The pewits will soon feel as if they are in the jungle

"They're going to get a shock once the beans start motoring. At the moment their nests are in the open ground between the rows, but soon they're going to think they are in the jungle."

At least it will hide the chicks from predators overhead, although there is not so much can be done for the four footed ones at ground level. We have had trouble with our main predator again this week.

A fox has killed a triplet lamb. It must have been alive when it killed the lamb as there was a lot of blood at the scene and the triplet was not even a weakling. They were a set of strong lambs. John is really upset. So am I.

There is a real plague of foxes in our area. We have had to almost start from scratch with our bantams as foxes have killed all the hens and chicks from last year. The only poultry that seem to be safe are the guinea fowl.

They roost in the barn and in the orchard. We know the fox must be prowling around as the guinea fowl make such an unholy racket occasionally in the night, but so far they have kept out of reach. And they are laying. Prolifically.

We may not have any eggs from bantams but I am collecting eggs every day from the hen hut where they are very conveniently laying for me. Not all of the guinea fowl laid in the hut originally. We knew there must be a nest somewhere in the vicinity as Pip, our young Labrador, kept returning licking her lips and sporting just a trace of orange yolk on her whiskers.

I eventually tracked down the nest in the shrubbery, but the guinea fowl have obviously decided the hut is a much safer place, and try as she might, Pip can't get through the hen hatch. I know she has tried as there are black Labrador hairs around the opening.

In the lambing shed we are down to the last few ewes and gimmers. With a bit of juggling about, nearly all the ewes are out with lambs. If they have lost a single, John, by fair means and foul, has managed to persuade them to adopt one to rear. I have just seen the latest success standing on its new Mum's back in a lambing pen.

The gimmer has been tied up for a couple of days to stop her butting the adoptive lamb to death whilst it learns to drink from her. This was the gimmer I had had trouble bringing home the other week, and she had lost her original lamb a couple of days ago. We do not know why.

She now has a triplet that was starting to struggle in competing with its siblings in the field.

A neat solution.

Mrs

Down's

Diary

A farmer's wife shares her

humorous look at life

The pewits will soon feel as if they are in the jungle