2001
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Click here for the diary for 2002 and for 2003.

January 2001

8 Jan Field next to Fortune's Wood track: worms dead on surface of the field. No signs of birds eating them nor of the ground having been sprayed.
10 Jan Pair of birds, possibly storm petrels, in field next to St Blaise.
16 Jan Large flock of snipe in chestnut tree field. Also redstarts and redwings.
17 Jan Dead worms still visible in field next to Fortune's Wood track.
24 Jan am Heard the woodpecker at the back of Barr Hill. Saw a skylark at the top of Girt Lane.
26 Jan pm Sleet followed by snow which froze overnight.
29 Jan Walked to the waterfall with Lou and the dogs. Saw buzzards, deer, squirrels and a fox. Bluebells and wild garlic already coming up.

February 2001

11 Feb Saw a kestrel at the back of Barr Hill swoop into a bramble thicket and take a chaffinch.
19 Feb Saw a primrose flowering at the bottom of Barr Hill fields, and a flock of peewits behind St Blaise. Three kestrels between Beaminster and Benville.
25 Feb Woke up to a covering of snow. More cases of foot and mouth suspected, including one in Devon. Seven confirmed cases so far: Kent, Essex and Northumberland.
26 Feb More cases of foot and mouth confirmed: now three in Devon, an abattoir in Wiltshire, farm in Herefordshire and more cases in Northumberland. Footpaths nationally may have to close. The Estate has sealed off the deer park.
27 Feb Now 16 confirmed cases of F&M spread throughout the country.
28 Feb 10 more cases confirmed today, with suspected outbreaks in Northern Ireland and Hants. Notices have appeared on footpaths throughout the village asking people not to cross farm land.

March 2001

1 March Total cases now 32, throughout the UK, including N Ireland. All footpaths now closed in Evershot and many other places.
2 March 39 cases.
3 March 51 cases, Cornwall and Oxfordshire, Scotland and N Ireland.
4 March Snow during the night. 69 cases of F&M, including a tenant of Prince Charles. Discussions about a cull of wildlife on Dartmoor. A suspect case at Chard.
5 March Now 74 cases. Limited movement of 'clean' animals to slaughterhouses under special licence.
6 March 6 new cases: 1 on Dartmoor, 2 Cumbria, 1 Durham, 1 Herefordshire and Leicestershire. First animals moved for butchering for human consumption.
7 March 15 new cases, now totalling 96. Horseracing has resumed after a week's suspension, much to many farmers' annoyance.
8 March The Cheltenham racing festival has been postponed. 10 new cases of F&M, total 106.
9 March Outbreaks of F&M increasing rapidly: at 5.30pm the total stood at 127. Axbridge in Somerset, the first confirmed case in the county.
10 March 139 cases of F&M. The government says it is surprised at the speed of the spread. 82,000 animals have already been slaughtered. All footpaths in the countryside remain closed and some beaches. The wild garlic is in full leaf, and primroses are blooming. I've also seen wild strawberries flowering in Summer Lane.
11 March Noon today: total 151 cases confirmed. Animals being taken to rendering plants as there is a backlog of burning of carcasses. Kent has its first case. Scottish borders, Cumbria, Durham, Devon and Hereford particularly badly hit. 7pm: total up to 164 cases. Calls for the army to help digging ditches to burn the backlog of slaughtered animals. 25 cases in one day.
12 March 19 more cases, 23 counties affected in the UK. Tourism is now being hit, with tourists not wanting to spread the virus. 160,000, or 0.3% of the national herd, killed or due to be killed as of today. Cumbria and Devon the most severely hit.
13 March Saw and heard a pair of wild geese flying over the deer park. 22 new cases, total now 205, and it has spread to France, with its first confirmed case today.
14 March 27 new cases today, including the first in Cheshire, where some carcasses are being taken to be rendered. 146,500 animals slaughtered so far.
15 March Total 246. Animals within 2 miles of an outbreak are all to be slaughtered in Dumfries and Cumbria to try to halt the spread of the disease. Prince Charles has donated £500,000 to charities to help desperate farmers. 10pm: total now gone up to 251. 205,000 animals to be slaughtered.
16 March 261 cases at 5pm.
17 March Total 291 with 17 new cases today. Farmers in Cumbria are getting very militant about the cull of healthy animals. The government's chief vet is to go to Cumbria to talk to the farmers face to face. New cases now up to 21. Saw a violet in flower in Summer Lane.
18 March Total cases 323, new cases 25. Cumbrian farmers are still arguing against a massive cull. However, the Dumfries and Galloway farmers are allowing their cull to go ahead. There are also hints of a massive pre-emptive cull in Devon. The Queen has suggested that racing should again be stopped.
19 March Growing criticism of the government's handling of the F&M crisis. 24 new cases, total 348. Cumbrian farmers met the chief vet, but do not seem to be agreeing over the mass cull. It will devastate the hefted flocks. Calls for vaccination instead of culling. However, we would no longer be able to export meat. Saw a clump of white violets in the lane to Rampisham.
20 March 30 new cases today, 379 total cases. Possible infection in the Netherlands. Soldiers are being used to speed up the cull and incineration, though it is said to be too little, too late. Small rural businesses to get some financial help. Sleet and snow all day. 10pm: today's total now up to 45, total 394. 92,000 animals infected still waiting to be slaughtered. No wonder the disease is spreading so fast!
21 March Walked to Rampisham with Lou and the dogs. Saw loads of buzzards, snowdrops, primroses, and some wood anemones flowering. A lot milder today. 40 new cases, 435 total.
22 March Slaughter of healthy animals has begun to attempt to stop the spread of F&M. 300,000 healthy animals to be culled, 273,000 F&M animals already culled, 100,000 diagnosed waiting to be culled (figures for Dumfries, Galloway and Cumbria only). First case in Eire confirmed. Today's new cases 42, total 479. Suggestions of F&M not peaking till May!
23 March Government warn F&M could get worse than the last outbreak in 1967. 34 new cases, total 515. Animals now being diagnosed, but not killed quickly enough. Some are still alive after 9 days! Talks of a 2-mile 'firewall' around infected areas, culling uninfected animals. It's been officially the wettest year since records began in 1766 with 47in of rain!
24 March 9 new cases, total 524 at 5.45pm.
25 March Countryfile figures at noon: 559 total. Carcasses in Cumbria being disposed of at an airbase. They can hold 500,000 carcasses in pits. 47 new cases, 607 total.
26 March F&M has spread from Cumbria into the Lake District and the hefted flocks of sheep. 634 total, 27 new cases. The mass burial pits near Carlisle were opened today, with the first dead sheep taken there. Animals still not being killed quickly enough after diagnosis, nor being disposed of quickly enough after slaughter.
27 March 44 new cases, 693 total. 419,000 already killed, 244,000 waiting to be slaughtered. The government is considering vaccination to try to stop the spread. This would be the death knoll for the British meat industry!
28 March Hugh's frogspawn is now swimming freely as tadpoles. 30 new cases, 729 total. The army are overseeing mass kills and burials in Cumbria, and things seem to be quickening up at last, especially killing and disposal after diagnosis.
29 March F&M severely affecting tourism, with the PM going on American TV to say that Britain is open to tourists. More calls for the May election to be postponed. 41 new cases today, 770 total.
30 March Best spring day of the year so far: warm and sunny. 38 new cases, 817 total (MAFF figures, not the media!). PM visit to Dumfries and Galloway to see for himself the problems of the farmers. EU has granted permission for short term vaccination. My calculations make it 47 new cases.
31 March General election to be delayed because of F&M, probably till June. New cases 42, total 869. Cows to be buried along with sheep instead of being burned. 1.4% of UK herd to be slaughtered to date.

