It was the first sunshine for about two weeks so I walked up the lane to see how the Oak trees were doing.
Hardly a leaf left except for the odd brown one hanging on.
But one of them has a good covering of ivy and rose hips so there is a bit of cover left for small birds and insects to get out of the very chilly wind
The huge field full of sugar beet still hasn't been harvested. The processing campaign runs from September through to February or March although last year the factory carried on until April due to the very wet winter. One large heap of beet were moved from the edge of a field not far away last week. There one day and gone off to Bury St Edmunds the next time I went by.
I'm not sure where they will heap up this fields beet - I was trying to gauge how big this field is - going by how big our five acres were at the smallholding - it's well over 300 acres I reckon perhaps nearer 500.
On the other side of the road the oil-seed rape crop is growing. About 9 inches to a foot tall now. The bird scarer banger goes off regularly during the day, a sort of dull thud in the distance. Country people soon get used to them - unless the timer goes wrong and they 'BANG' at night - that's not so good but doesn't happen often.
Standing underneath, for a photo through the branches to the lovely blue sky
Back Tomorrow
Sue
Few things look more spectacular than the bare trees against the blue of a Winter's day sky.
ReplyDeleteWe had one sunny day then it went back to grey and cloudy, so I was glad I went up the lane on the right day
DeleteA day of sunshine - even an hour or two - is a blessing in the bleak midwinter. (cue music!)
ReplyDeleteMy husband worked for British Sugar many many moons ago... I well remember the relentless insatiable appetite of the processing plants once 'the campaign' started!
ReplyDeleteThe mud on the roads is what we notice living in Mid Suffolk where so much sugar beet is grown and the huge empty trucks rattling by and then back more quietly when they are full. A very busy time for Haulage companies - once upon a time the farmers would take the beet in their tractors and trailers, that would cause chaos on the roads now!
DeleteThe trees look very old and very gnarly now that they are completely bare, it's almost sad to see. The bird scarers used to really trigger Rosy for the first day they were in use, she really hated them.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds very like a car door slamming out the front of the house, always takes me a week or two to remember its the bird scarer several 100 yards away.
DeleteI had never heard of a bird scarer so I've learned something new today, Sue! Glad you had a lovely blue sky, even if it didn't last long.
ReplyDeleteIt's supposed to keep the pigeons off the young plants, but they fly off and soon come back!
DeleteOf all the trees, the oaks hold on to a few brown leaves until Spring when the new leaves push out the last few brown ones. It always looks a bit stark without green leaves. Knowing the Spring brings us new leaves is comforting.
ReplyDeleteThe beet fields are beautiful. Lovely green vista for acres into the distance. The bird scarer must be loud, but it is doing an important job.
I didn't realize that you lived so close to an agriculture area. We do too but here it's all about cattle and cows. The milk tanker goes by everyday at about 10 am having picked up milk from up our road. Manure trucks, cattle trailers, and hay wagons almost all year long.
ReplyDeleteI love this majestic oak tree.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
There's still quite a bit of green about! Those trees are magnificent. The stories they could tell!
ReplyDelete