Summer rain and a touch of seasonal warmth have at last combined together to persuade our faltering grass to grow. White clover, lucerne and sainfoin are providing carpets of nutritious fodder for our cattle and sheep.
Silage making is again on the go with wide corridors left for our nesting corn buntings. Most chicks appear to have fledged and gone, but a couple of pairs are still holding territory. We now have a significant proportion of the total Hampshire population of this rapidly declining bird so every effort is being made to ensure breeding success.
One pair of Lapwings has two unfledged chicks which are being protected by an electric fence run around the periphery of their nesting area. Without this protection they would have no chance against the marauding foxes which abound in this area. I sleep with my fingers crossed every night in the hope that they survive for the following day. They still have about 18 days to go before fledging. Will they make it?
Large aggregations of a very small bee called Lasioglossum are gathering on the heads of a Bromus grass, for unknown reasons.
I should be interested to hear from anyone who can offer an explanation. Please contact me by email:
Admin@cholderton-estate.co.uk
The cereal harvest is really upon us and we are desperate to try and complete silage making before we start combining.
Stubble turnips are being sown on ground previously growing oats and vetch for silage. These will provide autumnal grazing for the cattle and sheep.