April 2001

1 April Noon today 16 new cases, 900 total.
2 April New cases 33, total 943. 610,000 slaughtered, 345,000 waiting.
3 April 48 new cases, 991 total. First outbreak within a city limit, on a farm/smallholding in Bristol.
4 April 28 new cases, 1018 total. The government's chief scientific advisor says it is beginning to come under control, and figures should now start to fall. Vaccination not being used yet as views have changed.
5 April New cases 29, total 1047. Vets from America have arrived to ease the shortage of British ones! Wild garlic in full leaf and starting to put up flowers.
6 April New cases 37, total 1084. The Estate has allowed access to the whole of Dirty Lane and the cricket pitch, despite F&M restrictions. However, Dirty Lane is not a footpath, but a byway open to all traffic with the landowner's permission, so this does not affect DCC closure of all its footpaths.
7 April 18 new cases, 1102 total. Outbreaks in the borders near Jedburgh, and in the Derbyshire Peak District.
8 April Had a nice walk to the cricket pitch. Wood sorrel flowering in Dirty Lane. Farmers being urged not to appeal against mass culls of uninfected animals, thus slowing the 'firebreak' measures. New cases 29, total 1163, 888,000 slaughtered, 428,000 waiting for slaughter.
10 April Bluebells flowering in Dirty Lane, and the bat is back in the back yard. Heard some wild geese at dusk beyond Barr Hill. Farmers in the Midlands are being investigated over alleged fraud over F&M. 41 new cases, 1204 total.
11 April 28 new cases, 1233 total.
12 April Bath and West Show has been cancelled due to F&M. Even without animals it will not go ahead for the first time since WW2. 42 new cases, 1275 total.
13 April 26 new cases.
14 April 1½ million animals infected or in contact with infected animals. 37 landfill sites identified in UK for animal carcasses. Second outbreak in N Ireland. 21 new cases, 1301 in total.
15 April Watched a family of longtailed tits in bushes behind the cricket pavilion. Limited vaccination being considered once again. NFU don't want this as it could prolong the outbreak. 19 new cases, 1320 total, 1,059,000 slaughtered! Burial of cattle at a site in Wales halted because of possible water contamination.
16 April Third case in N Ireland. Government to start vaccination on a selective basis. 21 new cases, 1341 total, 1,600,000 slaughtered. Farmers asked to keep cattle in barns and not to put them out to grass. NFU still unhappy about vaccination. Beautiful day: spent most of it tending strawberry plants and planting seeds.
17 April Government has decided that 'vaccination in principle' in limited use is all right, but farmers are still against it. The outbreak at a Bristol farm now turns out not to have been F&M. 22 new cases, 1363 total, 1,127,000 slaughtered, ½ million waiting. Tom [the cat] still catching at least one young rabbit a day, as he has done for the past week.
18 April Watched a nuthatch on the chestnut tree by Moorfields. Opposition to vaccination grows, or is it the government biding its time to acquire enough vaccine? Farmers on the whole are still strongly against it. 15 new cases, 1378 total. Tom excelled himself today: 2 rabbits, 1 mouse and sadly a yellow wagtail. At least he ate them all.
19 April 19 new cases, 1397 total. Giant pyres in Cumbria are to be put out as the smoke may contain dangerous dioxins. Government chief advisers say 'F&M is definitely under control'!
20 April 18 new cases, 1415 total.
21 April 14 today's cases, 1429 total. A Cumbrian farmer has had all his animals slaughtered by mistake, and MAFF has had to apologise. The MAFF officials were nearly 100 miles away from the outbreak because of a mapreading error!
22 April The fields beyond Dirty Lane are now all ploughed, worked down and seeded, presumably with maize. Small bird, possibly a tree creeper, in bushes at the bottom of cricket pitch. Horribly drizzly weather. 9 new cases, 1438 total.
23 April St George's Day. The ground is very wet again after yesterday's rain. Lots of flooded land en route to Dorchester.
A slaughterman in Cumbria is showing signs of F&M. This is very rare in humans and not really very serious. He will fully recover in a matter of weeks.
13 (?) new cases, 1448 (?) total cases (doesn't quite tally), 1,896,000 animals slaughtered.
24 April Rescued another rabbit from Tom: he had cornered it in the bathroom. I released it in Back Lane below Barr Hill, where the kids slide down the bank on their bums! New cases 13, total 1461, 1,974,000 slaughtered, 232,000 waiting.
25 April Heard a cuckoo for the first time this year. Large rainbow over deer park and Barr Hill this morning. 18 cases today, 1482 total. Government to do a U-turn over 'firebreak' slaughtering.
26 April 3 new cases, 1485 total (TV's total was 1482, same as yesterday!). Firebreak slaughter left to local vets' discretion. 7 possible human cases of F&M.
Saw the tree creeper again at the cricket pitch. Oak trees starting to come into leaf.
27 April Tom presented us with a dead squirrel this afternoon! Many wild flowers flowering including primroses, ramsoms, celandines, violets, wood sorrel, dandelions, yellow dead nettles, wood anemones, cowslips, bluebells, shepherd's purse, stitchwort, wild strawberry, butterbur, speedwell.
13 new cases, 1499 (?) total. It appears the human cases of F&M were false alarms.
28 April New cases and totals just don't seem to add up any more: MAFF, government or media mistakes?
29 April Not given any figures on the news for F&M.
30 April Beech trees starting to come into leaf. Noticed some 'Honesty' flowering in the banks at Benville.
7 new cases, 1518 total, 2,349,000 slaughtered, 112,000 awaiting slaughter.

