Introducing our new correspondent
I was brought up in rural West Wales. My home was sandwiched between two livestock farms: one was 'modern', for those days, with tractors and a milking parlour; the other was quite old fashioned and used Welsh cobs to haul and cart. I liked the traditional version best but loved the house dog, a magnificent dark sable rough collie, who resided in style in the “mod” one. Against my parents’ wishes I spent every moment I could in the farm yards and it no doubt accounts for my enthusiasm for farm animals and the countryside but particularly for my lifelong love of Collie dogs and Cobs!
I guess I would have liked to be a farmer but it was not a viable option for a female in those days and I ended up pursuing an academic career in Oxfordshire where for the last 40 years, my husband and I have had a 5 acre 'hobby' farm with Welsh ponies, collie dogs and various breeds of sheep and poultry. Rare breeds have figured prominently. We have an official holding number, farm organically, plant trees and shrubs, encourage wildlife and try to be as self-sufficient as possible. It has been an interesting career compromise!
I am now retired. My other hobbies are reading, gardening, leather work, Australian wine, pilates and golf. I also spend a lot of time with grandchildren and their young friends encouraging them to appreciate the pleasures that animals and country living can bring. Anthea Rogers, 2011
Anthea writes:
This has been the best April I can remember - beautiful blossom, birds galore and busy bumblebees.
The blossom has been fantastic. The daffodils and narcissi burst into colour but did not last long in the hot sunshine; the camellia, now 40 years old and grown in a lime-free pit, did us proud but had a short flowering period; the cowslips were the best ever and had spread amazingly since last year…
However, the blossom that has blown us all away was the lilac, especially the white.
It has wafted like lace in the sunshine. On some of the branches it has five florets and the dry weather has kept them dazzlingly, ‘Persil’ white. At sunset, the perfume is also tremendous; so being without rain does have its advantages, although watering has now become a real chore!
The bumblebees appeared earlier than usual and immediately started scouting for nest sites in the woodstacks from our newly-felled trees. They are the common Bombus terrestris but they are still precious to me. It must be heaven for them to have all these new sites!
They have also had a glorious time in the fruit trees but we have been alarmed to see virtually no other bees around. Despite the profusion of blossom will we have fruit this year?
The birds have kept us entranced and amused and the swallows that return each year to nest in the stables are back in profusion. Every year for the last 30, we have had one solitary swallow return at least seven days before the rest. It always looks lonely and lost. Is it a male or female? I do not know. It cannot be the same one and we ponder over the replicated time pattern.
But when the rest of the family arrives what a noise they make as they swoop in and out of the stables deciding on their nesting sites. The ponies seem to accept them as resident companions but their incredible manoeuvres to miss me when I am mucking out or feeding in the stables startles and at the same time amazes me.
Their blue-black feathers gleam in the sunshine. They seem more blue than usual, it must be the sun! They are a joy to watch
Alas this year we have not sighted a wren. They are my favourite bird and the two harsh winters have taken their toll. Robins have hijacked one of their nesting sites from last year and built in a coiled rope, beside the mini tractor in a busy shed. The chicks have hatched and the parents are showing their annoyance as we go in and out. We creep in and out as though it is not our home.
Spring also brings weeds and this year we face a dilemma of conscience. For 40 years we have not used herbicides but as we have grown older keeping the organic resolution has grown harder and harder because of the amount of physical work involved. We are on the cusp of a decision that sets environmental conscience against aesthetic appeal. I will let you know which wins...
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