“….many different shades of green…”

Richard Fonge writes:

True to form as the blackthorn blossom dies away the temperature warms up. We are in serious need of rain for the crops and ourselves. After a pretty dry winter we could be in for a shortage by the Summer’s end if our reservoir stocks aren’t soon replenished.

Whilst we can’t control the weather, those that farm the land and manage it have a huge impact on how our landscape is shaped. The views around our parish and the crops and woods within it are there because of the way it is farmed and managed for country sports. Government also plays its part with its agriculture and environmental policies.

Whilst we have grass margins around fields for environmental reasons and wildlife bird mixtures on the Stuchbury to Greatworth footpath and up Barrow hill, the biggest wildlife corridor is of course the disused railway line. The trains once visible from the village before its closure in the mix-sixties have been replaced by the natural re-generation of the banks, soon to be a mass of May blossom, the flower of the white thorn.

The lambs are growing a pace with the dry weather to their advantage. Lamb is a meat produced from grass and their mothers milk with some added supplementary feed in some management systems. 40% of all lamb produced in this country is exported in carcass form, most of it to the Paris wholesale market. As I have mentioned before sheep are so vital to the countryside both as a grazer of our less favoured areas and the keeping of old pastures. The Oilseed Rape is now in full flower, but this year the crop is very variable due to the withdrawal of a pesticide that controlled the cabbage stem flea beetle, and the lack of a suitable alternative to combat this voracious insect, making the viability of this crop a possible doubt for the future.

One of the delights of this time of year are the many different shades of green as the crops grow and the hedges and trees come into leaf. Just stand on Castle Green to appreciate the village and countryside around you. It is a privilege to live in such a place.

Richard Fonge

Richard Fonge writes:

March has so far given us its usual mix of weather. So having come in like a lion, let us hope it goes out like a lamb. This is an old country adage that is normally right, as is the saying that when the blackthorn is out, we will have a blackthorn winter. And as long as the blackthorn remains in flower, you will find that there is always a chill in the air. One saying that I have never known to come true, is “The oak before the ash and we will have a splash. The ash before the oak and we will have a soak.” Because the oak always precedes the Ash in coming into leaf, whether we have a dry or wet summer.

Many of us walk the footpaths regularly and now we have a walking group who will be walking each footpath on a weekly basis. By doing this they can see the development of each crop they walk through. So on the Barrow hill lookout for the emergence of beans planted after the green crop. Up the gated road the flowering of the oil seed rape. The field called the big green off Little Street with the path down the centre will have cattle in it from late April, and the ewes and lambs are already in the fields up to the railway line.

Note the difference in the breeds of sheep behind Wemyss Farm when they arrive and those that are in the field by the Helmdon Road.

On the road to Halse from Greatworth there are two very large heaps of a white material (See photo above). What are they? They are piles of gypsum, which will be spread onto the land after harvest, as a fertiliser and conditioner. We normally associate gypsum as a building product, in the manufacture of plasterboard, but it is mined for agriculture purposes. By applying quite a large quantity per acre, it becomes beneficial to the heavy clay soils, as it sticks to the clay particles, making the soil more friable and helping in better infiltration of water, and helps to break up compaction, thereby making the soil easier to cultivate and the establishment of a crop. A natural product being put to good use.

Finally, I farmed for twenty years on the urban fringe which had some interesting challenges, but the great contrast to Sulgrave was the night sky. We had light pollution to such an extent that I had forgotten what a star lit night was like. I now appreciate those stars, and have on occasion been drawn to a particular Star!

Richard Fonge

Great Spotted Woodpecker
Photograph: John Sheppard

Richard Fonge writes:

It certainly feels very springlike as I write these notes. One of the first sounds of Spring is the noise of the woodpecker tapping away at his tree trunk. I first heard him this year on the 12th of February up the gated road to Weston. Farming wise all is still very quiet, but with this mild spell and dry ground to travel on tractors will soon be seen apply nitrogen to the oil seed rape up the concrete road, where considerable damage has been done to the crop in certain areas by pigeons. This will enable the crop to grow away from them. When they descend in their hundreds onto the oil seed rape they can soon do irreparable damage, resulting in substantial loss of yield.

You may have noticed the hedge along Little Street has had its gaps planted with new thorn plants. These are replacing the elderberry bushes which have been sprayed out. Elder is not a plant you want in a field hedge, as it dominates and is in no way a deterrent to stock. Whilst you need a field hedge made up of a variety of species, elder is not one of them. A hedge is a wildlife corridor as well as a boundary.

The lambing season will soon be in full swing, and ewes and their lambs will be re-stocking the grass fields around the village. A true sign of Spring, so make sure all dogs are on leads and under control when walking through them. These permanent pasture fields in our parish are so important for lamb production and keeping the balance between livestock and corn. 

These are interesting and challenging times for us all with a great deal of uncertainty, none more so than the Farmer with pressure from many lobbying groups. But one thing is definite and that is we all have to be fed, and that food is produced from the land.

Richard Fonge.