May 2001

May Day Very cold: more like February than May! No figures for new cases or total given on BBC or ITN, probably because of May Day demonstrations in London and other cities around the world!
2 May There seem to be an awful lot of wrens, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, and longtailed tits about this year, perhaps because of the mild winter?
Again no figures for new cases or total on national news. A new case of F&M in Somerset today, 12 days after the county was given the all clear.
3 May Saw a fallow stag on the cricket pitch. Luckily the dogs did not chase it. No F&M figures again tonight.
4 May Pulled a tick off one of the dogs. Probably picked it up in the long grass around the cricket pitch.
7 May Exmoor farmer has barricaded himself and cattle in against MAFF and an enforced cull. However, the NFU has said the cull must go ahead to prevent a possible spread of F&M over Exmoor's wild animals. The farmer's cattle do not have F&M, but have connections with an outbreak in Somerset.
10 May Found a slow worm in the back garden, sunning itself.
The Exmoor farmer who barricaded himself and cattle into his farm has won his battle with MAFF. His cattle will not now be slaughtered.
14 May 'D' notices have been posted at the entrance to Loxtree Farm. It is under observation because of a tenuous link to Sydling St Nicholas and the Wiveliscombe outbreak.
The estate are allowing people to use 'Sewerage Lane' again, providing they keep to the tarmac.
17 May Saw the little stag down at the cricket pitch again.
18 May Large grass snake living in Back Lane.
21 May Still no figures for F&M on the main news programmes.
Watched newts in Hugh's pond. Counted at least six. They seemed to be chasing some of the tadpoles.
22 May Suddenly reports of F&M again. It seems to have flared up again in the N. Yorkshire Dales. 1624 total cases, ? new cases. 3 million animals slaughtered, 16 cases around Settle, N. Yorkshire, in the last few days!
23 May 1632 total cases (MAFF website figures).
Another really hot day, with hardly a cloud in the sky. Saw two hornets, one by the garages at the Common and one in the back garden. The dogs are not liking the heat, so I'll change their afternoon walk to an evening one.
25 May All footpaths are 'supposed' to reopen today. Only paths marked with red 'No-Go' notices remain closed. Evershot has a lot of red notices, probably because of the 'D' notice at Loxtree Farm. So far no green notices have been put up, indicating open footpaths.
Took a large tick off the cat's neck this morning, and in return he presented me with a goldfinch!
Confusion reigns! Now all the red signs on footpaths have been replaced with green signs. It's amazing what goes on in quiet rural Dorset!
27 May Noticed a stone in Dirty Lane that a thrush had used for a 'smashing stone'. It was littered with snail shells. All footpaths in the immediate locality are open, with the exception of 'Summer Lane' field which has Golden Cross's dairy herd in. However, conscientious locals are still not using them until the 'D' notice is lifted from Loxtree Farm.
28 May F&M in the news again with 7 new cases today, the largest number in one day for a week or more. Opened the landing curtains this morning to see Tom coming up the garden path, rabbit in mouth! The cricket pitch is looking beautiful at the moment, covered in wild flowers blooming their hearts out. Buttercups, hawks-beard, dandelions, cow parsley, garlic, mustard, meadow sweet, yarrow, stitchwort, chickweed, red campion, fairy flax, daisies, clover, common vetch, herb Robert, ragged Robin, bugle and many grasses.
29 May Really hot day today. The garden is drying quickly, and watering the vegetables and seedlings now taking a lot longer in the evenings.
31 May Had to pull a tick off one of the dogs. It was tiny and hadn't got a good grip, so it came off easily. Tom still catching a rabbit a day! He has also added another species to his list of prey: a mole, which he left in the back hall.

