Dunfarmin

Welcome to 'Dunfarmin'!

As a retired farmer, I still wished to carry on assisting wildlife which both my father and I had done at 'Letham Shank' near Berwick-upon-Tweed. Finding a location that had enough land to be managed for wildlife but no so much that needed 'farming' was tricky although Viewfield ticks all of the boxes.

At the outset it was unknown what lived in the local area, and I thought the climate may just be that little bit harsher, 200 miles further north, but was pleasantly surprised after one year. I guess it is like any part of the UK - look closely and you will find. So far we have seen a huge variety of birds from common garden birds to Barn & Tawny Owls, Sparrowhawks and Buzzards. Mammals from Shrews & Voles up to Pine Marten, Deer and (by consensus)a Wildcat. There is even a colony of Toads living in one of the buildings.

The only larger undertaking in the first year was to create a pond where a very wet boggy area existed with water lying to the surface even in summer. The size is roughly 55 x 19 metres with a bog area from zero to 5 metres wide.

About 20 nest boxes have been erected mostly for 'smaller' birds and most have been in use in the first year. Small IP cameras have been installed in some to watch the nesting and roosting progress. Also a Barn Owl box (in an open barn) and a Tawny Owl box (on a large ash tree) have been built, but no takers yet although the Barn Owl has been caught on camera investigating.

The weather pages are a habit of mine as I was at sea for 15 years and observing the weather became second nature, on the farm too the weather was the single greatest influence on success. After having almost 30 years of records on the farm, I have started all over again here.

I'm also hoping the 'blog' will inform of the discoveries made as time goes on.

Finally, for many years a winter hobby has been making models in 1/32 scale of farm machinery and tractors, so some are shown in the 'gallery'.