Squirrel photographed by Colin Wootton. In this case, a rare albino.
Charming creatures but devastating for newly planted trees.
Richard Fonge writes:
We have had some proper seasonal weather, which is as it should be. Hard frosts do so much good to the soil, helping to break it down after ploughing or digging, and therefore making it so much easier to create a seedbed in spring. Nowadays not as important with direct sowing techniques, as seen on the Stuchbury footpath where winter wheat has been sown. As you go through the double hedge onto Stuchbury Farm, sheep are grazing on grass sown the previous winter. Sheep do a great job as they graze tightly and in a new pasture such as this they help the grass tiller out from the base so making it a denser sward.Years back in the days of mixed farming sheep often grazed winter wheat in the spring to help tiller the wheat, but also to firm down the soil after the winter. Sheep aren’t called the golden hoof for nothing!
The agricultural industry today produces food in this country to a very high standard, which is rightly demanded by the consumer and is a source of pride to the farmer. Inspections are carried out on animal welfare, methods of production, record keeping of marketing and all aspects of crop production plus an environmental audit, as today producing food is strongly linked to the many environmental schemes in place.
Those of us who have been brought up in, and worked in the countryside all our lives, have through that close association with nature and food production, a great respect and love for that natural habitat. So sometimes it irks when those full of theories tell us what to do! However the secret is to always listen .
We sometimes forget that certain animals are classed as vermin and need controlling so that we don’t get an inbalance in nature. Rats and mice spread disease and on a farm a couple of good non domesticated cats do the business.
Grey squirrels are fast becoming a pest and need controlling. The damage they are doing to trees, especially newly planted, where they strip the bark, has become a major problem in the many new woods that are being planted along with the muntjac deer, a non native species . Pigeons also can be devastating to crops, in particular oilseed rape.
Richard Fonge.