Blackthorn Flowers

Richard Fonge writes:

This is one of the latest springs for sometime. A true blackthorn winter. When the blackthorn is out you always get some cold wintry weather, and a chill wind even with the sun out, and frosty nights .The hedges are very late in coming out in leaf, grass growth is slow and the spring sown crops are desperate for a rain to get germination and growth going. The blackthorn is just starting to go over, so the end of the month should see some rain. I always see the first swallow around the tenth of the month. This year the 18th.

The fields up the concrete road look a picture now they have been sown. Barley this side of the bridge, wheat the other side. Ewes and lambs surround us, but two flocks I would like to highlight . On The footpath from behind Wemyss farm, in the second field a flock of Romney Marsh have lambed outside, very successfully I should think. The Romney has a relatively small lamb, making it an easy lamber, and with the better weather and longer days it is much more beneficial for all concerned to lamb outside.
The second flock are up the Moreton road on the left as you climb the hill. If you look closely, it can be seen that each sheep has only one lamb. These are first time lambers or ewe lambs, and you will only get the odd set of twins. Sheep terminology is complicated and here are some terms explained: Ewe lamb a one year old. Theave a two year old female. Wether or hogget a castrated male over nine months. Ewe a three year old female. Tup an entire male used for breeding. These terms change from region to region.

It is twenty years ago that the foot and mouth outbreak brought such great carnage and distress to the countryside, with thousands of sheep and cattle slaughtered and many families seriously affected emotionally and financially. But out of it came the traceability of all livestock with micro chipping, and this in turn allows all consumers to trace their meat back to the farm it was reared on.

Finally young steers have today been turned out in the big close for the summer. So good to see cattle in the field again. A reminder to keep dogs on a lead when using the footpath.

PS. Great delight, heard the cuckoo at 8.30 a.m. (20th April), over towards Peter’s Bridge.

Richard Fonge

Spring is here! Hazel Catkins.

Richard Fonge writes:

With spring now with us, the land drying up, we are seeing more activity in the fields. Ewes and lambs arrive daily in the fields up the Moreton Road, where the spoil from the ditching earlier in the year will soon be spread now it is much drier. I said in my October notes that the greenness of the fields up the concrete road was a result of severe shedding of the previous crop of spring wheat and would be sprayed off in the spring. This has happened and I expect to see a crop of barley to be planted. A self sown crop such as that was, would not have yielded, but by leaving it over the winter, it created a cover crop.

Please take note when walking that way, of the sights and sounds. Skylarks are flying high in song. The skylark is a ground nesting bird and not as common as it once was. It likes bare ground to nest on, so please keep dogs on a lead or close to you because if they do disturb a nest it will be abandoned. Roe deer are often seen in this area too. Deer are becoming more and more common. At Stuchbury I have seen seven standing in line. The other quite common sight is the muntjac deer. Like the squirrel it is devastating to young trees if they haven’t been guarded. 

Farmers and countrymen know more than most how important it is to keep a balance of any one species. The health and well being of animals such as rabbits, foxes, deer, squirrels and badgers is to their advantage if the weaker are culled and a sensible sustainable level is maintained. The badger cull is an emotive one, but what is not in doubt is the distress it has caused livestock farmers. To have a reactor to the T.B. test, means the animal is culled and to see as I have, pregnant cows and cows with young calves being separated, causes a great deal of anguish, without the work of re testing every sixty days until clear of the disease. We have bovine T.B. in the area at present, so let us hope that it is an isolated case.

Spring brings re-generation of the natural world, so here’s hoping it is a good one, to bring cheer after this long winter.

Richard Fonge

Fine views from a village footpath

Richard Fonge writes:

The weather is getting warmer, after a seasonal cold snap. Our forecasters do seem to like to exaggerate their weather news at times, referring to certain weather situations as an “event”. Whilst it is nice to know what weather is coming our way, please don’t over egg it!!

Support for agriculture and conservation will be changing now we are out of Europe. As the Common Agricultural Policy is phased out, new National schemes will come in. The prime scheme is to be called ELMS. Environmental Land Management Scheme. We will await with interest to how these new plans affect the countryside as Farmers and land managers adapt to the new directives. A healthy balance must be kept between the two. 

Footpaths and their accessibility have never been more important, and over the last year, they have become even more so as an escape from lockdown. As well as a form of recreation, they give the walker a chance to observe and take note of the sights and sounds of the countryside and an understanding of how it works.

Farming in whatever form is about producing high quality food for the consumer, and to do this, an appreciation of your particular land type is paramount. Secondly you must work with nature. Try to beat her and your hand will be bitten sooner or later. To produce what is wanted in today’s competitive market is both demanding and rewarding, none better illustrated than, by those who can sell at their local farmers’ market and getting an instant customer response.

All parishes have their history, and Sulgrave more than most. The Castle mound, and its Saxon past, the Manor with its connection to the Washingtons and the first President of America. The lost village of Stuchbury, which has a fascinating past, researched with great interest many years ago by my late Mother. The old prisoner of war camp, on Helmdon Road, with its bases still visible, which housed I believe mostly Italian prisoners, and for many years after was lived in by displaced families.

The fields around us also have history and a story to tell. Every field has a name, the one nearest to the farm is usually called dairy ground, as that is where the cows grazed, but many have names which refer back to an event or an individual of the past. Some examples: I had a field called Mushroom at Kenilworth. It had one year produced mushrooms in abundance. Along the Welsh Lane, near Greatworth you have Newpiece, it was the last field to be cleared of woodland in the 19th century, and the adjoining field is Washbrook. The sheep used to be washed in the stream. Finally further along towards Helmdon you have the more sinister named Gallows Field, the scene of many a gruesome ending.

Richard Fonge