Bowood 2014 #3

I had a few questions to ask at Tractor Ted's Little Farm, following on from my conversation with the girl in charge the previous Tuesday, so I decided on impulse to make a flying visit on this afternoon. I arrived after the official last entry time and the entrance kiosk was closed, but luckily one of the staff recognised me as a regular and opened the gate for me.

As I said on the Tuesday, there were a new crop of animals at Tractor Ted's. They now had names for the two rescue Shetland ponies, chosen by children visitors in a competition: Twinkle and Sparkles.

There were three piglets that were born on January 1st, so now three months old. Their mother is a Gloucester Old Spot/Manglista cross and their father a thoroughbred Welsh. The piglets each take after one of the three breeds, although there will always be something of the other breeds in each, for example the Gloucester had one ear sticking up while the other flopped, whereas they should both be floppy. In this picture Luna is the Welsh mix, whilst Izzy behind her is the Manglista, identifiable by the curly hair, which will become more sheep-like as she grows older.

I had a quick look for hares in the grounds but didn't find any. However, I was delighted to see a red kite circling over the trees behind the car park. They are quite a common site a few miles away in Berkshire and are very occasionally seen near Chippenham (I think I saw one once last year and had reports of other sightings), so it was great to see one only two miles from home.

L.
13.4.2014 (1221 hr)

Blip #1233
Consecutive Blip #95
Day #1472

Bowood series
Bowood 2013-2014 (Flickr collection)(Work in progress)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)
Almost unbelievably, it was twenty years ago on this day that Kurt Cobain took his own life.

One year ago: Fame At Last