Little Orchard Alpacas

This story actually began around twelve months ago. Wondering what to buy Mrs Wessex-Reiver for Christmas last year I stumbled across a lovely small alpaca setup near Axminster in Devon. The package I bought as a gift was a walking morning with their alpacas through woodland. To cut a long story short by the time we visited this July the woodland walking was permanently closed off to this enterprise so we and half a dozen other people on that day walked through the small fields and the orchard of the aptly named Little Orchard Alpacas. As a result Mrs Wessex-Reiver and I are completely hooked on these wonderful animals. I especially bonded with the alpha male Yorvik. Roll on five months then to last Tuesday when we visited again.

Mrs Wessex-Reiver and I had come to take part in an alpaca keeping session. There is a full day session, we however opted for the half day, four hours, and just the two of us this time. We learnt on the day the keeper course is mostly for those wishing to, you guessed it, keep alpacas. A kind of taster day before they buy if you will. I'm not sure what Vic the owner made of two people paying her for the privilege of picking up alpaca 'berries' on a winter's day. But we absolutely loved it and I caught up with my old friend Yorvik too.

After arriving our first job was feeding not only the alpacas, but two Vietnamese pot bellied pigs, and a couple of chickens (who kindly provided 5 eggs in return). And then as all good stock people do, we had a cup of tea and planned our chores. New bedding, poo pick (berries) the field shelters, clean out water buckets, body condition testing of the males, then the two key jobs, checking eyes for signs of worm infection and last but the most vital job, applying vitamins orally to the males out in the fields. More on that later.

It brought it all back to me, working outdoors with animals. I spend far too much time sitting Infront of a computer in my job. This session in the lovely Devonshire countryside was such a tonic and a perfect de-stress for a few hours. Of course if we did this every day of the year with wet snow running down our necks the novelty might wear off, but I doubt it. Berries cleaned up, water buckets thoroughly cleaned next it was to round the boys up for the testing.

Getting them in the pen was, while slow and like herding alpacas, relatively easy. Checking their eyes for signs of worm infections (pale or white membrane rather than bright pink) was something I found quite difficult. We did three tasks on one animal at a time. Eyes, fat, vitamins in that order. Firstly if you ever try pulling down the eye lid of an uncooperative alpaca you'll understand my trouble,  Actually Mrs Wessex-Reiver was far better at this than I. 

Next it was the body conditioning, much simpler, simply putting a hand over the back and gaugeing how fat or thin they are on a scale of 1-6 with 6 being tubby. Next the vitamins. Until recently Vic has injected vitamins but today she wanted to trial a vitamin gun, in essence a similar contraption to a grouting gun used in DIY. Each squeeze of the trigger dispensing 15ml of bright pink goo. Sounds simple. But trying to widely open an already lively alpacas mouth and getting the goo in the right place while the animal is wriggling was very entertaining. Vic had tried doing this herself before today and had more pink goo on her than in the animal. Even with two of us it was a bit of a hit and miss affair which is making Vic reconsider. But eventually we got all the boys checked and let them out into the field again, though what was funny was that each boy after treatment looked like they had pink lipstick on.

Main jobs completed, time then for a festive break, before we took three boys out for some much needed exercise around the orchard, where windfall apples were a welcome treat, with me taking Yorvik of course.

Walk over, the final task was to let the girls out of the barn for the afternoon. As Vic said often she'll let them out but after ten minutes they're back indoors where it's warm.

After four hours we'd finished. Actually we also made some alpaca fibre nesting material cages while having our hot chocolate. Those four hours passed in an instant and as Mrs Wessex-Reiver remarked we were smiling from arrival to departure. Alpaca have that effect I feel. They're very strong but very gentle and very inquisitive. I'm not thinking of having a smallholding just yet, but spending time with them down there is making me think about what's important in life. Yorvik is a great mentor for life, fascinating too and I recommend everyone should spend a few hours with these charming animals, I guarantee you'll not regret it.

