of poplars. To pay for the trees we offered our holiday cottage guests the opportunity to offset their holiday carbon emissions by buying a tree to plant. Here are Amanda and Murphy who were staying in Newt Cottage last week, helping Tom and Tommy add three poplars to the row.

A Willow Screen

To screen anyone entering the bird hide from the pond, we’ve planted loosely woven willow. This was kindly given to us by David Catt and cut from his willow coppice. If you push willow twigs in to damp ground, they usually root and keep growing, therefore we hope our screen will become dense and leafy. Tom put in the stronger uprights and then yesterday Alice and I wove smaller whips in between. It was absolutely lovely up at the pond - and the water is alive with pond creatures.

 Above is the willow arch Tom created

The willow catkins were covered in bees

... and to end the evening we sat in the bird hide and watched a duck land on the pond

Cottages in the sunshine

It's been glorious at Hunting Hall today

 Tom's new gate into the Dene

 The newly painted Newt Cottage front door

 The new gap in the fence and Tom's stepping stone

 The newly painted old cottage wash house

 The Fuffins' garden

 Daffodils in the Fuffins' garden

Philip Hanmer very kindly came and put up an owl box on the farm at the weekend (with help from Tom).

Thank you for all your help and advice Philip!

A Gift of Trees

A big ‘thank you’ to Berwick Wildlife group who gave us 38 trees which they had received from Love Northumberland. We decided to plant the mix of Birch, Rowan Alder, Cherry and Ash along the side of our disabled access path to add interest (it’s a bit long and straight at the moment). Fiona, Molly, John and Sally joined us from Berwick Wildlife Group on a rather dull afternoon last Sunday and, due to their hard work, we managed to get all the trees planted.

Sally and John, pictured above, planted the most trees. Many thanks to both of you - and we're sorry you missed the rugby, John!

 The first trees (when we were still quite enthusiastic).

 Putting in a mulch mat to keep the weeds down.

 Fiona and Molly adding the tree tube. There are quite a few deer on the farm - so the tree tubes are important.

Tom's petrol earth auger (hole-digger) gave up on the 38th hole - so he had to resort to a good old fashioned spade!

Watering the trees. Who parked the water barrel at the other side of the field?!