The chickens have been let into the vegetable plot to help go over one of the beds prior to planting with over-wintering lettuce, rocket, chinese mustard and parsley. They are very good at scratching out weeds and eating the occasional bug but mostly go for the worms. All are looking very healthy including the bullied Black Rock from earlier blogs.

One summer job in the orchard is to remove apples from the young grafted trees. This allows them to put all their energy into growing instead of producing fruit too soon. Whilst there we spotted this buttefly which we think is a common blue. Actually on one of the apple trees and eating its way through the leaves was this very well camouflaged caterpillar.

There has been quite a lot of interest in fly fishing recently with several bookings from interested beginners. Margaret Forrest is shown here teaching casting.

We also had Bob and Vera Carlson and Edwin and Michelle Owen (all fly fishing instructors) testing out a new weight forward line which makes casting easier for beginners.

On both occassions there was a lot of sedge hatchings in the margins.

A lot has happened on the resource centre over August. We took delivery of our sheep wool insulation supplied by Black Mountain Insulation Ltd which has been a real pleasure to work with compared to the standard man-made material used. We have also been planting up the first of our two flat rooves with a wide variety of Sedums, sea thrifts and thymes.

While working on the roof we had a visit from a lost racing pigeon. It lived on the scaffolding and in the front of the building for a few days. Following advice from the web we gave it food and water and when it hadn’t flown on within 3 days we caught it to find a number of its owner. Apparently lots of young birds had gone missing from their first race and its owner came over from Huddersfield to collect it.

Work has also been progressing on the reed bed system. The bed was filled with water prior to planting but was found to have a leak around the outlet pipe. It has now been plugged but we will wait to see if the levels go down again before planting.

Himalayan balsam is a very invasive plant and gets a very bad press but the bees love it. This one was caught just turning round and ready to come out laden with pollen.

In the garden these young peacock caterpillars are devouring a patch of nettles. Just like the swallow chicks, they look very alien at this stage.

They finally flew the nest on the 23rd July though hung around the building for a few days after that. They actually look like swallows. Hopefully we can get the windows put in now!

A general view of the chicken pen showing their raised housing and the large elder and hawthorne shrubs that they like to sit  and scratch under. They are enjoying searching for bugs in the newly cut grass.

Recently spotted this flower on the fishing lake and didn’t know what it was. Looking in the guide books suggests a Common Hemp nettle Galeopsis tetrahit .

Amazing growth in just a week - the nest is looking a bit crowded and no sign of the swan feather decoration. While working on the roof Colin managed to photograph one of the parents too.

Staff from Myerscough college recently held an away day at Forrest Hills which included a morning of fly fishing with instruction by Margaret Forrest (who often teaches at Forrest Hills) followed by an afternoon of golf.