June 2001

2 June Woke to find Tom had brought us another mole. Hopefully he has cleared them all from the garden. They are lovely little animals, but make an awful mess of gardens.
3 June The dogs spied the young stag this morning, in the paddock below the cricket pitch. He ran off towards Rocks Lane. A tree which looks like an ash is flowering at the Common. I must find out what it is: the blooms are similar to elderflowers, but the leaves are like an ash.
The tree at the Common is a manna or flowering ash (Fraxinus ornus).
5 June F&M is on the increase, but the media appear to be ignoring it, possibly because of the election. Farmers are saying that MAFF are sitting on the figures and not releasing them to the press.
7 June If Tom did catch the moles in the garden, he obviously hasn't got them all! A new molehill has appeared beside the veg. patch. A little rain overnight, so I have an evening without the hosepipe. An article in a local newspaper says that every type of bat found in the UK can also be found in Dorset: how nice to know! Evershot has many bats including pipistrelles and long-eared browns. Ours comes out every evening in the back yard catching flies and mosquitoes.
8 June Foxgloves are now blooming in Dirty Lane, and the docks left uncut are putting up long red seedheads. There is also brooklime.
9 June Watched a green woodpecker from the cricket pitch. It flew into Moorfields' walled garden.
13 June The media is reporting F&M again. It appears to be spreading again with more outbreaks on the Devon/Somerset border.
14 June 4 new cases of F&M on the Devon/Somerset border. It looks like the disease is far from over. Tom is having another rabbit-catching spree: 3 in the last 3 days.
15 June The dogs have been busy today. One caught a blackbird which I managed to rescue, and it flew off. The other caught and killed a mole on the cricket pitch. The hawthorn in the village hall carpark has a wonderful lot of deep pink blossom.
18 June Saw a flycatcher in the back garden. It's been around other years, but it's the first time I've seen it this year. A squirrel watched from the chestnut tree by Moorfields as I walked past with the dogs, and then we spied a fox in the paddock behind Moorfields.
19 June The dogs caught another mole on the cricket pitch this morning. Plenty of swallows about this year, but there is a distinct lack of house martins. The nests that were visible up and down Fore Street other years are either empty or missing altogether.
21 June Noticed some orchids in the scrubland by the cricket pitch. I think they are the common spotted variety.
22 June Saw two squirrels under the chestnut tree by Moorfields, and a flycatcher sat on the gatepost. The dogs had an argument this morning, which left one with a nasty bite on her side. They appeared to be sorting out their 'pecking order'!
24 June Let the dogs out very late last night, and they barked like crazy. Took a look at what had upset them and found the biggest hedgehog I've seen in years. Saw the green woodpecker again.
27 June Walked down the waterworks path to look at the orchids, but found only about half a dozen, and they were very weedy specimens. I wonder whether the overhead maintenance of the electric cables and subsequent removal of the trees has upset their environment. Other years the lower right-hand bank has been covered in them.
28 June A peregrine falcon has been seen about in the village.
29 June Found some fungi that looked like inkcaps, but after checking their identity they were not. They were Panaeolus semiovatus, an inedible fungus.

July 2001

2 July Rescued a mouse from Thomas. The mouse was a classic 'Beatrix Potter' type, unharmed and raring for a fight. I pulled the cat away from him, and the mouse was rearing on its hind legs and boxing the cat! He then took on anything around him, whilst I took the cat indoors.
3 July The peregrine has been seen in Fore Street again. The flycatchers are no longer in the back garden, but are still between Back Lane and Fore Street.
4 July Woken in the small hours by an incredible thunderstorm, one of the most violent storms I've ever witnessed.
5 July Dank and heavy weather: the violent storm of the night has done nothing to clear the air. My roses are in full bloom, but unfortunately have taken a battering. Sweet peas are also flowering.
6 July Saw three ladybirds in the fields, so hopefully there are some around to attack Evershot's plague of greenfly. Also, in Dirty Lane, saw a large dragonfly with a black and yellow body.
7 July Very misty this morning, drizzle too.
10 July Rescued a tiny rabbit from the cat. There wasn't a mark on it, so I carried it to Barr Hill and released it.
13 July Mowed the garden and saw four slowworms. The weather is very cool for July, so it is nice to see that there are still slowworms about.
15 July Tom has found a collared dove's nest and is systematically raiding it!
17 July Lots of ladybirds this morning, especially on the thistles, as I walked the dogs. Harvested the garden peas and froze them: quite a good crop.
18 July Fairy Ring Campignon have appeared in Chicks Field overnight. Perhaps there will be some field mushrooms later this year. There haven't been any for four or five years, but possibly the Fairy Rings could be a good sign!
19 July Tom catching lots of rabbits again: at least two today.
20 July Met by Tom and a rabbit when I got up this morning. All footpaths in Dorset are 'supposed' to reopen today, with all red signs to be removed.
23 July Walked out across 'Summer Lane' Field: so nice to be able to, once again! The government has halted all disinfection and cleaning of F&M-affected farms in England pending an inquiry into the cost. It appears that the 'average' farm in Scotland can be cleaned for £30,000, whereas in England and Wales it costs £100,000! Draw what conclusion you wish! However, contractors are paid by the hour, not by the whole job, and farmers just want to do the job as quickly as possible to be able to restock and get back to a normal life!
24 July Picked blackcurrants at Elwell fruit farm near Waytown. What a wonderful place, really a gem nestling in the middle of nowhere.
25 July Sat in the back garden and watched two buzzards come out of the copper beech nearby, one being attacked by a swift or swallow. Tom is still in hunting mode.
27 July Two buzzards sat on the cricket pitch this evening. They appeared quite unconcerned about me or my dogs.
28 July Small hedgehog in the garden this evening. Both the lurchers and the cat were fascinated by it. As its a small one they must be breeding close by.
29 July The slowworm at the bottom of the garden has shed its skin and is still living in an ants' nest.

