Friday, 22
Feast of Nature
Friends have recently introduced us the joys of the giant puffball. See below. Fried up with bacon we fed the family for a week!
Growing Pains
It may be nothing to do with climate change, but this autumn’s mild weather certainly kept things going. This image is of hazel coppice that was continuing to grow earlier in the month. I don't recall new leaves emerging in early December before.
The weather is on the up
Despite some very heavy rainfall in the past few weeks, the water level in our borehole is only now beginning to rise from its extremely low level. The Environment Agency who call twice a year to record the highs and lows of the water table, remain concerned.
Wednesday, 6
No boundaries to the surveillance state
A somewhat threatening letter from the RPA (Rural Payment Agency) arrived recently by recorded delivery. It advised that I should respond. At issue were discrepancies in my field sizes as measured by the satellite remote sensing program.
Some very impressive infra red images detailed that the field to the west side of a fence line was larger than the RPA had expected whilst the field to the east of the same fence line was smaller than RPA had expected. Both fields are in grass. The net difference between the larger than expected field and the smaller than expected field was, yes you’ve guessed it; nothing! In fact if I had moved the fence a metre to the west before the satellite imaging had taken place, none of this would have arisen.
Needless to say I don’t have the benefit of a satellite to measure my fields so rather than dispute the RPA’s findings I have accepted their variation and replied, by recorded delivery, seeking clarification of the implication of the discrepancy. Their reply is awaited.
No Copper, No Blog Apologies.
The telephone lines to the village came down in a gale and BT were ill disposed to their reinstatement. We languished incommunicado for a fortnight and have only now recently returned to the virtual world. What joy to return to a mail box overflowing with spam.
