# Will you be my friend?



## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

Can you see it Mum?

I´m friendly

Oh! why did he go?


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

What was it Jan?


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

nicholsong said:


> What was it Jan?


A hare, sorry I should have said, if you´re looking on the phone it will be very small, need to look at it on the PC then maybe you would have seen the big ears.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

We have had a couple of Hares bounding around our field for the past week or so. Today my wife saw a fox parading around. 
So we await to see what has survived what with Nature and the local farmers banging away at crows at 5am this week.

Ray.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

A friend of ours was out walking her dog and ours, when she saw a brown lump in the field, she thought it might be a dead deer so went over to it.

Suddenly it jumped up and ran off - a full sized hare at speed.

She was totally surprised, not having seen one around them (they are in very rural farmland) since they moved in 25+ years ago.

But, I don't think it wanted to be friends with her dog (or our Border Collie who she was looking after for the day). Fortunately our Collie did not chase but apparently just looked at it - presumably as surprised as she was, he was off lead at the time, hers was on because she runs off and is not good at coming back (rescue dog had been in kennel for probably three years and is still terrified of people 😪 ) .

.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

I remember them as a child in the fields that surrounded us

I remember the wild flower meadows that we played in as well

It’s no longer the same, but many farms are now preserving hedgerows, leaving areas unploughed for wildlife 

So we can continue to have hope for the future 

Sandra


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

aldra said:


> I remember them as a child in the fields that surrounded us
> 
> I remember the wild flower meadows that we played in as well
> 
> ...


 Farmers had to leave a certain percentage of their field unploughed for years Sandra, not because of their concern for nature, but because that was government policy, (EEC)
It used to be called `set aside´ not allowed to cut until I think it was July and then they were paid for setting it aside.
Abolished in 2008, but I expect there are some who still carry on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set-a...reed in November,through the CAP Health Check.

Maybe they still do get paid.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/feb/16/set-aside-payments-farming


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

JanHank said:


> Farmers had to leave a certain percentage of their field unploughed for years Sandra, not because of their concern for nature, but because that was government policy, (EEC)
> It used to be called `set aside´ not allowed to cut until I think it was July and then they were paid for setting it aside.
> Abolished in 2008, but I expect there are some who still carry on.
> 
> ...


Interesting. I was aware of the set-aside policy and was surprised when driving through France in recent years that they seemed to ignore it and there would be massive acreages tilled almost to the last cm near the road.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

The fields beside our garden Jean usually have maize but this year looks like grass. So guess we will keep our view and the farmer will bail later.

Ray.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

raynipper said:


> The fields beside our garden Jean usually have maize but this year looks like grass. So guess we will keep our view and the farmer will bail later.
> 
> Ray.


That's not set aside then Ray because bag is a crop.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

JanHank said:


> That's not set aside then Ray because *HAY * bag is a crop.


Obviously spell check on the Kindle decided hay comes in bags


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Tell spell check that Haylage comes in bags whilst hay (fully dried grass) comes in bales.

Seems to be an upsurge in Hares this year. We have always had them in certain areas around here and they tormented many a dog of ours. They now seem to be everywhere including just the other side of our hedge. We lost Georgia for a whole day last winter when she chased one into the local free range chicken unit. I am sure this was a learned behaviour on the part of a local hare as it has happened to us and other dog owners.

Why, all of a sudden, are farmers growing hay or haylage again? Have the subsidies dried up on other crops? I know sugar beet is not worth growing now. Must remember to ask David, the local farmer, who is also a brilliant builder/groundworker and doing our ground work on the bungalow. He has now put a second large field down to grass/hay. He does struggle to control certain nuisance weeds due to the lack of certain herbicides nowadays. I wonder if cutting hay in June, as they do, means the weeds don't seed on that field? It was certainly his reason for cutting one hay field they other day as it had lots of poppies in it and he did not want them to drop their seeds so he cut the whole field. If you grew hay for enough years then perhaps all the weeds will have germinated but not been allowed to seed? It was always the way they farmed in the past.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes Pat we do see Hares almost every week in the field outside our plot. Couple of Pheasants and Partridges now and again.
We are always busy and on the go in the garden but friends who stayed quietly in their motorhome saw all sorts of wildlife passing by.

Ray.


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

raynipper said:


> The fields beside our garden Jean usually have maize but this year looks like grass. So guess we will keep our view and the farmer will bail later.
> 
> Ray.


That's good - maybe you'll get to see more of the deer Ray.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

The little or not so little sods have swung on the bird feeders and emptied them on the floor

It was the last of our large tub of bird feed

We will buy another 

Although I’m tempted to let them starve

Unless of course they are ground feeders in which case there is food galore 

Sandra


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