Fern Cottage Blog

The wild mallard female duck has just had her baby ducklings on our wildlife pond. Usually she only stays one day with them on the pond and then they all disappear. This year is a first, they have stayed ever since they were born a week ago. We counted 10 ducklings, but there are now only 9. The blackbirds have had a large number of babies this year. This morning the baby Great Spotted Woodpecker was eating the nuts outside the guests' dining room. A couple of baby bullfinches have also been seen, but all the other birds are still hatching their eggs, as the great tits and blue tits haven't been around for a while. Hares can be seen in the wheat field at the bottom of the garden, along with the wild deer. Our Khaki Campbell ducklings are doing really well and we have just bought 3 Indian Runner ducks to join them. Pete has just made a beautiful duck house for them to give them plenty of space. The Indian Runner ducks are laying already as I bought them at point of lay.

Two weeks ago we got 2 khaki campbell ducklings who were 5 weeks old then. They've still got their downy feathers on, so until they're about 8 weeks old you can't introduce them to the pond. Khaki Campbells are the best egg laying ducks you can get - and lay almost as many eggs per year as a chicken. The wild deer have even been in our field last night and can be seen very clearly in the next field at the bottom of the garden. The kestrel continues to return to the kestrel box in our field, so we're hopeful of more baby kestrels this year. Bullfinches and goldfinches continually feed outside the guests' dining room, with the bullfinches eating out of the window feeders. My home made biscuits are going down well - I never have to throw any away. The home made granola is also going down very well with guests - I think because it tastes so fresh and also has so many lovely things in it, like nuts, berries and dried fruit. All the chickens have laid really well over winter, which surprised us during the very bitter cold and snowy weather we had.

It doesn't feel a year ago that I made the last lot of marmalade - all 90 jars +. We're down to the last couple of jars, so I'd better plan to do that job in the next couple of weeks. The 8 chickens that we bought in May 2009 (after the fox had killed 10 of our other chickens) have done really well, laying between 5 and 8 eggs a day (even when the temperatures went well below freezing and snowed). The cream legbars have just started laying their lovely blue shelled eggs, after moulting at the end of Autumn last year. The wild deer can be seen most days in the field behind our field. While out walking the other day, we had 3 of them running towards us - quite strange as we thought they would be running away from us, but I think they were running away from something else that scared them more, not necessarily us.

While our hedges were being cut, the barn owl box fell off the telegraph pole. I immediately contacted the Hawk and Owl Trust as we needed to get a new box put up (or have the old one mended) in readiness for next Spring for the kestrels to nest in. We've had baby kestrels here for the last 2 years, this year we had 5 babies fledge, so it was important to get the new box up early enough for them to get interested in it. The Hawk and Owl Trust suggested it was better to put up a kestrel box, rather than a barn owl box as obviously that was what was using the box. I must admit I was a bit worried that it might put them off using a new box. But we needn't have worried, while they were putting the new box up, a kestrel flew over the top and into the next field. The following day a kestrel sat in the box most of the day and since then has been hopping in and out of it (obviously due to the high winds and intermittent rain). So I think we can look forward to another brood of baby kestrels next spring!

I can't believe another Summer has gone and we're just about to go into Autumn. It's that busy time of year again, using our home grown fruit to make jam for our busy bed and breakfast; damson jam, blackcurrant and rhubarb jam, blackberry jam, plum jam and tomato, onion and apple chutney. The wheat has been cut in the surrounding fields that adjoin us and the deer can be seen walking along the hedgerows. The green woodpecker is just outside of the stable block rooms in our wildlife field and can be seen most days searching for ants.

The new chickens have settled in really well and their combs have started to redden so won't be too long before we start having their lovely eggs on our breakfast menu. The green woodpecker has returned to the field. The kestrels have settled into the barn owl box and I imagine the female is sitting on the eggs, as the male is bringing in food for her. We've just started weeding on the bigger vegetable plot, my bad back and weekly visits to the chiropractor has meant that the plot has been left since October when I first injured my back. So hopefully today we shall have cleared it, ready for some more veg to go in. The bottom vegetable plot has runner beans, courgettes, lettuce and pak choi. The greenhouses have tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and peppers. They all seem to be doing really well with the tomatoes the size of ping pong balls. We just need a bit more sunshine to bring them on.