August 2001

2 August Found some 'Russula' toadstools growing this morning. I can't certainly identify them, so I won't be picking them.
Bought an 1887 edition of The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White. It's a truly fascinating book and brings back memories of visiting Selborne as a child. His naturalist's calendar is interesting to read as it shows dates of birds, plants, trees etc. first appearing as the year passes, a handy comparison to nature today.
3 August Found a peculiar toadstool under the holm oak on the common. I think it is a Boletus porosporus because of the habit, though for it to be found in August is really rather early.
4 August One of my lurchers shredded her ear on some barbed wire this morning, whilst rabbiting, so off to the vets we went!
5 August The dog, Moss, is back to normal today as the sedation the vet gave her has worn off. Sat in the garden this afternoon harvesting the coriander seed from the veg patch. A few wasps about and a few hoverflies.
6 August Found a damaged wasps' nest at the bottom of the cricket pitch, with lots of cross wasps flying around! Bird's-foot trefoil and yellow meadow vetchling flowering.
The media is telling of rows about farmers' compensation for F&M. Some farmers are getting up to £100,000 for pedigree bulls and up to £3000 for beef cattle! But if that is the criterion set by the government, why shouldn't the farmers claim it? However many farmers get £3000 for a beef animal at market?
Hedgehog close to the backdoor this evening. I hope it's not eyeing up the cat flap!
8 August Tom caught a Jenny wren this morning, but luckily I managed to rescue it. Found a boletus fungus this morning, possibly the peppery boletus or bay boletus, both edible, but slugs had beaten me to it! Lots of other small fungi starting to appear in the grass fields. I shall have to gather some and try to identify them properly.
10August The fat slowworm at the bottom of the garden is still to be found basking in the sun on top of an ants' nest. I wonder whether she is pregnant or just very fat.
11 August Spent ages weeding small ground buttercups from the veg patch. I've never let them flower, or get out of hand, so how come I can never get rid of them entirely?
The bat is still about at dusk, catching flies amd midges in the backyard.
13 August Found a boletus under an oak tree near Dirty Lane, possibly a peppery boletus because of the size and colour, but the habitat didn't really match. Moles popping up everywhere in the garden again. Lots of great willowherb flowering in the hedges.
16 August Dryad's Saddle, a bracket fungus, are growing at the top of Chick's Field. They are quite common and edible. They usually grow on beech trunks near the roots, but these are also growing in the bank at the bottom of the hedge. There are also some puffballs coming up, but I've yet to identify the variety.
Tom tried to catch one of the bantams, so I'll have to think seriously about getting a cockerel as he would protect the hens.
17 August The red ants have left their nest at the bottom of the garden, but the slowworm is still there. She seems to be living in the empty nest. No sign of baby slowworms yet.
18 August Rescued a small fledgling from Moss this afternoon. It was lying in the wet grass in Chick's Field, so I took it to the hedge and left it hopefully to recover. The blackberries are filling out and should soon be ready for picking.
While weeding the veg patch and cleaning the broad beans I startled a small toad sheltering down a hole next to a leek plant!
20 August Saw a single snipe in the fields next to Girt Lane this morning. The slowworm is still at the bottom of the garden and is getting fatter by the day.
22 August Very autumnal this morning, misty and cold. Tom presented us with a dead thrush on the bathroom floor this morning (our bathroom is on the ground floor). I get really annoyed when he catches things and doesn't eat them!
23 August Today it was a collared dove that Tom caught, and he ate all of it bar some feathers. I noticed that it had a lot of corn in its crop, which it had presumably pinched from the chicken run. One chicken, Buffy, escaped over the wire today, so her wing has been clipped!
24 August Media reports of a new outbreak of F&M disease around Hexham in the northeast.
The moles are driving me mad, popping up all over the garden. I've been told that dropping a clove of garlic into their holes gets rid of them, so I'll give that one a try.
26 August The vetch in the hedgerows has stopped flowering and is hanging with seed pods. Lots of dew-covered cobwebs over the brambles this morning. The hedgehog was in the garden again this evening.
27 August Literally hundreds of housemartins were gathered on the electric wires across the cricket pitch this evening, an ominous sign of autumn approaching.
28 August The bat is still about in the backyard. Very cold this evening, well below the normal temperature for August.
29 August Lots of wasps around today, some getting into the house as well. Took the dogs over Barr Hill this afternoon, for the first time since the start of F&M restrictions. They had a great time flushing rabbits out of the bramble thickets and hedges. They were completely worn out after half an hour. No sign of the fat slowworm today.
30 August During the day a bat appeared in the street and settled below our neighbours' front windowsill. I think it was a pipistrelle. By dusk it had gone.
Around 9.15pm 30–40 rats were crossing the road on East Hill, from the south towards the north or Deer Park side: a horrible sight!
31 August 13 confirmed cases of F&M in the Hexham disease cluster.

