Outdoors Les Davies MBE

West Countryman’s diary

OCTOBERis the tenth month on our calendar, but was the eighth in the Roman year. The AngloSaxons referred to it as the Winter Moon (fylleth) when winter was beginning. So where did the rest of the year go? I can’t believe I’m already talking about winter. The truth is summer has gone and everything and everybody is getting ready for winter.

The Bath and West Countryside Festival was a success and showed that we are all craving some sort of normality. Just how much it was a success is evident as you look through the pages of this month’s issue of Mendip Times. People enjoyed themselves and the weather was kind!

For the first time in many years, I paid a visit to the North Somerset Agricultural Society ploughing match, this year at Step Stones Farm near Wrington. Packing sandwiches and filling a flask with tea was all part of the day out with my family many years back when the children were small.

These days sandwiches are no novelty and I don’t go anywhere without the flask. Progress around the site was slow, but very enjoyable as I would stop frequently to talk and put the world to rights as only country folk can do.

There is little doubt on the part of those competing that they were pleased to be “let out” again. A feeling that had been made clear when I spoke to those from the steam fraternity at the Bath and West Festival. Days like this are good for the soul!

I am hoping that this copy of Mendip Times reaches you before the Mendip Ploughing Society’s 151st match on the 29th September at Green Ore Farm. The society however is much older, being established as The Blagdon, Winford, Charterhouse and West Mendip Ploughing Society in 1858. Mendip Ploughing Society is so much easier to remember.

Plough manufactures were invited to demonstrate the latest technology and so the story began. No matches were held during the First and Second World Wars or during the recent Covid crisis of 2020. It was said that around 1000 spectators turned out in 1947 to see one of the first Ferguson tractors fitted with hydraulic lift and a mounted plough at work – they are still ploughing today alongside their predecessors and successors.

At a ploughing match you can see every development in this basic soil tillage from horses, through steam power to the development of the tractor and right up to the multi-furrowed reversible ploughs pulled by the gargantuan machines of today.

Elsewhere in the countryside things are no less hectic. I watched a squirrel in my orchard raiding the nut bushes that have been planted as part of the mixed cropping. Driven to a frenzy, what couldn’t be eaten was being buried in the hope it could be found later.

Such caches are inevitably rarely found again, but I have seen them dig up this buried treasure during the winter months when food is scarce. I have never been able to beat the squirrels to the nut bushes and I don’t try. They have to live and my existence does not depend on a store of nuts to see me through winter, although a few would be nice!

Plums from the orchard have been good this time. Although I missed the boat with my Victoria crop, Avalon were much better. This variety was bred at Long Ashton Research Station in the 1980s. How I love such local connections that bring out the best of provenance.

The need to prepare for winter is a strong driver in the natural world. Whilst working in an orchard, clearing around the trees, I was warned by the owner about the bee hives. “Watch yourself,” she said. “They can get a bit grumpy and your brush cutter may lead to it all kicking off, as they think you are going to raid their store of honey.”

With LES DAVIES MBE

I needed no more warnings and gave them a wide berth during my work! Bees will work incredibly hard and none more than the bumble bee. Often said to be an aerodynamic impossibility, this hairy little creature comes from the higher altitudes of the Northern hemisphere. Capable of flying in colder conditions, it’s a “star” in the pollination world and is still out working when the honey bee is tucked up under the duvet because it’s too wet or cold outside.

I found one such overworked bumble bee lying on the floor by my washing machine. It had obviously been trying to get out all night and been overcome by exhaustion. Picking it up there were signs of life, so I fetched a spoon with sugary water in it and put the two together on the table outside the back door.

Slowly the bee began to drink and became stronger. Legs were stretched as if doing some sort of yoga exercise and a lot of grooming took place. Finally the wings were tried out and what I can only describe as a “waggle-dance” took place. Perhaps this was to establish some sort of direction home.

Once this dance was completed, a short test flight and landing took place and the bee was now fully refuelled and airworthy again. It took off doing one circuit of the table before flying over the fence and away into the distance. I like to think it made its way home!

Finally I’ll leave you with some thoughts on autumn, as the leaves on my Virginia creeper are turning red. This colourful picture was taken at Westonbirt Arboretum several years back. More about trees and leaves next time.