• January

    We extended our borehole-fed water pipe network into pastures-anew! This was to allow the pasture fed organic Aberdeen Angus cattle to graze new, fresh pastures!

  • February

    Feeding the Hungry Gap continues! We spread 6 tonnes of a mixture of aniseed, red dari, kibbled peas, red millet and sunflower hearts, and wheat that we saved from the previous harvest. Across the farm, down hedgerows, as it provides an important food supply for farmland birds from late winter to early spring by supplementing crops of winter bird food when they have been depleted and before natural food sources become available in late spring. 

  • March

    Ploughing in overwintered stubble. Leaving the stubble from harvest until beyond February in the following year provides a winter food source for seed-eating birds, which feed on spilt grainalongside the seeds of broad-leaved weeds. It also provides a foraging habitat for the brown hare. We also plant a lot of trees in March.

  • April

    Spring planting commences! We planted 9 and a half football pitches of flower-rich margins, and a further 12 football pitches of plants to provide seeds to feed farmland birds, such as Grey partridge, corn bunting, linnet, yellowhammer, buntings and sparrows. At our latest RSPB birdcount, we had the highest total number and the highest population density of linnets that they have recorded at any of their monitoring sites across the country.

    Spring Calving Continues! We had our first calf on 4th April, only another 31 to go! 

  • Throughout spring

    As Spring makes more of an appearance, the birds begin to nest! This Swallow has found the perfect warm, dry place to build her nest, on top of the biomass hot water mains!

  • May

    It’s not just the birds enjoying Spring on the farm! Here, Sprite, Eric and Noddy are enjoying a good roll in the Spring sunshine

  • June

    Calving continues! Here we are transporting the calf and cow to pastures-a-moo! Once we have checked the cow and calf over for any health issues or problems, we take the cow and calf to a new field where they can enjoy extensive grazing, in a nursery field

  • July

    River bank maintenance; we have over 50 acres of ancient watermeadows, with the ruins of a Roman Villa as well! To keep the water flowing where we want it, we clear out dead or split trees, so their branches don’t block up the river or channels. Depending on the type of tree, the wood is either cut up into firewood for the barn fire, if it is a hardwood (oak, ash, etc) or if it is a softwood, it is left to dry out then we chip it up into the biomass boiler. 

  • AUGUST

    Marking out 5 hectares of unharvested cropping, which provides farmland birds by creating areas of weedy un-harvested cereals, which provide over-wintering habitat for insects and food for foraging, seed-eating farmland birds, pollinating and beneficial insects such as bees and butterflies. It also provides chick-rearing habitat for Grey Partridge.