July 2010

It is ironic that as we become ever more involved in raising cattle, we become more obsessed with the weather!  I noticed in April how grateful we were that it had finally stopped raining, but it has been very difficult ever since with cold nights in May stunting any grass growth resulting in virtually no spring flush, and now we appear to be in a period of drought!  However, magically the animals are putting on weight and look fantastic again after a very rough winter.

Staff News - Pat & Sara Toe tied the knot on 29th May with Pat sporting his new look – a clean-shaven face!  None of us recognised him for a few days but we all wish to congratulate Pat & Sara and wish them many years of happiness.

Meanwhile some of our gamekeeper team received some Health & Safety training last month, and whilst they managed to pass the driving test they locked themselves out of the venue so presumably failed the initiative part of the course!

In June, 26 people involved with the estate  joined Charlie for a safari around the estate giving everyone an opportunity to talk about what they do and hear about Charlie’s conservation objectives.  Now at last we all know what it is that Craig actually does everyday!

Events, tours & visits - The Picnic Concert on the lake ground was again expertly organised by Dawn Lyall of TVA to reclaim some of the lost funds from fighting the Laybrook campaign.  Whilst attendance was not huge, the day was lovely and they managed to raise a few thousand pounds.

Meanwhile it is the season for farm tours and we have been pleased to host several groups in the last couple of months – the Worshipful Company of Farmers, the County Council, Open Farm Sunday, Southwater History Society, The Beaver Group, Plumpton College and Sussex Wildlife Trust Youth Council. There have also been groups hosted by Sussex Wildlife Trust carrying out evening bird watching and barn owl watching as well as our regular group visits from the Weald and Shipley Schools in their Forest Schools Initiative.  When not in use, our trailer has even been loaned to West Grinstead Church for a couple of events including a gathering of bell ringers. 

Animals - After the problems that we had with our Exmoor ponies in the early spring, it was a great relief to receive the ‘all clear’ from our vets and to let them free roam once more.  We are still wondering how to deal with our excess male animals having gelded several of them this winter.  Hopefully they will find their way to other conservation projects.

We have been trying to remove the pigs from the south block to the Knepp Park for the summer and in particular for the bird-nesting season, albeit catching them has not been easy!  A complaint by a member of the public to the RSPCA led to a visit and I am pleased to report that they are happy with our management of these wonderful animals. 

We have had to round up all of the cattle for their annual Blue Tongue injections and also for BVD vaccinations, and took the opportunity to remove young heifers from the large herds to Church Farm were they will spend a few months away from the amorous advances of the magnificent bulls who are now once more running with the herds.  

The first fallow fawns have also been seen in the park, albeit a few weeks later this year (in normal year the 8th of June is when we see first fawn) and also with very little long grass to hide them in we hope that they will fair well and not suffer too badly from predation.

Elsewhere on the farm we have bought a new machine from Poland which will hopefully help us cut and collect ragwort on our boundaries, albeit this dry season has clearly not favoured this plant as it is not in great abundance this year so far. 

Wildlife - We heard our first turtle dove on the 16th May and also recorded a pair of lesser-spotted woodpeckers and several pairs of nesting lapwings.  On the 3rd June we counted 40 grey lag geese appearing on the main lake and it seems to have been a very good year for the Canada geese as there is an abundance of goslings.

Several woodlark were heard in June with David Buckingham reporting one in a new territory by lower barn on the 21st June. 

Our gamekeepers have not counted as many broods of pheasants this year, and undoubtedly the cold nights in May probably did for the first clutches of eggs, but we are starting to see some new broods now, albeit sadly very few pairs of partridges have set up territories.  

Biomass Production - We have agreed to lease the Forestry Commission 30 acres of land to grow eucalyptus and other tree species for Biomass production.  Some trees have been planted already, but the majority will be planted this coming winter and their trials will help to determine which species should be grown on our type of soil to maximise production of this zero carbon fuel crop.  We hope to have our first harvest within six or seven years by which time we will probably all be installing some sort of solid fuel boilers in our homes as oil prices creep ever higher. 

The Camargue - We were fortunate to visit the Tour du Valat as guests of the Hoffman family whose 5,000-acre estate is completely turned over to wildlife and science, and funded by the family’s charitable foundations.  We were treated to a fascinating weekend of visits and lectures which further cemented our beliefs that what we are doing at Knepp for conservation is desperately important.  In the absence of a private foundation, we are enormously grateful to Natural England for their support which enables our project to work financially, and we are keeping everything crossed that the period of financial austerity that we must enter does not include a slashing of funds for environmental projects.

Community Stuff - As part of our first phase of re-fencing land at Church Farm North, we have installed some new kissing gates and bridle gates to replace stiles on the footpaths around Shipley and hope that this will improve the access.  We will also later on in the year be improving these footpaths, but local walkers please bear with us as the ground has gone like concrete and we need to wait until the end of the bird nesting season before we can start hacking at overhanging bushes.  It is wonderful to see this land back in some sort of production and we hope to be improving the hedges this winter with a programme of re-planting and laying. 

Some Depressing News - Our little woods tractor was badly vandalised by presumably local yobos and the estate woodyard was broken into for the second time this year more recently.

We have an excellent neighbourhood watch system on the estate and in the wider community which relies on everyone being alert and instantly reporting suspicious circumstances so that we can all take immediate action.  We have and we operate the technology and just need everyone to participate please.  If you would like to hear more about this and join the scheme then please get in touch.  You may have to endure the odd “sales text” when we are trying to sell some of our lovely produce, but hopefully this is a small price to pay for what we believe is a very efficient neighbourhood watch scheme.

Past Newsletters

           April 2010

           February 2010

           November 2009

           September 2009

           July 2009

           May 2009

           February 2009

           November 2008

            August 2008

            May 2008

Carole leaves after 34 years, Planting Tenchford, Marco Pierre White Comes to Knepp, Planning Permission for buildings at Pound farm and the appearance of a little egret.

Burrell gathering, staff barbie, St Catherine's Charity day, foot and mouth restrictions, trips from 7 organizations to see the re-wilding scheme, TB testing, restoration of Tumble Down Barn and lots of Pork and beef produced.

Nancy makes Head Girl, Simon Hillary starts as Gardener, Julie Bateman raises £130k for School, National Trust comes to Knepp, 25 Barn Owlets ringed, Beaver man visits from Bavaria.

          May 2007

Bob Gets engaged to Steph, First Piglet, Wildland Network workshop, timber sales, Castle repairs, say good buy to Richard Hillary, Shipley Parrish open day invite

          March 2007

Eddy Tilly, Fleur Holmes, Clair Young and Spike, Brimstone, Lapwings, Black Poplar planting, Charlie's sculpture, Organic farming, Wildland Conference

          January 2007

Riparian planting, Valentine arriving from the Wealden Downland Museum, The Opening Meet, fireplace, Old Keepers restoration