In your field

With spring happily just round the corner, we will be so glad to see the end of one of the wettest and coldest winter I can remember – and I am now 63 and as far as I am aware do not suffer from memory loss.

It seems to be the time of year for surveys. I have done the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust Big Farmland Bird Count, noting that bird numbers are down.

When it is mild and wet all winter, all I can think is that a bit of cold, dry weather would do just fine.

All eyes have turned to the weather. A deluge of late January rain has left lagoons full, not quite bursting, so forecasts of drier weather should allow lagoon emptying across the region.

Sometimes a small idea can turn into something special.

January has been a testing month so far; with heavy rainfall, sharp frosts and even the odd attempt at snow.

February already. Time flies while you are having fun, or the older you get, the more time flies.

As our financial year drew to a close on January 31 we found ourselves trying to sift through the wreckage of a year ravaged by Covid-19.

On our first date Isobel told me I was the first farmer she had ever met. Our second date was a trip to see my sheep and we ended up dagging out some fly strike and she didn’t balk then and hasn’t since.

As we head into the new year, it is clear what is on the menu - more of the same. The pandemic is moving at a sobering pace and keeping us all doing what we’ve been getting used to; staying home and getting on with it.