What a scorching day! So hot...and the great thing is that the hot weather over the last few days has dried out our hay really quickly. We were somewhat scuppered on Saturday when the hay turner was found to have a blown out tyre (not great timing!) and so thankfully Roger yet again came to the rescue. On Sunday the hay wasn't turned,, but it was so hot outside it dried anyway! Originally the hay baler wouldn't be able to come until Tuesday but Richard had managed to do more baling than he'd expected and so he could come this afternoon. Roger turned the hay for us today and then rewed up so that Richard could come and start baling for us! We have been so lucky to have lots of people come to help us today!
Whilst the baling was starting and we were getting the final preparations underway we spotted our little hedgehog in the barn again, on the hay against the wall (we'd seen her on Monday)! We couldn't leave her there because she'd be squashed by the bales so I went to get a box to rescue her...when I went to pick her up, the hedgehog that came out of the nest was a third of the size of the hedgehog we'd seen...it was a baby! Our lovely hedgehog is a mummy to 6 gorgeous babies who are all a great size and looking very healthy! How amazing that they've grown up so close to our daily activity and in the cosy haystack. We rang Secret World for advice - once the hay making is finished they could go back in the haystack but it's too dangerous at the moment and we'll be haymaking again tomorrow too...so the advice was to make them a cosy home in the meantime. Thankfully John had finished the stable today so we recreated the nest in the stable - taking some bales to make a similar environment next to another wall and taking their nesting material with them. They have the option to stay in the stable or leave this evening - we hope they stick around! What a lovely surprise!!
So with a small army of people this evening, as soon as it was cool enough we set out to bring the bales in. The baler ran out of string and Richard thought he'd have to come back tomorrow but actually he has managed to finish tonight. We think we've moved over 400 bales tonight - hopefully we're about halfway!
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| Angela on the little tractor...can you spot Peter?! |
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| Ponies grazing out in the field whilst the activity is underway - Wolfie's brought the central fence down again!! |
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| Stacking the big trailer. |
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| Heading back out to reload... |
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| Peter riding the big trailer |
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| Haystack getting higher! |
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| The team by the end of the day - Peter, Margaret, Faie, Rachel, Stella, Pete, Angela, Roy Beate, Cuba, Faye and Oscar. Also helping today were John, Minnow, Archie and of course Roger and Richard, |
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| Ponies in the lovely moonlight - so bright it still looks light at 10.30pm |
Thank you everyone for their efforts.
Day 2 tomorrow - it's going to be even hotter!
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