1978 January to March
January 2nd
Today from the back garden wall I saw flocks of Starlings, with
occasional Fieldfares, hunting for worms on Thistle Pasture.
They kept landing and then flying off to circle round the farm.
It is marvellous to see how they fly together and they all turn
in flight exactly together.
January
18th
It has been a bitterly cold day. Snow has fallen but has not
been able to stick because it is wet on the ground. I hope it
will freeze tonight, so that if it snows again it will stay.
January
19th
This morning I woke to find the land covered in snow. The drifts
are as deep as two feet in places and I am allowed to stay off
school for the day.
I cleared
the bird table of snow and put some bread and crumbled biscuits
on it. A Great Tit, Robin and several Blue Tits came to get
food, besides some unwanted Starlings. Later on some Sparrows
joined the squabble for food.
January
21st
Today it rained nearly all day and most of the snow has gone.
January
22nd
Today I saw a pair of Pochard Ducks and a pair of Tufted Ducks
on the lodge. I watched them through my binoculars on the side
of the bank. Cindy was with me but they did not move. Yesterday
was the end of the shooting season. It was as if they knew it.
January
27th
Two men from the RSPB (of which I am a member) came up. They
were wanting to put a box up in the barn to encourage the Barn
Owl to come and nest. The Barn Owl is becoming rare, and they
want to encourage its numbers. We used to see them quite
frequently, but now it is very rare to see one in the barns.
A
possible explanation is that we no longer keep pigs. Therefore
there are hardly any Mice, and to see a Rat is like seeing the
sphinx. These tiny rodents made up the vast amount of the Barn
Owl’s diet. Without them it can not survive.
January
29th
On the moors there is snow. Winter Hill lives up to its name: it
looks very bleak. Scientists say the reason why we are having
such extreme whether is because there are too many sun spots.
This only happens every few years.
In Pipe Valley where the huge stone covers the spring, the water has bubbled up and made a water course down into the main stream. On top of the stone I found some fresh Owl pellets. On the hillside by the Rabbit warren in Pipe Valley, some Lichen cups have opened up. On the left hand side of the gate into the Main Meadow from Hill Sixty there are some fresh Mole hills.
February
4th
Today is bitterly cold
and grim. There is fog on the moors. I saw ten ducks down at the
lodge. I think they were Mallard and Teal. The streams have
turned into rivers and the water level at the lodge is the
highest I have ever seen. The old wooden posts are just showing
above water. The water has come under the fence – in some places
it is a foot deep.
February
5th
I saw a Snipe on the
lodge side. Last night I saw a glimpse of an Owl that was
perched on the lane fence. It flew of into the darkness. Today I
thought it must still be in the area, so I went looking for it.
I went to the Face Barn and then to the Pump House, but with no
luck. Then I went up into the loft of the Old Barn. There was
quite a large Tawny Owl sitting on one of the rafters. Daddy
gave me a Pigeon for the ferret, but I have left it in the
middle of the barn floor for the Owl.
On the
top of the well I found a tiny little Frog. I disturbed it from
underneath a rag. I was frightened it would get stood upon, so I
got a cup and card, and moved it to the Blackcurrant bushes
because it will be safer there. There is more cover.
February
10th
I heard a Blackbird
making a raucous across at the Old Barn so I guessed there was
an owl in the loft. I was right: it was a Tawny Owl, probably
the same one as last time. It has eaten the Pigeon and did not
fly away when I approached it.
I saw
two Rabbits in the Tip Field. Luckily Cindy did not chase the
first one, and she didn’t see the second. Most of the Rabbits
seem to like living on the fell behind the Tip in winter. It is
usually crowded out with Rabbits playing in the snow. I have
also noticed that the Rabbits prefer to come out at night in
winter. Probably because they will be safer from Foxes, men and
dogs; as the Rabbits and their tracks tend to show up more in
snow.
February
12th
Snow has fallen in the
night and it is quite deep in places. All the ground is covered
and I went sledging. It was great fun! Cindy thought so to. It
started snowing again at about half past six. It is now ten to
eleven and it hasn’t yet stopped. I am delighted: sledging
tomorrow should be great fun. However Jack and Daddy won’t be so
pleased. If it carries on much longer they won’t be going to
work tomorrow.
The
reservoir has frozen over. It and the other two smaller ponds
are now covered with a layer of snow. I can never remember the
lake freezing over before. The snow should be about a foot deep
by morning with any luck.
February 13th
Today England has had
the heaviest snow showers yet this Winter. Sheep farmers are
having to pay up to £80 a day for hay for their sheep and
cattle. In England and Wales and Scotland if the snow continues
farmers’ will be bankrupt by the time the thaw comes.
February
18th
At Holy Island 2000 sea
birds have been killed by an oil slick. The biggest number ever
killed yet. This great tragedy may bring some species near to
extinction.
On February the 17th in the
morning there was a beautiful orange sun. A complete circle of
orange just rising above The Goyht. I saw seven Pigeons by the
Tree Barn whilst walking to school. Most days in the morning now
there is an orange sun.
