it isn't because nothing has been happening....
far from it!
We've just been preoccupied with other things...
trying to recover the potager...
keep on top of the mowing...
fat chance of the latter, but the potager is now looking a lot better...
but the soil is still almost unworkable.
When there has been a break in the interminable rain, we've been out in the garden....
and, as a result, getting behind on everything.
There also haven't been the opportunities to take many photos...
other than flooded fields and meadows, grey skies...
and rain.
At one point, we even recommenced feeding the birds...
Then, the meadow...
well, only the side nearest the house can be mown with the ride-on...
the other half, towards the river will have to have the attention of Betsy in the first instance... once I can safely get her onto there without damaging the meadow soil, the machine or myself.
I mowed a very large area with Betsy...
to use for the cucurbit "maggot" and to clear a hunting area near the owl box...
I managed to get some off before the rains came...
but the rest, all the loosest stuff anyway, is somewhere near Nantes!!
That which remains, muddy as it is, is still in a very shallow pond!!
I have managed to get to.... paddle to in reality...
the owl box camera trap... and there has been plenty of activity...
but, as I have no idea of how to get a video onto "Blodgja" that is visible on all platforms...and not just Windows, you'll have to put up with stills!
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| This is Madame... at 5pm one afternoon... having some rest and recuperation... and, probably some fresh air... the stink in there must be awful!! |
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| And this is M'sieur... around 10pm the following evening... he's brought a nice fat vole for Madame and the sprogs... it is either in his right claw... or on the platform... in the video that followed, you could see him pick it up... in his beak, before entering the box. |
8 comments:
How exciting. Makes all your work of building the box and getting it
set up in the right spot all worthwhile. I'm so jealous. Looking
forward to more photos of Mr. and Mrs. and especially of the young
ones.
Great still though...
The photographs are brilliant! They are such fine birds. Have you tried putting your video on Youtube? Amelia
Beautiful birds.
Beautiful photos. Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada.
Those owls look so beautiful sat there. When we first moved here we had one that would regularly swoop over the bottom field but I haven't seen her in a few years.
Kev, it is easier here in a relatively flat valley, for the owls to hunt...
even in the current drought... but, they really do need nest space. We put up the owl box [British manufacture by the way] to make up for the fact that the owl hole into the old grenier [hay loft] needed to be temporarily blocked up...
it still is! When I find my "Round Tuit" I will be building an indoor owl box behind it... which can be monitored live, using CCTV... until then, it will be trail cameras.
But, you rent your sheep field, don't you? If you could get the landowners permission, you could get a box up there... there are plenty of plans available and you have the skills to create one!
The derrick construction is visible on this link:
http://le-moulin-de-la-forge.blogspot.fr/2014/02/birdland-real-estate-inc.html
along with a host of other nestboxes!
And you and your Dad should be able to erect something stronger and simpler... a single mast would do.... owl box on top. That is the method used at Rutland Water. So, if you've got the voles, you shouldn't wait too long for an owl... may not be a Barn Owl to begin with, tho'!!
Sheila... more pix will be coming.
Ted & Elizabeth... I hope you'll be using your "trap" and posting pix once you are settled and boxes one to threehundred are unpacked!
Amelia.... I fight shy of using things like U-Bend... you have to sign your life away, it seems.
Kerry... thank you, I look forward to seeing your Little Owl videos!!
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