Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2009 | Page 60

COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING

countryside
news

life

Compiled by Tony Ridd

DO YOU HAVE A
COUNTRYSIDE STORY?
CALL TONY ON 07966 292334
60

what to
look out
for...

Hedgehogs
A mammal that was once common on the
island, and now through an increase in
predators (the hedgehog being a favourite
dish of the badger) is in dramatic decline!
Check your bonfires for hedgehogs before
lighting and if you have an unmanaged corner
of the garden, create a habitat pile of old logs
and sticks over a small board for a potential
hedgehog home.

back to nature
A countrymans diary
I always love this time of year
because of all the apples and
pears. Picking fresh fruit has
always been a favourite of mine,
and at the moment I’m in apple
heaven.
We had a mixed crop this year
some giving us bountiful supplies
and others being quite mean. I
remember my dad used to spend
hours cleaning and wrapping
apples in newspaper
and storing them
in the garage. We
would always get
to eat them after
Christmas.
What’s great is
people are always
happy to offer you
their apples when we
are at their homes, so
I tend to stock up with
half a dozen or so and they’ll last
me a couple of days.
Autumn is the best time of year
for managing ponds. We have
inherited one that seems to have
a very slow leak. I’m hoping that
with the exceptionally dry weather
we have had it is now at its lowest
point and one of our next jobs
is to try and plug the gap by
‘puddling’ the clay!
Dew ponds were created to allow
livestock to drink where there
wasn’t any piped water. A shallow
pool was dug and over the next

couple of years the visiting animals
would ‘puddle’ the clay around the
edge creating a shallow pool. I
guess that’s what we will be doing,
stomping around in boots that will
just get heavier and heavier.
With such warm weather the
pond weeds and plants have had a
good summer. It is important that
they don’t get too out of control.
So, careful removal is required.

Left to compost it makes great
mulch the following year.
Ordering trees and hedges
always gets me excited, and with
our winter season approaching
fast, it will soon be time to wave
good-bye to t-shirt days and
say hello to fleeces and water
proofs. We dust down our
planting spades, in preparation for
another assault on the countryside
and with the summer all but a
memory…