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Although it’s a sad, strange and momentous day, life for the animals and the seasonal tasks continue

The new ducklings are beginning to settle down

We wait to find out how many are boys and how many girls. If they quack they are girls.
We moved the sheep into a new section of the field where, at last, there is grass to graze
The goats are enjoying the apple pulp left over from our cider preparations yesterday
In the sheep barn , where we have been drying the Bedfordshire Champion onion, I sat down on the paletts to trim and bag the crop to hang in the onion barn for use through the winter

Imagine our surprise when Jeremy lifted up one of the pallets and we found a hedgehog sleeping underneath some feed bags

We quickly covered up our prickly friend. Hedgehogs are in serious decline and we don’t want to disturb the nocturnal creature

The bags and onions are hanging up and we hope that the hedgehog is safe
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On a misty autumn morning, as we enter the reign of King Charles III ….

I am reminded of the time, during Mrs Thatcher’s long premiership, when my then young children innocently asked, “Mummy, can a man be a prime minister?”

Today we acknowledge the loss of a woman who, in my opinion, put country and service ahead of self for 70 years. May her memory be for a blessing as we enter an era of uncertainty and instability. May her example guide our leaders to put country and service to the people ahead of self and party interest. We can but dream.

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An adventure for us and an adventure for them

We arrived at an immaculate semi In Loughborough with a restored tractor in the front garden.

The long garden was home to a duck and drake in a small but well equipped enclosure. Mrs duck has produced two broods of ducklings since spring. She’s a good sitter but a reluctant mother

The ducklings were in a small pen in the back porch

We put them into a straw filled cardboard box and drove them home to The Gables

Into their new run until they are old enough to join the grown up ducks
They are huddling together for now

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This afternoon has been all about the goats

We took each goat into the milking parlour, one by one, and I kept them steady whilst Jeremy trimmed their hooves.

Then I went back to the dusty and somewhat grimy job of mucky out the goat house

Not my best look but it’s a job that’s got to be done
I filled the compost bins yesterday and today started manure heap by the fence in the same corner
Little Ruth is quite happy to watch me work. No offers of help!
Outside, in the grey sky, a young buzzard is being dive bombed by two crows