Rain floods and ladybirds

Flooding the the orchard

I checked on the trees on Sunday. I wasn't looking forward to it much as its still raining and many of the fields and open spaces are water logged. Even the canals and rivers as well as the lakes are all over flowing.

Bark gnawed by what ?

I checked on the trees some of the bark of the trees have been damaged by a large a animal, the damage is way to high up the trees to be cause by rabbits. I can only presume it was caused by the horses from the stables next door.

I've taken some pictures of the damage. I spoke to Chris from the stables and he tells me that some of the horses have been in the orchard but they are accompanied by one of the kids and the horses are always on a leash. This was evident from the manure and and the foot prints.

I saw a single ladybird on one of the trees. I have to admit this is the first one have seen this winter. Normally I see loads, but with the poor weather the number is much lower than normal, this maybe a problem for the spring. They normally keep the aphid numbers down in the spring.

Ladybird in winter - yeah