Wallabies free to a good home - A quick recap

Back in July, I posted on Nick’s casual chat with the neighbour over a pint in the local, which resulted in us being offered wallabies for free.  

http://www.coombemill.com/blog/post/2011/07/05/On-the-Farm-Wallabies-free-to-good-home.aspx

2 months of back breaking fence building and we (OK Farmer Nick and Ted) have created our very own............

Jurassic Park

The building of the new wallaby compound, or Jurassic Park as it has become known, has incorporated an extension to the duck and chicken enclosure. It now boasts several side pens to house chicks and ducklings at varying stages of development. Things are never a quick bodge job with Farmer Nick on the job; it has to be the Rolls Royce version!  I must confess it will make for an easier feed run for the smaller children having all the ducks and chickens in one place.   

Ding Ding: Round 1 to the Wallabies

With Jurassic park complete with secure wallaby fencing, Nick assembled a willing group of local volunteers to help catch the wallabies from our neighbours field (the recently closed North Cornwall Aviaries). A rather wet day and a hole in the fence left me with lots of setting up pictures and a forlorn group heading home damp and wet with....you guessed it, no wallabies. They had the last laugh legging it through the hole in the fence within the first 5 minutes. Shame it took us the next hour to work out where they had gone. I was beginning to think they were as elusive as the famous Beast of Bodmin!

Ding Ding: Round 2 to the A Team from Coombe Mill

Not to be deterred, farmer Nick assembled a new team this morning, many of whom were recruited from the feed run before hand. Never has taking part on a working farm had such a literal meaning! With the fencing at the aviaries patched and the trap re assembled it was time to set off and explain the ‘master plan’ to the new team.

I have to hand it to ‘The A Team’ everything worked like clockwork from beating the line to closing the make shift trap. To be honest, I did have a job balancing camera and trap door against the speed of the wallabies, multitasking really tested me there for a minute!

An intrepid Journey

After a quick victorious picture we loaded the wallabies, all 3 in total carefully into the back of Farmer Nick’s stock trailer for the short but bumpy drive back to Jurassic Park.

The rest of us took the scenic route back cross the meadows and through the wood and arrived to meet Nick and the wallabies just climbing the slope to Jurassic Park. Here their intrepid journey ends and their life in Coombe Mill begins:

Farmer Nick With a Soft Heart

Worried that their new home has plenty of friends but much less jungle to play in, Nick brought the now rather tired play house from the children’s play area as a fun house and shelter for the wallabies. Our children came home from school to lend a hand and size up the new additions to the farm. Hopefully the nosey chickens will allow the wallabies a look in their new home later tonight! 

Gales   

A windy day last week saw the Deer’s favourite tree come crashing down through the fence, lopping off some Oak branches before coming to rest in the pony field. It was a quick patch up job to bodge the fencing, before really getting to grips with repairing the damage.

Rotten yet beautiful

The old beech tree turned out to be rotten right through with only around 6 inches of strong trunk holding it up all round the edge. The structure itself is full of interest, call me a nerd, but 30 plus centimetre fungus in layers hanging off the sides is really quite fascinating along with the soft light interior. I wish I had a more elaborate camera to demonstrate!

What about the Deer?

Funnily enough the Deer must be creatures of habit, they still gather in the same far corner of their field during the feed run, even though their best camouflage tree is lying on the ground! As we creep up on them in the mornings they still make a dash down to the bottom of the field.

Goat Heaven!

 Turns out the goats are now in heaven. They currently share the deer field and oak leaves to them are like cake to you and me, the beech a close 2^nd place! Just as well goats are deft climbers as the tree is so large and precariously fallen only they can wind their way in amongst the spindly branches for the tastiest leaves. Farmer Nick thinks the tree will keep them going all year, if they can ration themselves, I fear they will gobble up all the best bits and go pop beforehand!

 Kids Play

The children have all been quick to see the attraction of the fallen Beech too. The potential for a natural climbing frame always so much more fun than one purpose built! My children are also planning den building and camps with great enthusiasm!

Farmer Nick, Always the Opportunist

Farmer Nick and a chainsaw are never far behind a fallen tree! The branches crashing though the fencing are already being collected for next year’s firewood to fuel our cottage and lodge wood burners.

3 Cheers to the British Beech

The old beech tree really was a beauty in all its years standing, yet is now still proving it still has much to offer for us at Coombe Mill!