Here are two things to cheer you! Take part in the Big Garden Bird Watch this weekend. This is a joyous thing to do, knowing you will be part of a much-needed citizen science project by RSPB. The second is amazing behavour of a farmyard cow, using tools. Enjoy!
I love the idea of a crow bar, as you'll get to see behaviour you wouldn't otherwise! I think corvids are cool, though they can be rather destructive on feedings, we did have feeders several years ago and they kept knocking them off the trees to make them easier to get to.
I got 'The Lost Spells' by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris for my daughter, and one of her favourite poems is Jackdaw.
I also got to animate some raven characters in a game last year, it was great fun to really study their motion and flight.
I’ll have a look at that!
The cattle standing up had been lying down closer to the fence but they got up when I went closer to photograph them.
I used to feed mealworms as well as seeds, suet balls and peanuts but that got too expensive. Pity, as I love corvids and used to enjoy the antics of crows and rooks. In my last garden I had a 'crow bar' as they like to sit together - it was a piece of timber across a frame. When I occasionally buy a small bag of mealworms, the jackdaws and rooks are very quick to arrive!
I'm sure the calves in the spring would love a giant ball as much as a puppy.
That would be so special for people to see as well.
I'm going to look it up, we often drive through for the ferry (husband is Irish so we go over at least once a year, sometimes via Holyhead, sometimes via Belfast). It's nice to know places to stop!
It's very cool when they use hardy cattle to help control the vegetation on reserves, they have much more natural behaviours and are more part of the landscape then.
They were trying to seek protection against a barbed wire fence that had some trees behind it
I always feel so sad when you see them trying for shelter, it should be a welfare to have some. It must use lots of energy to keep warm when they get soaked, so it should be a win-win.
We have so many different types of plant 'milk', I have no-sugar oat or almond on cereal, my husband has regular almond on cereal, and my son has coconut on his cereal and regular oat to drink! My daughter won't have any, unless it's true odd camomile tea, when she'll use whatever. We have black tea and coffee. The kids made their own choices!
I would probably go vegan too if I was just cooking for myself, but not keen on having to do too many dinners!
And sorry to hear Brexit has had such an impact on getting things you should be able to. It was always going to end badly. You'll need to get a freezer for it, then drive over, buy a load and store it for use through the year!
I think it's fine as long as you post a picture and don't quote at the same time!
I took a photo and would have liked to have posted it here to illustrate your point, but I’m afraid of breaking the thread.
Do post it!
It's a Site of Special Scientific Interest, it's a dune landscape that stretches about a mile inshore and has lots of rare and unusual plants and creatures. Grazing is part of the management of the grasses that grow on it. You can have a look if you want to find it online, the village is called Aberffraw and was once the seat of the Princes of Gwynedd
People now are much more aware of the need for canine enrichment so it would be nice if this were extended more to farm animals and horses.
One SSI has cows graze on it
What’s an SSI? If the context had been different I would have guessed a disease.
I was at Mount Stewart today where Winterwatch is being filmed and I came across some cows in a field devoid of shelter. They were trying to seek protection against a barbed wire fence that had some trees behind it. If I could I would have moved the fence over by a few metres to give the cattle some shelter. I took a photo and would have liked to have posted it here to illustrate your point, but I’m afraid of breaking the thread.
We don't buy animal milk, but do still have cheese, so would like to see improvements in the industry
I used to buy plant milk but I’m afraid I’ve reverted to cow’s milk on my cereal in the morning. I buy it from M&S because it is stamped with RSPCA approved or something to that effect. I don’t take milk in tea or coffee. I would like to find a higher protein plant milk if there was such a thing. I like cheese but I don’t eat it very often and if I had the willpower I would become vegan.
We used to be able to buy high welfare organic milk here that came from a small farm in Scotland. The farmer gave his cattle as good a quality of life as possible and calves were kept with their mums for a long time after birth. Brexit stopped everything and even though goods can come into N. Ireland again, it isn’t cost effective with the border administration costs so many firms won’t supply here any more.
I would be good to see cows with a more enriched environment, there are still a lot of cows out at this time of year round here, we have a lot of very hardy breeds and recent relatively mild winters means they're able to graze for longer. One SSI has cows graze on it from november to february to help manage the ecosystem.
Field are often completely deviod of trees and shrubs to increase grass coverage. But in poor weather, you see the animals huddling trying to get shelter from wire fencing and think, they would have more comfort and expend less energy if they had more natural features for protection. It is well documented how intelligent and caring cows (and many other animals are), so I'd love to see more of the things you mention.
We don't buy animal milk, but do still have cheese, so would like to see improvements in the industry. I'm sure the calves in the spring would love a giant ball as much as a puppy.
The cow looks very happy which is lovely to see. Apart from her amazing skills that enable her to relieve itches, she is happy having a broom to occupy part of her time.
Not all cattle would be able to use a broom, but it would be good if milk from cows wasn’t so intensively produced and enrichment provided in the form of more ‘car wash’ style bristle rollers for cows to walk through and to experiment with toys such as giant balls. Most cows are left standing in cramped conditions over winter with little room to move freely or to forage for food.
I loved that article, animals are far more intelligent than humans give them credit for!
And thanks for the heads up on the big garden bird watch, I'm excited to do it with the new feeders up this year!
