Feeding the birds next winter.

We have a good population of small birds at Holt Farm and we wonder how much the numbers have been depleted by the harsh weather. We found one of our resident robins dead near the cottages. Hopefully the survivors will have a good breeding season in the next few months. As part of our organic stewardship scheme we plan to plant some areas of wild bird seed in the next few months - it will provide a field crop for the birds next winter.



The private road into Holt Farm was substantially upgraded in 1960 and stood up to all the farm and building renovation traffic really well until the recent hard winter weather. As a result of the harsh freezing days and nights and then the thawing of the snowfalls the clay subsoil broke through the stone road foundations and we ended up with a very uneven road surface. Yesterday we excavated the damaged areas and replaced the foundation stone and compacted that into place. In a few days after more compaction we will resurface the road with new clean scalpings. I now have more sympathy with the local councils in charge of pothole repairs!