April 2007 - Posts
This is Rosie, she is going on a mini holiday to the Hampton Court Flower Show, The Daily Mail will be borrowing her to show her in a farm setting with their beautiful oast house. 
2007 Watchlist; Category 3, Vulnerable. (info from RBST website)
The breed originated in the Midlands around the town that shares its name. It is the only native breed of pig in Britain which is red, and its ancestry is subject to several conflicting claims and theories. It proved very adaptable and was exported to several parts of the world, including not only North America and Australasia, but also South-East Asia. Breeding stock from Australia was brought back to Britain by the RBST in the 1970s and 1990s.
The Tamworth is suited to both quality pork and bacon production and, although historically it was noted in the Midlands as a pork pig, it now is mostly promoted for dry-cured bacon which commands a premium in speciality markets.
The pointed-eared Tamworth is active and suited to outdoor systems, being used in woodland and scrub reclamation projects, where its colour protects it from sunburn. It experienced the least influence from imports of Asian pigs used in the 18th century to improve native types, and retains the longer snout of earlier British types.
While out taking photos of the bluebells i saw what i thought was a discoloured bluebell, i made way across the woodland, taking time to place my feet with care, as to not trample any delicate flowers underfoot. when i reached this beautiful flower it was clearly a orchid, so i came back to the office and searched for information on the internet. This is what I have learnt today - so i thought i would share it with you!
As its name suggests the Early Purple Orchid is Britain's earliest flowering Orchid. In April and May the attractive pink-purple flowering spikes can be found scattered in profusion across open woodland, in rough grassland and on cliff ledges.
When many people think of orchids they imagine the exotically beautiful flowers of tropical orchids cascading down from the branches of a rainforest tree. The Orchids are one of the largest and most diverse families of flowering plants and, although most do occur in the tropics, Orchids can be found on every continent other than Antarctica. The Early Purple Orchid occurs throughout Europe from as far South as the Mediterranean and North into Scandinavia.
British Orchids are all terrestrial (ground growing), sometimes small and hard to spot, but also include some of our most beautiful and spectacular wild flowers.
Here on the farm we have had a wonderful Easter!!
The return of Pig Racing has been great fun, lots of our Sheep have had their lambs and Goats have had kids, our New Bird Avairy opened at the beginning of the holiday and our birds are now comfortable with all the people walking through, today they have been playing in the bird bath, lots of people stood to watch them splashing around.
I hope to get some photos of the bluebells this week, as they have burst into a carpet of blue!