Coronaviris lockdown: more pictures from my home patch

Well into week five now of the coronavirus lockdown, and still walking the same early morning, three and a half mile, local exercise walk. The weather has been exceptionally dry lately, and warm later in the day, though it's often misty in the early morning when we leave home. Spring up here in Durham is still some way behind counties further south; Ash trees flowered  in the second week of April but won't produce leaves until mid-May, whereas oak is just coming into leaf in late April.

One of the local farmers has a small herd of belted Galloway cattle, which are becoming an increasingly popular breed. There is one rather charming calf with a red-brown and white coat.

Fields of oilseed rape, with the village of Billy Row on the hillside in the background, to the north. These fields were badly waterlogged in winter but the crop has grown and flowered surprisingly well, apart from some gaps where the water lingered longest. By late April these fields were humming with bumblebees, visiting all those flowers. There are skylarks nesting in the tractor wheelings.

The hawthorn hedges in the middle distance, above, were planted when the land was restored after opencast mining, about twenty five years ago.

Two pastures on my route were ploughed about a month ago and resown - most likely with a forage grass. The first shoots began to appear in mid-April - and so did the rabbits.

One large field on my route has been sown with field (faba) beans Vicia faba, the smaller-seeded agricultural version of broad beans. I spent a substantial part of my scientific career breeding this crop and studying its floral biology, so it is good to see it planted close to home. The flowers are very valuable for bumblebees and have a delightful, intoxicating fragrance early in the morning. It's usually grown as a component of animal feed.

Still bare trees in mid-April, but the hawthorn hedges are coming into full leaf.

The point on the walk where I turn and head for home. Beyond lies Weardale, with the river Wear, becks and fellsides,dippers, moorland birds, hay meadows, woodlands; all that will have to wait for a few months yet.

Delivering a calf

We've known Maureen and Barbara, who run a farm near us, for over 40 years. Maureen is recovering from a broken shoulder (boisterous cattle!) so they needed some extra help to deliver a calf this afternoon.

It takes a lot of effort to pull the calf out during the final stages of birth ..... 

 .... especially when mum lays down.

 The new arrival .....

 ... carried in a big plastic bag to a deep bed of straw in its own stall

 It's a bull! They've promised to call it Phil ...

Mum looking very calm after the birth (she has done this before!) 

Drying the calf with a towel ....

 ... then a first drink of milk ....

Here are a couple of older half-brothers, about 10 days old

A memorable afternoon

Late breeder

This family of newly-hatched lapwing chicks was foraging on moorland near the village of Woodland in Teesdale a couple of days ago. Lapwings normally nest in April and have fledglings that would be ready to fly by now. Maybe something destroyed these parents' first nest, or perhaps the bad weather in Spring meant that they needed to try again. Lapwings normally only raise a single brood.

Like many waders, lapwing chicks are mobile from the minute they hatch - little bundles of fluff on outsized legs and feet. Beautifully camouflaged too, as they foraged across this pile of grit and rubble beside the road. When they're not moving they are very hard to spot, although the alarm calls of an anxious parent let you know they're around somewhere.

Here's a more typical fledgling for this time of year, from an April brood, foraging on the same day for insects and worms in a very boggy corner of a pasture near Mickleton in Teesdale, which it was sharing with this...

.... magnificent beast.