Quail project....

We decided suddenly that keeping some sort of domestic birds was a good idea, but ruled out the usual domestic chickens as our daughter has a severe phobia of them! Even the sight of on chicken causes her to have a panic attack!

But having seen quails on Youtube, she said that we could try them if caged.

So, the first priority was a vermin proof structure: two half-telegraph poles made a strong frame, and then we put a steel mesh on the floor to prevent foxes from burrowing in. Metal sides were added, with their sides well dug in, and cemented too - no chance of getting in that way, foxes or rats!
Finally, a sturdy roof was added because quail like a dry dusty environment, not too soggy.

Getting young birds was not too hard...'Preloved' web site had many local people and equipment to view - although you have to be careful about your choice of young birds or fertile eggs. It was quite easy for us to build up a starter flock!

And from there we rapidly had about 30 birds in the cage. We had some interesting encounters with other local quail owners, swapping male quails. Driving them home, flapping around in the box, was an interesting experience for our bird phobic daughter!

They were a delight to watch and feed (they particularly liked half cucumbers of which we had an excess at the time!)

We rapidly collected a big bowlful of the small but beautifully marked eggs, and enjoyed quail eggs on toast. The flavour was normally eggy, but the health benefits are reputed to be enormous!

We had to terminate this brief but delightful project when neither Elaine or I could safely walk down to feed them, and Paul, the main protagonist went back to Nottingham to build a new life for himself!

However, the legacy of the project is a dry, secure fowl house that could be adapted to chickens with 10 minutes work with an angle grinder, just by cutting a chicken door in the front, et voila!

Salmon leaping

This blog post is pretty much to showcase a rare sight that we caught on camera locally...

It features a salmon leaping at Cenarth near here in the Teifi river!

Many people have tried to get a record on film, but few have been as lucky (or skillful?) as we were.

The little village of Cenarth (pronounced with a hard "C as in kennel) is perhaps 5 miles from here, along the Teifi valley towards Cardigan. There is a narrow bridge there, and some picturesque falls to the right hand (upstream) side.

The salmon come up from the sea (downstream, of course) to mate and lay their eggs, and right in their way are the lovely falls. So they have to leap up them!

If you stand at the observation point, opposite the old water mill, you will (eventually), at the right time of year, see a leaping fish. But catching it on camera is another thing. The other critical factor is the flow of water over the falls, it has to be just right. So be there in mid October, after moderate rainfall, and your chances will be good!

We have seen salmon and trout (sewin or sea trout) every year, but never enough to be bored by the spectacle.

By the way...if there is no-one in the hut to take your £3 parking fee, it probably means there will be no fishy activity. If, however you fancy your chances anyway, drive back over the bridge, turn right towards Abercych and park in the public parking on the right hand side, you will get a short walk and save £3 to boot!

GALACTIC

Well used to making our own compost, we got the three free bins from the county council and realized we would need much more capacity to the job properly!

Fortunately, having a sloping site and a brother who is a biologist and enthusiastic builder here, we're opportunities not to be missed, so Peter built GALACTIC. Acronym for
Gravity Assisted Linear Accelerator for Compost Treatment In Carmarthenshire!

AND IT WORKS really well; here's how...

Raw green stuff is piled up on the uphill side, which gives a chance for soil to be washed or shaken out. (Soil on weeds slows the process down hugely and must be avoided!)

The first compartment (Galactic One, of course) is then loosely filled and the end boards put on! It can be piled as high as you like so long that the lawn mowings do not get compressed too much. If it is getting a bit soggy, add bunched up newspaper, ashes etc, even sawdust is good. If you want an instant activator, a bucket or sprinkle of pee is ideal, an won't make any smell!
Cover with polythene to stop it getting rain soaked.

Then wait

After a week the pile will be heating up nicely and a stick pushed in will come out steaming. (Note: If it gets to over 70 degrees C, all the weed seeds will cook and die)

Now wait another week, until the original pile is greatly lower than before.

Now get in with your fork and lightly move the contents of 1 into 2. It will fluff up a bit as you do it but that is what you want! Once done, 2 will not be overful.

Leave it another week, then refill 1 again.

Repeat these steps with all the summer and spring green waste, until 3 is full too.

Then leave 3 to overwinter after which it will be lovely brown stuff - Ready for use!

When we had any problems, they were due to heavy rain soaking in, hence the curved tin sheets on it now.
Or,  too much soil going in.

We found that galactic could take all green stuff throughout the year including lawn clippings, and reduce them all to compost. Admittedly, if there was a surfeit of cut grass, from the ride on, for example, it went into the the bottom pond on the right hand side to make grass snake habitation.

New owl boxes

We have added two (twit two) Barn owl boxes to the wide range of nesting sites we have here, after spotting a hunting owl in the orchid field.

Design of the box was from the RSPB website, and the boxes were made by a local carpenter!

These birds are limited by lack of nesting sites, so we hope for early occupation in Spring, as the boxes have been in place all Winter.