Sookie's whelping box is finished (almost)
06/05/13 22:31
With a huge amount of help from our neighbour Pete, we have finished Sookie’s whelping box, all it needs now is a removable rubber mat for the floor.
It is 48” X 48” with 24” high walls and made from best quality marine ply.
Sookie seemed quite happy with it so hopefully she should get used to it over the next week before her pups are due on the 14th May.
It is 48” X 48” with 24” high walls and made from best quality marine ply.
Sookie seemed quite happy with it so hopefully she should get used to it over the next week before her pups are due on the 14th May.
Badgers, Foxes and Buzzards, all in a days work.
22/04/13 23:17
We have had an interesting few nights on the trail-cam. The first clip is really unwelcome, it is the first indication that we have badgers on the farm, which does not bode well for staying TB free.
Here is a very tenacious fox, it hung around a lot longer than I would have thought and kept coming back.
And finally a buzzard being mobbed by a couple of crows followed by a noisy pheasant
Here is a very tenacious fox, it hung around a lot longer than I would have thought and kept coming back.
And finally a buzzard being mobbed by a couple of crows followed by a noisy pheasant
Track Day Mallory Park
06/04/13 21:57
A friend of mine was taking his BMW on a track day at Mallory Park, I went along to take some pictures for him. The range of vehicles was almost as different as the levels of competence shown by some of the participants
It was a fun day, Gary did well, breaking a fan belt on his first session, flat-spotting a tyre to the canvas on his second, and spinning off in the afternoon. Don’t misunderstand, he was possibly the best driver there.
It was a fun day, Gary did well, breaking a fan belt on his first session, flat-spotting a tyre to the canvas on his second, and spinning off in the afternoon. Don’t misunderstand, he was possibly the best driver there.
SIWSC Training Event, Moorwood Farm, Somerset
31/03/13 15:55
We had a wonderful Easter Weekend at the Sporting Irish Water Spaniel Club’s training event held at Moorewood Farm in Somerset.
The event ran like clockwork, and even the weather was glorious with blue skies and sunshine really making it feel like spring for the first time this year. I only had Simon with me as Sookie is hopefully now in pup and Teresa was staying at home with her and Harley.
The weekend was broken down into training sessions on Saturday and Sunday morning with a series of assessment tests on Sunday afternoon, with there being puppy, novice and open groups.
Simon was in the open group and was excellent on Saturday, doing everything that was asked of him with both power and style, I finished the day feeling very chuffed with both him and myself. Big mistake!
The first exercise on Sunday morning was a relatively simple seen retrieve in cover, shortly before the shot and the dummy being thrown a hare broke from cover and ran towards where the dummy would eventually land and then off to the left. Simon , as usual, completely ignored the hare. The shot was fired, the dummy thrown and Simon looked like he had marked it, but when he set off he followed directly the path that the hare had taken and to make things worse he did not stop on the stop whistle. W
e ran a few more exercises and he had gone right off the boil, he was like a different dog from the day before.
We had to go right back to basics, heel work, stop whistle, sit stays etc. We went for lunch with me feeling far from confident.
There were three tests in the evaluation session in the afternoon, a very long seen retrieve, where the dummy throwers were about 150 yards sown a ride and the dummy was thrown into the cover at the side of the ride, followed by a blind retrieve about 60 yards into heavy cover, and lastly a walkup with a seen to the front and a blind to the rear.
Simon was almost back to his Saturday form and ran well in all the tests, his walkup was pretty much perfect. We were placed first.
A huge thanks to the trainers and judges : Mr Neil Varney of Twistmount Gundogs, Mrs Celia Norris and Mr Colin Selwood
The event ran like clockwork, and even the weather was glorious with blue skies and sunshine really making it feel like spring for the first time this year. I only had Simon with me as Sookie is hopefully now in pup and Teresa was staying at home with her and Harley.
The weekend was broken down into training sessions on Saturday and Sunday morning with a series of assessment tests on Sunday afternoon, with there being puppy, novice and open groups.
Simon was in the open group and was excellent on Saturday, doing everything that was asked of him with both power and style, I finished the day feeling very chuffed with both him and myself. Big mistake!
The first exercise on Sunday morning was a relatively simple seen retrieve in cover, shortly before the shot and the dummy being thrown a hare broke from cover and ran towards where the dummy would eventually land and then off to the left. Simon , as usual, completely ignored the hare. The shot was fired, the dummy thrown and Simon looked like he had marked it, but when he set off he followed directly the path that the hare had taken and to make things worse he did not stop on the stop whistle. W
e ran a few more exercises and he had gone right off the boil, he was like a different dog from the day before.
We had to go right back to basics, heel work, stop whistle, sit stays etc. We went for lunch with me feeling far from confident.
There were three tests in the evaluation session in the afternoon, a very long seen retrieve, where the dummy throwers were about 150 yards sown a ride and the dummy was thrown into the cover at the side of the ride, followed by a blind retrieve about 60 yards into heavy cover, and lastly a walkup with a seen to the front and a blind to the rear.
Simon was almost back to his Saturday form and ran well in all the tests, his walkup was pretty much perfect. We were placed first.
A huge thanks to the trainers and judges : Mr Neil Varney of Twistmount Gundogs, Mrs Celia Norris and Mr Colin Selwood
When its spring again ……..
24/03/13 08:31
Its Palm Sunday, almost Easter and the end of the first week of spring, well try telling the weather that!
My brother in law asked me to take a few pictures of one of his bulls as another farmer wants to see him with a view to using him, sort of Bovine Internet Dating (possible business venture for the future)
Anyway check out the handsome bull and the glorious spring weather that surrounds him.
My brother in law asked me to take a few pictures of one of his bulls as another farmer wants to see him with a view to using him, sort of Bovine Internet Dating (possible business venture for the future
)Anyway check out the handsome bull and the glorious spring weather that surrounds him.