Lambs at Througham

We needed some fresh vegetables and eggs so I went to the farm shop near Bisley and bought far too much stuff.  I couldn't resist buying a few plant seedlings to get some crops moving more quickly than if left to just my own devices.  These included some Ruby Chard, dwarf French beans, a courgette and a few Little Gem lettuce seedlings. 

I found Ashley to ask him about some of the plant types and he was preparing the tractor to go and finish planting the fields with their last huge crate of potatoes.  He kindly gave me a few of the small spuds which I will plant here to see how they take.  I also bought a sack of sunflower hearts for the bird feeders which are good quality and the birds never say no to them.

Then I went for a short drive down the nearby back lanes to Througham, past the far where I first came to stay in these parts in 1975 when I was working and living there for four months.  I parked at a wide part of the old winding drove road having spotted two unusual pheasant of an unusual breed, with particularly colourful feathers.  Then I saw some sheep in the field behind the hedge which the pheasants dived into when they spotted me.

I walked to a nearby gate into the field and spotted some Jacob's lambs playing on some mounds of old horse manure left to rot.  I love seeing lambs especially when they are playing together.  Unfortunately the ewes weren't that keen on me and lead their young away to the far side of the field.  It reminded me of the wonderful summer dawns when I awoke in my attic room in the farmhouse on the far side of this field to a dawn chorus of birdsong and sheep calling.