RHS Rosemoor - Eventually

Way back in 1995 when I found myself living in East Brent in Somerset, my then landlady Mrs Jean Williams, visited what was then the newest Royal Horticultural Society garden Rosemoor in Devon. I remember her returning and knowing of my interest in gardening said I should enjoy it suggesting maybe we could go together regularly and watch the garden, which opened to the public in 1990, develop over time. Sadly none of that suggestion happened and it took me nearly three decades to finally make the hour and a half drive to north Devon and finally visit. It has also taken over a week to write up this visit. A pattern of delay is emerging.

How had it taken me so long to visit? I'm not sure, life just gets in the way, but over the Christmas period despite the weather being so dire the effort was made. To be fair the weather wasn't awful, just perpetually wet, very dark during the day and basically a smorgasbord of grey enveloped the landscape. Each time I ventured outside I seemed to return like a wet rag. Two days before Christmas our walk around Cheddar Reservoir was, well quite wet. Christmas Day saw Julie and I down on the Somerset Levels as has become a little of a Festive tradition now, and we were soaked through. On Boxing Day we simply abandoned another walk before it began as the rain started to fall heavily and never stopped. However on December 29th the forecast for Devon was for heavy blustery rain blowing through quickly overnight followed by sunshine and showers during the day, before more rain would arrive before midnight. A dry window of opportunity then, and I'm so pleased it allowed the visit.

Back in 1995 when Mrs Williams visited RHS Rosemoor the garden was still very much in an on-plan development stage. RHS Rosemoor is still developing, despite the garden and adjacent pastureland being gifted to the Society in 1988 by Lady Anne Berry (1919–2019). This mini estate had been her family home having been bought in 1931 by her father Sir Robert Horace Walpole as a salmon fishing lodge. Its then 8 acres of gardens were of standard Victorian inspiration, lawns, formal flower beds and it was not until her mother installed the stone garden just before World War 2 that any semblance of garden design began to take place. Lady Anne herself is credited as having caught the garden bug in the late 1950's having met the well respected ornithologist and plant collector Collingwood Ingram. He received a moniker 'cherry Ingram' for his knowledge of Japanese cherry trees, he also knew quite a bit about Asian bird species. I digress.

It is 87 miles from home to the garden just outside Great Torrington in north Devon, and as had been expected the rain never stopped on the entire journey, until that is we arrived and the sun came out. Perfect. A sun kissed visit was in prospect to explore the garden for the very first time. We were not disappointed. Julie is a professional horticulturalist so after the obligatory cup of tea and a bacon butty (for research purposes) we split up for a while to explore the garden in our own ways. Of note Julie said when we reconvened was the exceptional labelling of every plant in the garden, a gigantean task given the RHS have expanded the garden to cover 65 acres today. I studied horticulture with the RHS myself thirty years ago as an amateur interest, today however I simply enjoyed the views and took the photographs accompanying this record.

Even in the depths of winter this garden is beautiful with an awful lot to take in, much too much for one visit if truth be told. The long walk above seamlessly splits the formal garden from the visitor centre. There is something magical in a tightly clipped winter structure I feel. Yet buried amongst the formality nuggets of informality, such as the catkins emerging on to the chaotic structure of this corkscrew hazel.

I've lost so much knowledge of plants over the last few years as I now rely on Julie to identify everything for me while we're out and the home garden is her domain. But despite diminishing memory my love for gardens has not weakened and I am increasingly drawn to the feel and atmosphere of a garden, such as the Winter Garden below one of the many rooms within the formal garden, rather than the individual plants therein. 

The climate in this part of Devon is a moist oceanic influenced one, winters are generally mild with summers warm rather than hot, and not as dry as across in eastern England. Perfect conditions to grow some of the more tender species, that Atlantic derived weather influences air quality too. Everywhere there is evidence of how unpolluted the air is with lichen and mosses covering every structure, even the marker signs.

New structures are still being built around the garden, such as the Cob Shelter which provided the perfect frame for a view back towards the Learning Centre which though it was closed on my visit looked fascinating in its own wooden design. Glorious too to see blue skies overhead adding to the bright winter atmosphere.

The rain almost kept off during our visit, a brief squall when we were in the Foliage and Plantsman's Garden didn't dampen our spirits. Even as the light levels dropped the clever planting here flashed colour into the rain.

