Over new year, work has continued on the farm, as at any other time of year. I did have a lovely day making Christmas wreaths with the Lake District Ladies with Livestock group, but otherwise things continue pretty much as normal. The main task has been a tree-planting project, funded by the Farming in Protected Landscapes grant scheme, which involves planting 10,800 hedgerow trees to restore hedgerow boundaries that have been lost over time.
And so most days I have headed out with a bag of 500 trees and a spade in the back of the Gator – a small farm vehicle – whatever the weather. We get through all 500 in a day. It’s exhausting work, but at least the holes for the trees are easy to dig when the ground is wet.
The weather has been relentlessly wet and windy, not ideal for the animals who prefer it to be cold and dry. The cows, sheep and ponies are outside all winter, and we keep moving the sheep and ponies regularly to fresh grass. As of this winter we have our cattle more free-ranging in the landscape, though that means it can be time-consuming finding them. When we went to Westmorland Borrowdale to look for them, they eventually came over to see what we were doing. As they moved off again, they began to run along behind something small, fast and white. As they shot past us we saw that it was an ermine stoat, skittering down the hillside at speed, a flash of white appearing and disappearing, apparently enjoying the fact that the cows were running with it.
Stoats predate on rabbits and move furiously fast. The ones around here turn almost completely white in winter to camouflage themselves in snowy conditions. The white fur is also extra thick to keep them warm in winter. King Charles wore an ermine cape at his coronation earlier this year, and while I did not get time to sit and watch the King’s speech this Christmas, I did get a brush with wild royalty on the fellside instead.
• Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary
