All calm at the farm

SPARROWHAWK (NOT MY WEE DOO)

This is what a sparrowhawk looks like once it has grabbed one of your pet doves. May be a lovely looking thing but it is a nasty vicious predator that needs to be sorted somehow.

So far my remaining two birds are OK, the new winter aviary is nearly ready and we will move them in a few days, they are still on the eggs but should lay lots more even if these do not hatch and I have now been advised that it is highly unlikely due to the temperatures. Although yesterday we had 15C up here, almost unheard of for November, some days in the summer we are lucky to get that.

The mink has also been conspicuous by its absence despite me shelling out for a special mink trap. After I had bought it and had it delivered, Stu found another internet site where the same trap was £10 cheaper! It pays to spend a long time surfing for the best buy, a good lesson, expensively learned.

The chickens seem to have reacted not too badly to the mink in the run, we had some 'softies' for a day or two but all has gone back to normal. ( 'Softies', soft shelled eggs, are laid when the chicken has a terrible fright or is out of sorts in some way) Trinny and Susannah are not laying and still moulting like crazy, they really do look like they have done ten rounds with a mink each morning as there are feathers everywhere, still not sure if it was an initial mink attack or if this is just how they will moult.

I have had some comments that mink are nice furry wee things. They are not. They are vermin, they kill our native wildlife, they do not belong here and need to be exterminated from our lovely countryside. Following the release by so called 'animal lovers' from fur farms they are now encroaching on towns and villages and kill pet rabbits and cats and there has been a recent documented account of an attack by four mink on an angler at night. Mink are only acceptable as coats and hats.

Enough of my soap box for now!

Found this on the web and I think it is lovely http://www.dashpoemmovie.com

Somebody recently said that I was getting seriously 'sad' writing a blog, well, if you don't like it, don't read it. Easy enough. I enjoy putting down in words what is going on around me and I know for sure that I have many friends who really do enjoy reading it.

Peace, love and hippy stuff.