Saturday 11 August 2012

Harvest time has started.


The farms alongside the canals are busy getting this years harvest in. We have seen several combine harvesters busy working. The one working the huge field next to the boat mooring yesterday evening, did not stop until after well after 10 pm. 




The weather report is for one more day of drying weather and then the rains are due once more. So it is going to be a very busy period for the farmers. There are also hundreds of bales of straw to be transported away on trailers. We watched one field of grass which had been cut already, being turned to aid drying before being collected up as winter feed for cattle.


The small seed eating birds are gleaning the fields for any seed that the combine missed. The harvested field was at one time a valuable winter food store for wild birds. But now farmers soon put the plough to the fields in preparation for planting winter wheat.

The first of the ripe blackberry and several well loaded crab apples have been seen along the canal bank. Last year we had several apple pies made from the towpath food locker! To late and after we had passed we spotted a wild set plum with ripe fruit. Several Hazel's that we have seen also seem to have a good crop of nuts this year. 

Maybe the wet summer was not as bad as we had thought.

Later....


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