It was a lively start to the last Bank Holiday of May with seven Highland cows walking up the A684 at 6.30am with West Witton in their sights. Luckily, they recognised home - or the bull smelt some interesting heifers - and they trotted through a few mowed meadows with a noisy reception back to the farm.
After hastily getting dressed, the cows and bull were faced up the hill again - and I slid back quietly through the farm hoping no-one saw me and expected an early breakfast with all the excited noise the cows created for the full yurt site’s bank holiday lie-in.
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The escapees
The police were very polite - I am sure they had trickier dealings as the weekend unfolded.
Another devon calf was born this morning, and it’s always a relief when all is well. Last week, we had our first pure white calf - the cows all looked confused to begin with.
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Well, someone must have had it
We always have a rollercoaster of births at this time of year. Fluffy, the Large White sow, produced our largest litter ever and amazingly was able to feed them all.
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Fluffy with a pile of piglets
And the pet lambs arrived, so the bottle feeding started.
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Pet lambs and cuddles
Nests were everywhere - this robin’s nest was wedged between two large hay bales.
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Robin’s nest
All the other animals had to go hungry while the eggs hatched, then sadly the fledglings were eaten by a predator. It does seem cruel after all the hard work of the parents.
This nest was also found on the floor under an apple tree - it’s incredible the work gone into the art details to make it look like the tree bark.
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The nest...
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...and the apple tree bark
But these ducklings have made it - and are on the off.
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Ducklings on the run
Rolo and Elspeth were inspecting the yurt site one morning - or it could have been the new shoots on the hedge - whatever the reason, they were not popular escapees.
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Yurt site invaders
Mrs. Cream leg bar has been helping to check the food amounts at feed time.
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Bossy hen
She was thrilled to keep this nest hidden for so long
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Blue eggs
She is so much brighter than her partner, who found himself in the mud chatting to the cows.
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You’re fancy
The pear blossom has been successful - tiny pears already and it’s only just gone May.
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Tiny pears
We returned from a happy wedding celebration last weekend with an interesting theme of fancy dress - I was dressed as a Newcastle United supporter, seen here talking to a nun. It’s obvious.
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Fancy dress wedding
To keep up with our local MP, we rushed off to the Bedale Point-to-Point and it was the granddaughters’ first sighting of racing horses. I think the dog cuddles and ice cream were more memorable.
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Granddaughters at the races
And the swifts are here! They always arrive last and it is their song that distinguishes them from their swallow and house martin cousins - we'd started to worry, but thankfully they have made it.
And talking of travelers we are expecting a young family from the Ukraine to stay, arriving next month, their worries certainly put ours into perspective.
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