September 2001

2 September Locked the chickens up quite late at 8:30pm, drizzling and dark, and in the backyard found a large frog. It hopped into the gap where you open the backdoor, so I had to shoo it out of the way before I could close the door.
3 September Tom is on a rabbit-catching spree again, averaging one a day. More outbreaks of F&M disease, this time County Durham as well as Hexham. Found some Boletus versicolor under some oaks at the back of Barr Hill.
4 September The outbreaks of F&M disease have now officially passed 2,000.
7 September The slowworm is still on the ants' nest at the bottom of the garden. Lots of fungi about, some of them very peculiar-looking, also lots of blackberries and sloes.
8 September Noticed a nest of housemartins in Back Lane still with some young, possibly a second clutch of chicks. I presume they won't survive as they're far too young to migrate. The new chickens are settling in well. The others are interested in them and keep going over to their ark and watching them.
9 September A very fat Tom waddled into the garden this morning and stretched out in the sun to digest and sleep off whatever he had eaten! Two big spiders hanging in large webs in the flower border. They appear every year around this time.
10 September Walked out across Summer Lane Field and beyond this afternoon. Saw so many sloes on the blackthorn bushes. Is it a sign of a hard winter to come?
11 September An horrific terrorist attack on America. 4 planes hijacked, 2 flown into the World Trade building in Manhattan, which subsequently collapsed. A third crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, and the fourth crashed outside Pittsburgh. Osama bin Laden is the leading suspect behind it all.
12 September A beautiful morning, really very warm for mid September. Found some field mushrooms this afternoon, but they were too old to pick and eat. Lots of fighter planes flying over the village early this evening. Are they on routine practices or waiting for President Bush to send them off somewhere? Why do we always blindly do whatever America asks?
13 September Moss was helping herself to ripe blackberries off the bushes this morning. She seems to have been taught by our old whippet Flax. It's a peculiarity I've not seen in other dogs that somehow makes mine really special to me.
14 September Let the chickens out this morning, whereupon my two new ones, who are 12 weeks old, jumped on top of their tea-chest, and the cockerel tried his hardest to crow. Unfortunately the noise was not a full crow, and the other chickens looked at him and then fled as if in fear or maybe disgust!
3 minutes silence for the Americans and others killed in Manhattan and Washington.
My tomatoes have got blight, and so I'll have to remove the plants and burn them.
17 September In Back Lane this afternoon I found a moth struggling and flapping about in the road. Looking closer I noticed it was being attacked by a wasp, which seemed to be clinging on to it.
The Estate started harvesting their maize today, which is quite early: the plants are still very green.
18 September All the swallows, swifts and housemartins have gone.
19 September Found the first Parasol mushroom of the season this morning. They are one of the best to eat and very easy to safely identify. The badgers in Dirty Lane have a new extension to their sett. Nearly trod on a frog on the garden path this evening.
20 September Horses in Chick's Field today, and so I couldn't let the dogs off the leads for a good run. Every footpath field around the village now has stock in it.
21 September Beautiful morning: very autumnal, really 'mists and mellow fruitfulness'. Heavy dews, but the sun breaking through mists. The fields of maize that were harvested have now been ploughed and harrowed, ready to be sown, presumably with grass. I think the few fields that were harvested and ploughed are vital to the village flood prevention throughout the winter. Sowing with grass will help stop the dirty water run-off.
22 September The ploughed fields next to St Blaise have been limed to adjust the acidity and worked down again with harrows. The bat is still flying around in the backyard, but I've not seen the fat slowworm for a couple of days.
23 September Tom keeps bringing live mice in and giving them to our young lurcher. Perhaps he's trying to feed her up! There seems to be a lot of 'road kill' about at the moment, especially young badgers, frogs and toads.
24 September The bat is still in the yard and appearing quite early as the evenings draw in. Walked the dogs with Lou, and the three lurchers got very interested in something in dirty lane. Whatever it was made a peculiar grunting noise. Both Lou and I looked, but couldn't see anything. Perhaps it was a young badger, but I don't know.
25 September Another really autumnal morning: mists hanging in the valleys around the village. The Estate have started hedge trimming.
27 September Lots of frogs in the back garden in the late evenings. They are even coming up to the back door and passageway.
28 September A beautiful day, very hot and sunny after yesterday's drizzle. Lots of peculiar jelly-like fungi on Barr Hill this morning. Perhaps I'll take my book with me another time and try to identify them.
30 September Horrible wet and windy day. However, I have seen some housemartins, so I was mistaken in thinking they had left already.