That squall soon passed and allowed more time to be spent in what for me was the highlight of the formal areas, the Herb, Potager and Cottage Garden. I loved the centrepiece of a simple round pond with child in repose from which the four main quadrants emerged. The winter structure made this garden a delight to visit in December, yet what this garden would look like in spring or summer is intriguing. I feel another visit is a must this year not least as being an RHS member entry is of course free.

Local Devonian craftsmanship is evident everywhere including this easily overlooked Devon Hedge, this one a drystone wall with the traditional chevron design with herb and potager planting on top. A nice touch indeed.

The Cottage garden has a lovely permanent structure, which on the map is shown as simply 'shelter'. It is so much more. I sat there for a while just enjoying the peace and quiet, on this day we visited there were only a handful of other visitors. In the near silence I could hear birdsong easily, great and blue tits, a robin and somewhere behind me a wren. A gloriously restorative moment here.

A sculpture exhibition was taking place, with this cat on a ball taking my eye, albeit with an eyewatering price tag. Not this year I fear. 

It may be midwinter but the signs of spring were pushing through - by the Wisteria Lodge drifts of snowdrops were already in flower and these daffodil 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' bursting through the grass were a welcome site.

Outside the formal garden the Lake is apparently regularly frequented by otters so the sign said. Not today sadly but the blue skies reflected well the birch planting on the opposite bank, flanked by various cornus species looking as if they were on fire in the weak sunhine.

Further into the less formal areas of the garden, this display of colourful squash in the 'shelter' of the Fruit and Vegetable garden also brought a fiery brightness to the well organised and frankly stunning working part of Rosemoor. I was impressed, not least when I discovered later there are only eight gardeners, plus volunteers. 

Though there may be a lot of hard work to keep this garden looking so stunning, there is a fun element too with their recreation of Mr McGregor's garden from Peter Rabbit to entertain the younger visitors, such as myself.

The second tranche of rain during our visit arrived quickly and was beginning to settle in for a longer spell. We'd been walking for two hours and not really explored more than half of the garden. Chatting to a couple and their friend as we all sheltered from the deluge they let it be known that they come regularly and suggested when the rain eased we head to Upper Woodland Walk to look back onto the whole of Rosemoor from the highest point. Watching the rain fall quite heavily now Julie and I made the decision to abandon any more exploration for the day and plan to complete that walk on our next visit. Which I hope won't be in three decades time, late spring this year, maybe?

A busy wildlife week

Spring is always like this. We go through winter longing for something different to happen each week, then spring arrives and it's 0 to 100mph in a few days. New species coming in as migrants, everything is emerging faster than it can be counted and this week as many of you bloggers also know, soft southerly winds have made the days feel like summer, at last.

I have been all over the place for work and pleasure, so a busy time, but never too busy not to be thinking about a blog posting or two. So herewith a short synopsis of the wildlife this week (Even Milton Keynes on Monday produced a few birds on the journey, red kite was good - but that's the last I'll mention that town here).

This morning, after a well earned farmhouse breakfast at Cobb's Farm Shop near Hungerford, I headed off to Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's Ham Hill.

This is a small linear reserve on the Berkshire / Hampshire / Wiltshire border. I'd read about it a while back and one evening a week or so back located it. Its main attraction is that it is a Saxon sunken walkway through chalk downland. Absolutely fascinating to think people have walked this way since Saxon times.

The site is well known for orchids later in the season, including the rare musk orchid and the Duke of Burgundy butterfly. It isn't too bad in early April. I watched a male and female blackcap singing their wonderfully melodious song, other passerines were about and on the downland next to the scrub skylarks serenaded newly arrived swallows.

Not bad views either back towards Wilton and Marlborough

Quite a few plants were on the move in the warmer weather including this unusual Moschatel (Adoxa moschatellina). Nothing else looks like this, as when in flower, there are 4 tiny flowers in a square and a fifth on top.

Quite a few cowslips and violets in flower too, although the latter were starting to turn. Sadly I didn't seen any Duke of Burgundy caterpillars feeding on this host plant. I'll make sure though to return soon and attempt to see the butterfly itself.

