David Grayling Books Blog

Rural Ramblings : by David Grayling August (written then, but not published, sorry!)

On the evening of 26th preparing the show field, I anticipated a mud bath. However being a riverside field, the base is gravel, thus very well drained – we were very lucky! Many thanks to the Bowness’s for letting us use it; they manage their grass cutting to ensure that it is ready for the day. Many of you will be unaware that as a result of foot & mouth disease, regulations dictate that no stock can be put on that field for four weeks after the show. For any farmer, that’s quite a big sacrifice – losing a month’s grazing.

Red squirrels: Driving along Morland Bank (the wooded stretch behind M. Meaburn Hall) I nearly killed a red squirrel. I was consciously keeping below 40mph, when it ran straight out, and just managed to avoid me and the car behind. Please, PLEASE – when you are driving on roads alongside fir woods, drive slowly. This species is severely threatened by a disease called parapox virus, which it gets from grey squirrels who are immune to it, but remain carriers. The second most serious threat is you and me. Is it too much to ask for you to slow down for a few 100 yards? You will add just a few seconds to your journey, that’s all, by dropping from 50mph to 30mph. There is also a risk of you hitting badger, fox, roe deer and other animals. Hitting a deer at 50mph can cause serious damage; every year people & cars are severely injured as a result of deer accidents. Please take care on country roads.

A young badger arrived at the farm recently. It was lying under a gate, I examined it closely & it appeared to be fit and well. However, it refused to get up and move on. It was there for several hours, eventually disappearing -presumably having recovered from its mystery problem.

Real local food supports the local economy
The New Economics Foundation claims that every £10 spent on food from local businesses generates £25 for the local economy, compared with £14 for every £10 spent in non-local food businesses. That’s worth thinking about  and acting upon.

David Grayling Books

As president of the Crosby Ravensworth Agricultural show this year I was anxious about the weather…  but unbelievably, between days of solid rain the sun shone and the show was splendid.  Local journalist Karen Morley has reported the show on the Eden Valley Messenger Web site – all the results are there, lots of pictures and even a video report with a few words from yours truly, David Grayling!

www.DavidGraylingBooks.com

Rural Ramblings in Crosby Ravensworth Parish – July 2009

At Barnskew we have had grey wagtails nesting, and on the river the kingfishers have young, as we have seen them busy carrying food. The sand martins, who are first of the swallow family to come & first to go, have hatched and flown – they nest in the sandy banks of the river.
The dry spell we had in June ago makes dry ground, and this in turn creates hard times for badgers, snipe, curlews, and other birds, as they can’t
penetrate the ground for grubs and worms. However, earthworms come up to the surface at night, so badgers – being nocturnal – can grab a few during the dark hours. If you use worms for fishing, try creeping on to your lawn at night with a torch and grabbing them. You have to be quick and also tread very lightly – the lightest vibration sends them straight down their holes.
The last two years have been bad for butterflies; we now have a third year developing into a disaster. In ‘07 & ‘08 our commonest species had so much rain that they only managed to grab the occasional dry sunny day to breed. This year, although Spring was dry, we had a cold east wind dominating the weather preventing them migrating & breeding. I have looked at nettles all this summer for the caterpillars without success.  I did see a few young caterpillars in Gloucestershire recently. There have been quite a lot of meadow browns and small heaths on the rough grassland and fell fringes, but small tortoiseshell, peacock and red admirals are in desperate short supply. By now – on sunny days – these should be feeling on our buddleias, creeping thistles and other nectar-bearing plants. The painted ladies migrating from Europe should have amved here, but have been prevented by poor weather Pray for a very hot sunny August, we – and the wildlife – certainly need it.

I managed to check one of our local rare wild flowers -perennial flax – there are only a handful of places where it still exists around here, it seems to be doing quite well. Our traditional meadows have produced a fine array of colour, but as they can’t be mowed until mid July, they are suffering from the rain; it’s now nearly August and the Raisbeck (Orton) meadows are still uncut.

Please visit my main site

A year ago, creeping up the side of a river in a wood, listening and looking for otters, I was met by two bouncy badger cubs. I froze as they arrived at my feet, gave me a curious look, and ran back to the sett, which was about 15 yards away. They came back to me almost immediately, and proceeded to play around my feet, occasionally jogging back to the sett where the sow (female) badger was happily sitting scratching and cleaning her coat. This cavorting between me and the sett went on for over ten minutes. Finally, as I couldn’t stay frozen for ever, I waited till they were back with mum, and then tapped quite loudly with my stick on a tree. This was enough to send them down the sett, and allow me to continue my walk through the wood.

This, of course, was the experience of a lifetime. It is surprising how much one can see provided that great care is taken, watching where you put your feet – one twig cracked and your “quarry” will vanish – take advantage of the wind direction, so that your scent is blown away from your target area; move very slowly, as fast movement will quickly be spotted by wildlife; so if you want to scratch your nose, move your arm very slowly upwar~ds, even if you are desperate! Otters? Never saw or heard a sign of them, but who cares?! The best time to watch is very early morning, or dusk until dark. Many mammals – otters, badgers, foxes, hares and others – are nocturnal.

This is the time of year when the road verges around our, area burst into colour, with a rich selection of wild flowers, some of them rare. Time was when every grass field was a wealth of flowers and different grasses. The old hay meadow system, before the use of inorganic fertilisers, and high yielding grass mixtures, was ideal habitat for many species; not just flowers but also insects in abundance. There are still some traditional hay meadows in our area, and the Cumbria Wildlife Trust with Natural England, are constantly looking for these, so that they can be managed the traditional way, the farmer being paid a subsidy to do this.

I have just remembered that I promised mention of flowers from a nearby disused quarry…

I am aware that this blog is not looking quite right on Internet Explorer; my assistant is looking into it but says it’s quite technical, and if she says it’s quite technical… oh dear!

Robin Page called me last week – “What’s all this about Charles (the Charles who everyone gets excited about) visiting Cumbria to talk about red squirrels?”. “Yes, he’s coming to Levens Hall, near Milnthorpe and it’s all about the reds” says I.  Robin puffed and scruffed (scruffs quite a lot he does) a bit about not being invited, and announced that he would pull the strings of authority to gain a place.

HRH at the launch of the Red Suirrel Survival Trust

Twenty-four hours later a call confirms that the strings have been successfully pulled.  “I’ve booked into Dorothy Brass’s B & B, and we will see you in the Butcher’s Arms at 7.30”.  “We”?; that might be his lovely wife Anita – or “Lulu” to Robin and his Daily Mail readers.  But no! He’s bringing Nigel, his ever-tolerant marathon-suffering colleague to take lots of pretty pictures.  However, despite the lack of Lulu, we had a fine meal and a fine evening slandering every bunny-hugging slug we could think of and generally catching up with our rural doings since the last time we met.  I am involved the conservation of the red squirrel, and the elimination of the grey in the north west. We have a fine population of reds, and are constantly trying to keep migrating greys from entering our red alert area.