Monday 17th March 2008.
On Friday we had lots of rain, it carried on all night and into Sunday. A full 24 hours of rain made all of the surrounding fields flooded where there were hollows. Where there were no hollows the water ran off into the drainage reins, after all, that's what they are designed for.
When I arrived at the farm Sunday morning the rein which surrounds the farm was at an all time high, certainly the highest I have ever seen it at and not far off overflowing the banks.
I have been working hard on keeping the mud ponds inside as dry as I can since the turn of the year and they have been drying well, especially since the two roofs blew off! I have managed to rotovate quite a long way into the ponds and things were looking good for a fairly early spawning.
But the 24 hours of rain has put things back to square one. Sunday morning saw 6" of water in most of the mud ponds.
Frustrating, but I'll just start over. The forecast is for dry weather all week, so that should help.
A few days ago I had 4 Zebra finches and two nest boxes which
made a rasping noise every time one of the adults went into the nest box. Today
I have 12 Zebra finches! Babies everywhere!
They have no idea whose baby is whose and both pairs are feeding all 8 babies!