At a separate location in Wiltshire I came across a Raven nest this week. I'll not say exactly where it is, but I was sitting in the car planning to leave another area of chalk downland when the familiar cronk of a raven alerted me to its presence, then the calls changed and I realised it was the male call as it came in to the female on the nest. This nest was on a clump of Scots pine and with a bit of searching through the binoculars I found the nest (the dark mass in the middle of this photo)

The male spent a lot of time flying between this clump of Scots pine and another about 300 meters away.........

..........from where on the latter tree he set up a continuous cronking (can you see him on the tree below?), probably because I was there, so after a few minutes I made my retreat to leave them to it and then watched them for a while longer from within the car.

Earlier this week I was in Devon looking for oil beetles. And what a glorious day it was too. There is something fantastic about standing on a Devonian cliff and watching swallows fly in over the sea and over one's head. They must have got a shock seeing me as their first piece of England at the end of their migration. But I was happy. It was so special to witness their arrival, as well as painted ladies as they came in over the English Channel on a soft warm breeze.

Back to the oil beetles. We'd set ourselves a task of seeing all 4 oil beetle species in the UK in a day, the black, violet, short necked and rugged. The short necked is very rare and indeed only found in one location on mainland Britain. And the rugged is unlike the other 3 in that it is an adult in the winter between October and late March, but we thought we'd give it a go. However I was optimistic as with me was one of the UK's best field biologist, John Walters who is studying the ecology of these beetles for Buglife.

We began in unimproved meadows near Dartmoor, where almost immediately we saw a male violet oil beetle (poor photo from my blackberry) - males have kinked antennae, though not 100% diagnostic. The host plant of these is celandine where the complicated life cycle involving celandine's, solitary mining bees and hitching a lift take place.

In a simplistic way, oil beetles have a very complex life cycle. The emergent female after mating lays thousands of eggs in an underground chamber. These hatch as minute larval clones of the adult. They then climb onto celandine flowers and wait for a passing insect. Any flying insect can be the vector, but only certain solitary mining bees can play host to the next stage of its life cycle. Anyway a flying insect lands on the flower, the larvae climb on board and are carried away.

If the flying insect is a solitary mining bee, they are taken into the bee's burrow where the larvae detach themselves, eat all the eggs of the bee, pupate and then emerge in a few weeks or the next spring, depending on the species. So a true parasitoid. This is a very simplistic synopsis as the life cycle is under researched, so John is learning as he studies them.

Eventually we found a black oil beetle too, which was fabulous as this meant 2 down 2 to go.

John has also been trying to discover the mating of these beetles and to do so has been collecting females and then introducing a male to them in a Tupperware box. All a little bit too voyeuristic really. But it is all legal as he's working on a research site and the beetles come from and are returned to the same area, hopefully to lay eggs successfully. The male in this photo (on right) grabs hold of the female by her antennae (which is why his are kinked so he can get a good hold), they have a tussle and then mate. The photo below was just after mating.

So after that excitement we headed down to the coast where at a secret location we found the short necked oil beetle, which for some reason I didn't photograph. That was three species found, just the rugged to go, which is known to be in this dry stone wall.

We looked and we searched but there wasn't any rugged oil beetles to be seen. Just too late in the year we think. We did however see a lot of common lizards which were taking advantage of the warm spring sunshine. Just goes to show if you stand still long enough, and look long enough, wildlife comes to you.

But the best was left to last. We'd been in the field for 7 hours and just about had enough energy to head back to the car. However John thought he'd seen some violet oil beetles making holes in a pathway last week and wanted to check if any were being used for egg laying. We hunted for about 20 minutes and then lo and behold, a female violet oil beetle was in the actual process of laying eggs. Just her head and one antennae were visible out of the soil, with her body completely buried. Absolutely fantastic to see this happening there and then. A great way to end an fabulous day in Devon.

Sadly not great photos as I still can't get my new Lumix to be pin sharp on the macro setting. I think it needs to be on a tripod. But there she is, egg laying with abandon.