October 2001

1 October Lots of leaves and a few large branches on the ground this morning after yesterday's and last night's stormy weather. Checked the chestnut tree, and there were lots of nuts blown down, but sadly very small and not worth gathering.
2 October We had a visitor in the front room this evening: a small frog hopping around by the front door! The frogs appear to be migrating from the back yard into Fore Street via our passageway, and this little one took a detour into our front room. It was only about 1½ inches long from front legs to back. We shooed it into the passageway and left it in peace.
3 October Beautiful autumn day. The Estate is harvesting more of its maize: the forager could still be heard at 8:30pm.
4 October Lots of squashed toads on the roads, especially Fore Street, Back Lane and Summer Lane.
6 October Lots of different fungi along the side of the footpath above Common Ground: a few porcelain fungi, brackets, sulphur tufts and others I've not yet identified. Many of the hedges around the village have been trimmed.
7 October Foul day, very high winds and heavy rain. Definitely a day for long slow-cooked casseroles!
8 October Rain all through the night, and windy again this morning. Debris from the storm all over the fields and lanes, lots of leaves, acorns and large limbs strewn about. One of the hazel bushes at the back of Barr Hill is covered in catkins: most peculiar for this time of year. Hazel catkins are normally one of the first signs of spring!
9 October The grass sown in the ploughed maize fields by St Blaize has germinated and is growing well. A beautiful sunny and warm day.
10 October More fields locally being ploughed, a busy time of year for farmers. Fields of sheep with rams all over the place: tupping time!
11 October Lots of fungi on Barr Hill, some really bright yellow, slimy toadstools, possibly a Hygrocybe of some sort, which are all quite rare. Found a big snail above the curtain rail at the back door. The dreaded moles are at it again! I've molehills on the grass banks in the garden.
12 October Took the dogs out over Barr Hill this morning and met Tom rabbiting by the bramble thickets. They all greeted each other like long-lost friends. Exceptionally warm today. I mowed the big garden, hopefully for the last time this year.
13 October Very hot and muggy again today. Temperatures in London reached 24ºC.
14 October Walked out across Summer Lane field and beyond, and the dogs nearly got showered by the slurry machine. Loads of sloes still in the hedges, and I managed to pick enough, very quickly, for a couple of bottles of gin.
16 October For the first time since getting the new chickens they all went into the one house together. However, I will have to keep an eye on the young hen and cock to make sure they're not picked on.
17 October Went for a long walk with Lou and the dogs. Found lots of fungi: stinkhorns and Hygrocybe strangulata down by the waterworks, purple deceivers and Clitocybe geotropa across the fields, amongst others.
18 October Took the dogs out over Barr Hill this morning, and between them they caught a big buck rabbit. I brought it home to let them eat it: after all, they had worked hard to catch it. Once they'd had their fill, Tom appeared and finished what was left.
19 October Very wet today and blowing a gale most of the day. A loud thunderstorm late at night with really good lightning.
20 October Better weather again today. Noticed a lot of my roses have started flowering again and also plants like 'pot' marigolds and even my sweet peas! It must be because it's so mild.
21 October Saw some lapwings (peewits) out across ploughed fields, and also a kestrel.
22 October A beautiful morning with mist hanging in the valley of the village and along the Frome. Only the higher ground was clear of it which made everything rather mystical.
23 October Woke this morning to be greeted by Tom batting a mouse around the back hall. On seeing me he picked it up and fled into the garden through the catflap. I later pulled a tick off him: it was quite small and attached to his ear.
24 October There seem to be a lot of flying insects about still: flies, wasps and suchlike. This evening Tom brought me a present: a large rat! He dropped it in the kitchen and thankfully it was dead, so I incinerated it in the Raeburn!
26 October Another very wet day, and very dark this morning. I had to wait till it brightened a bit before I let the chickens out.
27 October Still a lot of insects and bugs around, not just in the village, but also out across the fields. Caught an enormous Dorset house spider in the back hall, so I booted it out into the yard.
28 October The clocks went back to GMT last night, so it was a lot lighter this morning. It's always a bit of a trial adjusting animals to the changeover: feeding times, letting out the chickens, walk times, etc.
29 October A very red sky this evening, so perhaps a nice day tomorrow if the rhyme is right:

Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning.
Red sky at night, shepherd's delight.

30 October A lovely bright morning and still very mild. One of my ground-cover roses, Swany, is flowering again, and a couple of the ramblers are as well. Also my winter-flowering clematis is hanging with blooms!
31 October There was a rainbow over Girt Lane early this morning. The stags in the deer park could clearly be heard 'roaring'. The dogs put up a deer down the waterworks track and chased it. They came back eventually, very muddy and tired.

November 2001

1 November First frost of the season this morning, only slight and thawing fast, but still a frost!
3 November Quite a hard frost this morning, with mist hanging in the valley. Saw some snipe in the field next to Girt Lane, and the hunt's horses have gone from Chick's Field, so the villagers can walk their dogs there again.
4 November Picked a clover flower this morning! Saw quite a few 'Jenny wrens' in the hedges of Chick's Field.
5 November Found some fungus down the waterworks track which I've identified as 'Dead Man's Fingers', Xylaria polymorpha. They are peculiar-looking, just like little black fingers poking up out of the ground, tall and conical, not like your average toadstool.
6 November All the hedges behind Ladymead and to the west of the village have been trimmed and look very neat and tidy.
7 November Cleared a lot of fallen leaves from the chicken run. The ground in there and in the garden is very wet.
8 November Walked the dogs after a shower of hailstones this afternoon and saw two jays and a green woodpecker at the back of Barr Hill.
9 November Hard frost this morning, but beautifully sunny. However, the north wind was really biting.
10 November Tom went and caught a Jenny wren.
11 November Watched a nuthatch in Back Lane, close to Studcombe.
12 November very cold today: the chicken's water was frozen this morning. Lots of snipe around in the fields next to Girt Lane.
13 November Cold again. Saw a redwing in the hawthorn in the garden, picking at what's left of the berries. Tom is catching a lot of vermin at the moment: mice, shrews and rats!
14 November Met with Lou to walk the dogs, and Willow, her lurcher, cut her ear on a bramble. Lots of blood for a tiny cut!
15 November Walked to the cricket pitch this afternoon, a beautiful day. Watched a pair of buzzards picking over a rabbit by the cricket pavilion.
16 November Checked the perimeter of the chickenrun for signs of rats coming or going. Tom is catching so many that there must be a lot about. Saw a lot of snipe again.
17 November Another dead rat in the garden, Tom's presumably!
19 November Hunting can now resume in counties that were unaffected by foot and mouth disease with the landowner's permission. Those counties that had foot and mouth are not allowed to hunt.
20 November A hard frost this morning: the grass across the fields was very crunchy. Moss caught a rabbit, but Biscuit was the one to kill it, which she did extremely quickly.
21 November Lots of small birds around: nuthatches, wrens, blue tits. I've also seen some redwings, not only across the fields, but in the garden too.
22 November The grass in the garden still seems to be growing, but is always too wet to cut. The birds have stripped nearly all of my holly berries in the new garden, so 'decking the halls with boughs of holly' will be out this year!
23 November Drove to West Bexington via Beaminster and Bridport. The autumn leaves are truly spectacular. I don't think I know enough words to describe all the colours. Just to say that they range from brown through every hue to yellow. The leaves are very late falling this year.
24 November A beautiful morning, clear, bright, still and mild. Lots of deer close to the deer park fence this morning, between Dirty Lane and Girt Lane.
26 November Wet, misty, foggy: a horrible day! The chickens are starting to turn their run into a muddy mess.
27 November Saw two buzzards at the back of Barr Hill sitting in an ash next to the cricket pitch.
28 November A cold wind today. Most of the leaves have finally fallen.
29 November Lots of fungi have come up under the beech trees by Chick's Field: Jews ears, rusulas, brackets and others.
30 November Wet again. Watched a mouse running around on our neighbour's lean-to roof. Eventually it ran right to the top and disappeared on to the main roof.

