Thursday 9/4/26 Last year we had the driest spring on record resulting in hardly any wildflowers due to lack of water, so today we took the mower and trailer, a length of hose and a bag of fittings to make a sprayer boom using our water tank.
Eddie drilled a row of holes in the hose and I sealed one end with fittings and Duck tape. We made a wooden frame for the tank and fitted a plank to hold the hose, then drilled holes in the plank for fixing the hose to it with cable ties.
The tank was filled with river water using our bucket on a rope, we put the tank on the frame in the mower trailer and pushed the hose onto the tap at the bottom of the tank. We then took the system to the meadow for testing.
The tank frame was moving around in the trailer so we wedged it in place with bricks and wood. The end of the hose plank was sitting too low, so we loosened the screws and moved it up slightly to clear obstacles, then it worked well with a good flow of water. We only had to refill the tank once to water the entire seeded area.
When we need to water the meadow the sprayer can be used in the mower trailer or the back of the Gator truck when the mower is not on site. When there is growth in the meadow the tank can be put on the left side of the trailer so the boom overhangs more of the meadow when driven along the mown paths.
Anne Marie walked from Pentney and planted honesty from her garden on the river bank and dwarf tulips from the market around a tree, then watered them all. There are anemones and bluebells in flower on the river bank, ruffled daffodils around the cherry tree and one remaining daffodil in the grindstone.
We switched on the camera screen and saw a stock dove in the barn owl box, we also saw it on the ledge outside the box and we heard it calling. A great tit was adding nesting material to its box. Other birds seen today were goldfinches on the grindstone, pied wagtail and a robin. I filled the bird food and water while Eddie cut all the grass.
It was a warm sunny day so we had lunch outside and Anne Marie told us the tulip fields are in Pentney this year, so we won't be able to walk down the river and see them as we did previously. Anne Marie said she passed a swan’s nest just down the river bank on her way here, so Eddie and I decided to walk down and see it. Blackthorn is in blossom along the track and we saw fallen trees which we can collect for fire wood.
The male swan was in the river and the female was moving her three eggs around in the nest, they do this to regulate the temperature. Swans lay upto nine eggs over several days so there may be more to come, in 2024 we saw eight cygnets.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Previous Projects Workers 10 Years Ago
