More rain

We are almost at an end of the year and it’s still pouring down. The flooded area still hasn't receded and wont this year. The weather report says more rain. The ground is so saturated that a muddy path is building alone the route I walk along to check on trees.

I have spoken to Chris again and we both wondered around the trees to see the damage that was caused last week. He had spoken to the jockeys and kids who have been known to walk through the orchard on their horses, occasionally stopping to graze on the grass.

The damage is amongst a group of trees in the top right hand side of the orchard. It looks like a number of trees have been affected. Chris was trying to tell me that it could have been deer but it seems unlikely. I am sure we must get small deer in and around the area, the damage was closer to where the horses live and the areas affects seem to be too high to be deer. The horses are still the prime suspects.

I checked on the bees and they are fine. I have topped up the fondant on all the hives.

This year has been the wettest and worst for an orchard. It’s been tough and very frustrating. I look forward to the New Year.

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

Cold frozen fun

So cold the water around the willow trees has frozen over

I was down at the orchard with the whole family, my son enjoying feeding and stroking the horses in the field next to us. My son was disappointed we hadn't bought apples for the horses and actually cried when it was time to go home. Today was one of the only days this week with no rain in fact it was warmer than normal and the bees were coming and going out of the hive.

The weather over the last couple of days has been cold and so cold that the water and the small area of the orchard that floods had frozen and a small layer of thin ice which was great for stomping over with your wellies on. We also picked up bits and dropped little bits of ice down each others backs and even cracked large bits of ice over each others heads. We had fun messing about.

Bees enjoying slightly warmer day

The trees are fine minor amounts of rabbit damage nothing major.

My son stroking a pony in the next field

The ground is very damp and the horses have been on the land munching up the grass, they havn't killed anything and the orchard is looking better with the grass much lower down.

So cold my lips are cracking

Walking around the orchard this week was interesting. It was cold no frost but a chilly breeze blows and the sun is shining. Its bitterly cold and my lips are cracking.

I can see horses have been in the orchard again. I will have to close the gap in the fence. I have stated previously I don't mine horses in the orchard as long as they only eat the grass I don't want then nibbling the trees. The statement still holds true, they have still only eaten the grass and have left me small piles of manure all over the orchard floor, as thanks.

I now only have two leaves on the trees, they are both on the almond trees the rest have fallen off and most have been consumed and pulled down into the soil by worms. Some will have blown away, or are trapped in fallen grass. The orchard floor is still damp, muddy squidgy and the ground remains very saturated. The part of the orchard that was flooded a couple of weeks ago is still very water logged. The water doesn't seem to be doing much and hasn't reseeded.

A couple more trees have been gnawed by rabbits and I have secured and made the rabbit guards larger. The trees had all got some level of  protection and I regularly have to wonder around and check each tree to ensure they haven't been damaged. If some gnawing has happen then protect it further.

I looked for insects by not many ladybirds etc around. Lots of birds everything from Buzzards to Pigeons and magpies.

Frost but beautiful + Bees on farming today

I was down at the orchard yesterday and went early in the morning so I could check on the trees covered in frost.

It was cold but beautiful. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Icicles on branches

frosty

Frost covered tree

Frost covered leave

On the issues, side mind, the ground was too cold to do any weeding and the rabbits have been gnawing trees again. Those darn rabbits. I need to spend more time getting protecting the trees. The trees affected were protected by rabbit guards I made initially when experimenting with home made rabbit guards. Since then I have made them longer and they normally stop rabbits getting to the trees.

Water frozen with plants peeping through

The ground has absorbed much at the water and with the frost around it looks like all the water has disappeared, I found and crushed various bits of ice where the water had frozen it does make for nice pictures though.

Gnawed Tree Bark 

Because I have let the grass grow long and let it  fall down naturally, the worms should consume it and bring the nutrients down into the soil. It should also help with the recent flooding.

On the BBC Farming today program they had a whole program on bees today and highlighted some of the issues. The lack of food, the use of chemicals by farmers and the reduced honey harvest this year. I have been lucky and did have some honey and I have had some labels printed to sell the honey a couple of jars are show in the picture. The proceeds of the sale will go to buy more supplies for the bees and perhaps some equipment. Lets see how much I manage to sell.

My Jars of honey

More horses have been into the orchard, I can see this from the foot prints and the manure on the orchard floor, but they haven't harmed the trees. I need to block of the fence and talk to Chris about this.