I told you last week that my favourite hen pheasant had been conspicuous by her absence recently, and I speculated that it was because she was most likely sitting on eggs. This was confirmed on Monday when she proudly paraded 12 tiny chicks, seemingly to show them off to me, though probably not. After the presentation she took them to somewhere safer. The next morning I was working in the polytunnel when I heard sounds that were familiar to me – the distress calls of baby pheasants. I went out to see 2 or 3 little clockwork chicks heading in different directions. They had become detached from the family group and were struggling to find their way back to it. I pinpointed where I thought mother and the main brood was located in a patch of nettles and brambles, and then set about repatriating the strays that had found a way through a fence but were clueless about how to get back. In the next hour I managed to catch no less than 6 chicks and plop them into the nettles, where I hoped the hen was laying low. A little later I heard another one ‘peeping’ and followed the sound to the small nursery paddock just behind my machinery shelter. It was travelling in the opposite direction to where its siblings were located, and as I was about to climb through the paddock rails to retrieve it a crow descended and scooped up the struggling chick and flew off with it in its beak. It landed part way across the paddock, I ran round towards it yelling, but as I approached it flew off again. On Wednesday I saw the family group again, by which time the hen had only 5 youngsters with her, so she had lost 7 of the original 12. That was the last time I saw them, I hope that she has managed to find sanctuary somewhere, and that not too many more have gone AWOL. That’s nature and it happens all the time, but it’s tough when you are emotionally involved.
Just when it was all going well the ruddy rain came again and stopped play – and rather too much of it! Monday was a fine day, so I got some runner beans planted and I sowed a row of dwarf French beans to follow on from the ones already growing. I also got the celeriac in, but I was hoping to achieve much more. I now need at least a couple of days of dry so that I don’t do too much damage to the soil by going on it whilst it so wet. The rotten weather did force me inside to get on with jobs that wouldn’t have got done had the sun been shining. All of the polytunnel tomatoes have now been strung up and side-shooted, and the greenhouse ones have also had some maintenance. Those that were first planted are now over waist high – that’s possibly not quite as impressive as it sounds, because I’m a bit of a short-arse, but they have have now set three trusses of fruit. I am hoping for a slightly earlier start to the picking season this year. There is plenty of blossom on the broad beans, and the brassicas are putting good growth on, so we are headed in the right direction. However, it is a really bad year for slugs and snails, and they are causing a lot of damage. You have probably discovered some uninvited guests in your lettuce.
I am hoping that we are at the nadir of the current vegetable shortage, because surely some UK produce will become available as we head into June. This week we lose asparagus, but I am going to begin cutting chard from the field. It is the multi-coloured type of mainly red and yellow stems. The lettuces this week are a mix of red and green Gem types. There will be broccoli, courgettes, baby plum tomatoes from the Isle of Wight, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, but not a lot more. More justification for next year’s May break. Thank you to those of you that commented so supportively on that matter, we’ll see how I feel closer to the time.
Yesterday after the market I hurried back to unload and do what I needed to at the garden before dashing home and then setting off to the Leestock music festival in Long Melford. In the morning the weather was pretty changeable and not very warm, but as soon as we arrived on site the sun shone and it warmed up. We took granddaughter Issie with us, who is now 20, and she seemed to enjoy the festival every bit as much as us old fogies. There was some really good music (headliners The Coral were top notch), a good selection of food, an excellent real ale bar, and a nice atmosphere amongst the large crowd, so doubtless we will return next year for more of the same.
So we’ve got 6 weeks of tedious General Election crap to endure. It certainly rained on Rish’s parade when he made the announcement; someone should have told him that it doesn’t make you less electable, or less of a man to have an umbrella held over you when the conditions are that unpleasant. I’m all for democracy, but hearing the same old clichés and ‘promises’ for such a protracted period wears you down. The election will take place when I am on holiday in Cornwall, so I will have to investigate voting by post. Labour appears to have an own goal to aim at, but so did Neil Kinnock in 1992….”we’re alright”…. but they weren’t.
Okay I’m done. Have a splendid week.
Phil