December 2001
1 December Tom vanished today.
2 December Tom returned looking extremely fat and smelling of rabbits. He plonked himself down and slept for ages with a blissful expression on his face.
3 December I had an escapee today. Freda, the light Sussex hen, flew over the wire and out of the chicken run into the garden. Luckily I managed to round her up and put her back in with the help of Tom!
4 December Swapped over our cooker's gas bottle today, so at least we shouldn't run out over Christmas.
6 December Found a litter of dead shrews scattered around in the field next to Dirty Lane. Something must have raided their nest and then been disturbed.
7 December Lots of wrens in the fields today. Cold and dry – the wind is drying up the ground.
8 December A frost this morning, but a beautiful sunny day. Saw a pair of lapwings flying at the top of Summer Lane.
9 December Very cold, but no frost today, with a south-easterly wind. Tom and Moss are in silly playful mood, chasing each other around the house.
10 December Frost again. Walked up the fields to Girt Lane this afternoon with Lou and the dogs and watched the snipe. There were 30 or more!
11 December Another frost: nice and sunny in the morning, but it soon turned to thick cold fog. More snipe this afternoon, but in Summer Lane field.
12 December Cold and frosty again and very clear after the fog last night. A beautiful sunny day, but the sun was really low in the sky. I still have one or two rose flowers in the garden, the Albertine and Excelsa, and I've noticed that the Iceberg in the graveyard has a flower on it.
13 December Much milder today. The dogs are in a really silly mood, play-fighting and running about with a tennis ball.
14 December Frosty: the chickens' water keeps freezing, so I have to keep topping it up with fresh water. An easterly wind is causing the problem. The ground in the garden with 1 or 2 inches of grass on it is not frozen, but the bare ground in the chicken run is hard.
15 December Very hard frost this morning. Even my watering can full of water under the hedge, a supply for the chickens, had frozen solid.
16 December Had a lovely long walk this afternoon, out beyond Girt Farm to Bakers Wood. Saw a family of longtailed tits and lots of pheasants. Cold, but nice if you kept moving. Noticed some bright red fruits on the ground behind Girt Farm and discovered they were spindle fruit from a spindle tree.
17 December Heard a tap-tap-tapping at the back of Barr Hill this morning. As it was quite loud I expected to see a woodpecker, but it was a nuthatch.
18 December Murky foggy day, a horrible mist coming and going throughout the day. Lots of robins about: I watched two fighting in the garden.
20 December Bright clear day, but a very cold wind. Biscuit, my older dog, was very peculiar this morning: she did not want to associate with me or with any other dog, keeping herself apart from us all!
21 December The shortest day, the winter solstice. Again another frost, all the chickens' water was completely frozen through and even the ground is hardening. Biscuit is back to normal again.
22 December Very dark this morning, but also a hard frost. Lots of ice on Girt Lane – it was quite slippery. The snipe are still around in the fields. One of my chickens went over the wire again, so I had to round her up back into the run.
23 December Tom, the cat, is spending more and more time indoors, sleeping in either of the dogs' baskets and fighting them off if they try to lie in them.
24 December Another frost this morning, but quite bright and sunny. Fieldfares, snipe, wild duck, wrens, blackbirds, tits, nuthatches, sparrows and others all very visible. A pair of robins were waiting for me when I went to let the chickens out.
25 December Very dull and mild today, but a cold westerly wind.
26 December Frosty, but almost snow-like. It looked as though we had had a few flakes of snow and they'd been trapped and frozen in the frost. Very still and quiet when I walked the dogs. Biscuit saw a rabbit in the hedge and jumped clean through the barbed wire straight into some blackthorn to chase it. Sleet showers this afternoon, but it didn't come to anything.
27 December Mild, wet and horrible: no sign of yesterday's frost. Stood quietly on Barr Hill, listening to a tractor spreading dung on the ploughed maize field, and watched a buzzard hanging on the wind. At the same time the sun came out, and I could see a rainbow.
28 December Sadly I had to get rid of Tipsy, one of the hens. She had never been a good 'doer' and had deteriorated over Christmas, so the kindest thing to do was to dispatch her. She's now buried deeply in the veg patch, on top of what looked like another pet's grave.
29 December Woke this morning to a covering of snow, just about an inch. The roads were clear as it was 'wet' snow, but the winter trees looked an absolute picture. The dogs thoroughly enjoyed the snow and charged about like young pups!
30 December A very hard frost this morning. What was left of the snow was frozen solid, as was the chickens' waterbowl! The council gritting lorry had been out twice, once late yesterday afternoon and then again during the night. The moon was visible this morning over Girt Lane and looked enormous: I've never seen it like that before. Saw a very noisy jay at the Common this afternoon.
31 December Very cold this morning. Not only was the chickens' water frozen solid, but their cornfeeder was frozen to the ground, and I couldn't move it! Both the sun and moon visible together for a short time this morning. Lots of buzzards about, sitting in the trees watching for prey: I saw three between Beaminster and Evershot.