Unsurprisingly, April was warmer and drier than usual, although we have had two warmer, and several drier, Aprils. We have been lucky with the rain and had 21mm over the month, maybe twice what some of you have had. March was dry as well, but not as dry as in 2011 when we had a total of only 6mm in March and April.

Not many farmers sow so many crops in May like we do; we must be very careful to make sure that the crops we are now drilling are going to grow. There’s no clue when it will next rain, but in any case, we want the whole crop to start growing at the same time. The crops I am talking about are millet and sunflowers. We’ve drilled the millet with just the sunflowers left to drill. They are a large seed, and we will be drilling them as deep as we can, as we need to get the seed into moisture. This warm weather is very good to start them growing.

Having drilled the sunflowers, we must keep the Wood pigeons off them, as the young shoots emerge. A normal seed puts a root down and a shoot up and if something should eat the emerging shoot, there is enough strength in the seed to send up another shoot. A sunflower seed puts a root down and then the seed is pushed up and as it emerges, it breaks into two to form the cotyledons. These unfolding seeds are in fact sunflower hearts, so an extremely tasty snack and if a bird should take one, that is the end of that seed. If the bird is undisturbed, it can walk all the way down the row eating sunflower hearts. In fact, I believe one pigeon left alone can clear an acre of emerging sunflowers. Pheasants and Partridges also like them, and as they walk in from the outside of the field, we cover the plants on the outside edges, which helps a lot.

The dry weather will suit us weeding the organic cereals. Last year, because the soil didn’t dry out, we were not very successful at stopping the weeds and we had some weedy organic crops. If the weather keeps dry, we will be able to remove nearly all the weeds this year. We drill the organic crops in rows nine inches apart, so there is enough room to get a hoe blade between each row. The hoe is eight metres wide and in a good day a man can hoe more than 40 acres.

The longer we keep the potatoes the more money we are paid for those on contract, as they are a living seed, and they lose weight as the months go by. As McCains asked us to send 1,000 tonnes in during the first five days of May, it meant three men were working over the bank holiday, not ideal but there we go. Sixty years ago in May, when we kept potatoes in graves or clamps in the field, it would take five men a day to get 10 tonnes ready for market. So now three men in a week can do the same as five men would take 100 days to do, sixty years ago. Wow.

Whitethroat

I have really enjoyed April, hearing the first Whitethroat or Sedge Warbler sing, marvelling at them knowing full well that they have crossed the Sahara desert.

This year several species have arrived 10 days earlier than normal. It could have been favourable southerly winds of just above average temperatures or a combination of the two that has brought them in earlier than normal.

I saw and then heard the first Cuckoo on April 16th, 10 days earlier than normal. The next one I heard was on April 23rd and I have heard one every day since and sometimes two. They come to Deeping Fen because we have the correct food and habitat for them. Their food used to be the Tortoiseshell and Peacock caterpillars, but as they have declined the Brown Tailed moth has moved in; their caterpillars are hairy and for some reason Cuckoos like hairy caterpillars. It is best to keep well away from these caterpillars as they give us a very irritating rash which lasts for more than two weeks.

Sand Martins are one of the earliest summer visitors to arrive and they have set about making their homes in our heap of gravel. There are about 70 holes in the gravel heap, it really is a hive of activity. These little birds will burrow into the gravel heap about two feet before making a nest and laying eggs.

Tree Sparrows are really benefiting from the warm dry April, so often it is quite cold when the first brood is being reared and most of them fail. Quite simply, when it is cold the birds and their young need more food to keep themselves warm and insects cannot be found on cold days. We’ve had a 10% increase of Tree Sparrows this year.

Lapwing numbers are also up by 10%, but this dry weather is not good for them as the invertebrates like to be in moist soil and so they go down out of reach of the Lapwings in dry weather. What suits one species does not suit another.

A brood of three Blackbirds visited our bird feeding area on April 19th and the next day a brood of four Robins appeared periodically; most of the time they were hiding under bushes, only coming out to be fed. It appeared that the youngsters were not being very careful with what they were brought or just being picky, as sometimes the food was dropped on the ground. The Blackbirds must have fledged 10 days before I first saw them, as they were not being fed by their parents.

I am not seeing Barn Owls flying in the day now so that would mean that they are finding enough food now at night. The dry weather would have suited the voles, and I am sure that they will be breeding as fast as they can. I haven’t been looking into any boxes yet, but I suspect one or two sites may not have any breeding Owls.