Nature on your farm.

We are delighted with them. Great to pop out with binoculars at dusk.

Deliberately don’t use any bait for fear of poisoning them.

very little neighbours around that use it either.

we have a neighbour that breeds birds of prey and he owns an eagle owl. I reckon that might be why they were missing last year. The screech is supposed to scare away barn owls even though it is fully controlled and not let out loose.

that old house is where I was gardening too but left it alone once they arrived.

Between them, the hares and pheasants on the lawn and normal small birds around our young lads are definitely loving the countryside.

Had a good week here on the wildlife front. Saw a mink, long-eared owl, 2 buzzards and an otter in the river all in one day. Had seen the otter tracks for the last few years but never one in the flesh. Don't think the buzzards are very local because I hadn't seen them before. Circling low enough that I could make out the feather colours. Crows fought them off fairly lively from the silage ground though. OH says she saw a hare as big as a dog during the week too but he's yet to cross my path

First time I'd seen a live one. Seen a few the last few years dead on the road. OH saw 2 one night walking along the footpath in one of the neighbouring villages which runs parallel to the river she thought they were beavers though

I think the swallows have departed for their holidays. There was an awful commotion yesterday with them flying around the house and yard chirping and calling. I don't see any in the sheds so they must be on their way. The single house martin nest on the eave of the house is still occupied but they didn't arrive for a couple of weeks after the swallows.

Spotted a couple of red admirals this morning. Haven’t seen them in a while

What's with the spiders the last week or so. Feel like Indiana Jones walking through webs the first time into the shed or up onto the tractor every morning

Set up a trail camera to see can I grab a photo and video or two of our barn owls. Quality not perfect but not bad either.

I see the Whooper swans have arrived on a neighbours land - I counted 20 or so earlier on today grazing but I expect to see a lot more over the coming days.

What kind of damage would swans or geese do?

Enough to justify shooting them?

you’d think they would eat snails and prevent fluke.

He shot 12, only 2 had shot, the others had decomposed. I saw what I thought were a large flock of sheep, spread out all over a neighbour's field, as I got nearer I could see they were swans. They could strip a field bare. I think Wexford has large populations of winter migrant geese and swans. Pigeons will strip cabbages bare, crows will destroy corn, are we to stand idly by and watch crops disappear. Swans and their eggs are food in some countries, so are puffins.

I just read about a White Tailed Eagle that died from poisoning/secondary poisoning in the Midlands. I had the pleasure of seeing one in flight a few years ago near my place in NCD.

Nice Clump of frog spawn this year.

I rescued a bumble bee struggling to escape from a bucket of water today. Exhausted, its wings too wet to fly. The only flowers with nectar that I could find in bloom were snowdrops.