February 18th
The wind was strong, wiping the
snow against my knees as I trudged through the snow clutching
Cindy’s lead. I saw three poachers where the bridge is no more.
They had caught two Rabbits, and looked to have a Polecat/Ferret
with them. They also had a dog which looked like a smaller
version of a greyhound or a lurcher.
Today I
saw a set of Fox’s tracks by the Tip and a set of Hare’s tracks
in the Hay Meadow. It is terribly cold. The water coming under
the fence from the lodge has frozen so hard you can’t rake it
with a hammer. The sheep have been walking across it.
February
19th
The wind must be gale
force 9, 10 or 11. The snow is been whipped across the land, and
on the stone wall in the Croft the snow is as high as the wall.
It is blowing through the wall, and flying snow stings your
hands, face and legs terribly. Outside it is like waves of
stinging snow.
Yesterday huge grey snow clouds passed over at a pace faster
than I can walk. I remember there were no Rabbits about as there
usually are. I thought they could sense the snow coming but it
didn’t snow – instead today this terrible blizzard which is far
worse.
February
20th
As I walked to school
today the wind was blowing so hard the only way I could look was
down. There was three feet of snow by the Pump House Well, and
the drifts had nearly covered the wall. The ponds were just
slabs of ice.
Scientists say this has been the worst Winter for three decades,
and could be the worst of the century. At least the snow is
crisp and dry and packed well together. Therefore it is possible
to walk over the drifts. As I walked home I saw it was
impossible to see the stream, because a cover of slush, snow and
ice cover it up. However I could still hear water running
underneath.
February
22nd
This morning I could here the drip drip of water
everywhere. It was beginning to thaw. Dense fog covered the
fields and it was calm and still again, but a few odd birds were
singing. When I went to Kelly’s house I noticed there was no ice
on the street. On the 20th it had been covered with
ice, just like a skating rink. At twelve o’clock it began to
rain in sheer torrents. The first rain I had seen for ages.
When I
arrived home, the snow and fog had almost completely vanished.
Snow was still to be seen in a few odd places, in drifts still
upto three feet deep. The ditch by the lane is full of slush and
water. Most fields are like marshes with the excess water, upto
eight inches deep. At the ford, ice slush and water still cover
the stream. I managed to walk across it by daring myself but it
was a foolish thing to do. The well is only trickling so a pipe
must be blocked by ice or slush.
Today I
baked my first scones at school. Daddy said they were delicious.
I have just heard on the news that in Devon flood conditions are
terrible. The streets are flooded and schools are being used as
emergency hostels. Farmers who live out from towns are been
dropped food for their sheep and themselves by helicopter. Most
farmers have lost a third of their sheep in heavy snow drifts.
February
23rd
Today as I walked home I
saw four Pigeons in Pump House Wood and a Blackbird. However the
loveliest bird I saw was a Reed Bunting. I came across it on the
bridge just before the Pump House. It is very rarely I see one
of these birds. I recognized it from other birds by its dark
black head.
February
26th
This morning as I walked
down the lane I saw three Tufted Duck on the lodge and a flock
of Lapwings. The Lapwing are the first I have seen this year.
When they were flying about I recognized them by their black
backs and white rumps. Then I went Birdwatching by the side of
the reservoir. I have never seen so many Ducks on the reservoir
in my life. There were about six Tufted, loads of Mallard, and
quite a few Teal.
The sky
had been grey and overcast with rain clouds, and then it began
to rain. It wouldn’t have been too bad if the darn ducks hadn’t
kept swimming behind the back of the island, or keep flying over
the road back into the lodge. So I decided to go up Hill Sixty
instead. The only interesting thing I saw on the Hill was some
new young Thistles beginning to grow.
Before I
climbed the Hill I found some Fox dung on a Molehill by the wall
next to Hill Sixty. When I came back down again I found - sorry
Cindy found - a sheep bone that had been chewed by a Fox. I
would have let her keep it, but Foxes can pass on germs to dogs
through bones they have chewed. So I tuck it home to dispose of
it.
As I
went across the Croft I saw four Crows flying up through the
Mountain Ash Valley. Owls or an Owl have been around lately
because I found fresh pellets by the Rabbit burrows near the Tip
and at the back of the barns. Counted 22 Starlings on phone
wires
Then I
went to Pump House Wood. The Alder catkins are hanging down but
are still hard, they haven’t opened up yet. Old Rose-bay Willow
Herb stalks are standing about in the garden, leafless and bare.
There is still a large covering of snow against My Place Hill
and by the Hill Sixty wall, where it is three feet deep. Nearly
everywhere else it has disappeared. So has the ice and slush. At
the Pump House I saw a Kestrel. The first one I have seen for
ages. It was chasing some Starlings.
When I
went out later on, I saw between 200 and 300 Seagulls. They were
stood in the Lane Field by the lodge fence. Mostly Black Headed
Seagulls and Herring Gulls. I have never seen so many Seagulls
on the farm. The Skylarks have been singing and I saw about
seven of them in Radcliffe’s field.