On a happier note, we bought 8 more chickens - 2 blue belles, 1 white leghorn, 2 light sussex, 1 silver sussex, 1 rhode rock and 1 colombian blacktail. They've settled in really well and look really beautiful. They're all at "point of lay" so it won't be long before they starting laying delicious eggs. 25 May 2009 Be warned any budding smallholders - don't get complacent about your chickens. Up until 7pm tonight we had 10 cream legbars (6 months old) 4 cream legbars 10 months old, 4 light sussex and one rescue warren. At 9.00 pm - we have only 5 cream legbars and 2 light sussex - only half of our chickens. I'm absolutely devastated, I really loved my chickens and had them since they were 6 weeks old - it's taken a lot of time and effort to give them a good home - got to know them etc etc.

This afternoon I smelt there was a fox about - but still felt they were secure - at 9pm tonight - half of them have gone!! Just be aware, the fox is always out there - we've kept chickens for 13 years and this is the 2nd major killing we've had. When I see the cute little foxes on t.v. I think arhh aren't they lovely - then tonight I see the devastation and loss of my beautiful chickens!! The pair of kestrels are permanently housed in the barn owl box - the male and female are taking it in turns to sit on the eggs - so hopefully we'll see the baby kestrels shortly.

Today the wild mallard ducks are back in force - 6 of them have arrived today for feeding outside the back door. In fact they've turned up 3 times breakfast, lunch and afternoon corn!! All the chickens are laying really well (despite the weather) - we're getting around 14 eggs a day. I just hope they can keep that up during the summer months.

The kestrel has returned over the last few days to sit on the barn owl box in our wildlife field, so we are hoping that they will breed there again this year. We had 2 baby kestrels born there last year. The deer can be seen in the next field to ours. Edgars sheep that are expecting "triplets" are in the next field as they get extra rations to make sure they all produce healthy triplets. Edgar was telling me that triplets can end up having a high mortality rate, while the sheep that are having twins usually get two good lambs, whereas the sheep that only have one lamb, can end up having problems because the lamb gets too big for her to deliver. I've just finished making about 76 jars of organic Seville Orange marmalade for guests to enjoy as well as buy.

We've just had 2 adult pheasants with 6 young pheasants in the field in the long grass by the pond. We have also heard and seen the Little Owl at night usually perched on the telegraph post on the edge of our field. The goldfinches have returned to feed on the niger seeds outside the breakfast room window. We have just started the Avon Bird Watch for the 8th year. A couple of birds from the youngest flock of Cream Legbars have just started laying their pretty blue shelled eggs, which now means that we have a consistent supply of eggs that will hopefully keep us going through Winter.

At last, the Cream Legbar chickens have just started laying "blue" shelled eggs. We have 4 Point of Lay Cream Legbars and 9 x 15 week old pullets, so once they are get laying, we will have plenty of eggs. The five two year old Light Sussex are still laying quite well, usually about 4 - 5 eggs a day. The last of the rescue chickens has made it past her 3rd birthday and the old Light Sussex is about 5 years old - both of them are enjoying their retirement. The only thing they have to worry about is how many worms or slugs they can catch!

This time of year is always busy, picking fruit and making it into jams and chutneys. We've had a glut of damsons, cooking apples and tomatoes which have just been made into jams and chutneys. The plums have been awful this year - I managed to pick just two bowls of plums which have been frozen until I get some more spare time to make plum jam. The blackberries have been coming on quite slowly, but I've frozen a 1lb at a time, ready to make into jam when I have enough quantity. I've frozen some damson compote which should take us through quite a few autumn/winter weekends so that our guests can enjoy the taste of damsons layered in the yoghurts and remember the taste of autumn. Jeff at Siston Nurseries produces some lovely shallots, so over the next couple of days I shall be making pickled shallots in balsamic vinegar. Lovely! We have heard the barn owl the last couple of evenings. Two of the kestrels appeared briefly the other day to re-visit the box in the field.

The baby kestrels have finally decided to fly the nest - although the other morning one of the baby's seem to have decided that the weather was so bad that he/she returned to safety. Since then, its been pretty quiet, the ducks have gone having successfully mated and now taken up their winter quarters elsewhere. The butterflies have returned - some of them in abundance in the wildlife area, but only on those rare days when we have sunshine.

The cream legbar pullets are gradually getting closer to laying beautiful blue eggs for our guests breakfasts. We bought 5 of them in at 12 weeks and they are a now 21 + weeks. so each day I'm checking to see if we've got beautiful blue eggs for breakfast. We also bought 9 cream legbars at 6 weeks old and they are coming along really well, from being so small that you could hold them in the palm of your hand. The barn owl is flying overhead at dusk - anything between 9.00 - 9.30 pm. The bullfinches are regularly feeding from the hulled sunflower seeds on the feeder outside the breakfast room window. The goldfinches are feeding on the new season teasels.