Country Living

The old uknature site will shortly be closed down and all the content moved to the current nature diary / Nature & Wildlife (UK) blogs. This should hopefully enable me to keep the content more accurate and avoid some duplication. To see a larger image of the front page and read some of the history click on the read more link below.

A little while after we got the chickens, the evenings were starting to draw in and we realised we'd soon be back from work in the dark. We were keen to allow the chickens a free range in the garden as they don't like being 'in the cage' all day. A technological solution was required...

Surely there would be plans for a project like this on make? Unfortunately not. If time had allowed it would have been great to build a system from scratch but the evenings were drawing in too fast. We therefore opted for a commerical model from the rather limited range available. Phase I of the ultimate chicken house is a simple description of the installation of the light sensitive automatic door and a review of its operation.

One thing I have noticed since moving out of London is how little the weather previously affected us in the inner city. November seems early to have such a harsh frost and the ground has been frozen for the best part of a week. I haven't really seen a frost like this for many years. I went out early one morning to take photos of all the ice cystals covering the plants. The chickens weren't as taken by the beauty of everything - one foot on the frozen ground and they hopped up on my back for warmth. The other thing you really notice is the stars. In London a clear night meant you could see the stars. Out in the country a clear night means you see thousands of stars of different size, colour and intensity and some of them really do twinkle!

We decided to get an automatic door opener for the chicken house as we realised it won't be long before we get back from work in the dark. It installed quite well and is so far functioning without a hitch. I shall write up the details on my projects page and I can see this developing in to an "ultimate chicken house" project!

The chickens' new home has arrived. It took a while to put together but they seem pleased with it. They slept on the floor for the first few days but are now roosting on the perch.

This weekend there was a ploughing competition in one of the fields at Rousham. There was an impressive collection of vintage tractors and ploughing machinery. We went out of curiosity with a few friends expecting to stay for a few minutes but ended up being hooked.

I am rather fond of ladybirds and enjoy seeing them chomping away on aphids which I particularly dislike! I have recently been diappointed in seeing fewer ladybirds despite considerable aphid infestations. Last year I invested in a 'ladybird hotel' to encourage ladybirds to overwinter in my runner bean patch as well as buying some ladybird larvae which I put on my broad bean plants. I can't say that I saw much effect from that - I never saw the larvae again and there didn't seem to be many ladybirds around - certainly none in the ladybird hotel.