Ragwort. (Photograph: Colin Wootton)
Richard Fonge writes:
The exceptional summer weather continues, with harvest starting early and the very real prospect of the harvest being completed by August 1st . The barley up the concrete road is a good example of a crop sown in March/April now ripening fast . I won’t speculate on yields but wait with interest and report next month.
Either side of the Helmdon rd and across to the Stuchbury footpath is a block of land sown to a conservation mixture with a dominant deep blue flower. The plant is phacelia . This mixture has been planted under one of the many government schemes and will have a guaranteed acreage payment. Other flowers were planted but the phacelia is the only successful germinator forming a good canopy to smother any weeds and producing a pollinators dream when flowering. Standing amongst it on the footpath you get the sound of bees at work. A constant hum. Wonderful!
Spring lambs are now being weaned or marketed. In the field off the Helmdon Rd are, if my observation is right, a bunch of female (ewe) lambs. These will be kept for breeding, to replace the culls from the main flock. A shepherd needs to replace 20% of the flock annually. Weaning can be quite noisy for a couple of days, but only for that time.
On the wild life front I have noticed two increases. Firstly foxes are much more in evidence around the parish, enjoying Thursday nights in Sulgrave emptying and looking for scraps in the waste food bins. However there are plenty of rabbits on the old railway line to feast on too. Secondly it has been great to see a hedgehog in my garden as have two other residents in theirs. They have also been seen regularly on a nearby farm. The return of a much loved creature.
Finally two very poisonous plants are in flower at the present. Hemlock to be seen near the stream on the Moreton rd. Can be mistaken for cow parsley by its seed heads. Do not brush against with bare skin. Secondly ragwort with its bright yellow flower, now seen profusely on verges and waste ground. Farmers have a legal obligation to remove it as did our local authorities at one time. Fatal when ingested by livestock, especially in hay or silage.
Richard Fonge.