Versuchen GOLD - Frei
Some signs of life!
The Country Smallholder
|Spring 2025
Helen Moffat of the RSPB looks for changes from winter to spring
-
It’s coming towards the end of another dark month but it’s not long now until the clocks go forward - literally promising some light at the end of the tunnel! We can then really start to look forward to spring - here’s some signs from our birds that a change of season is on the way!
WOODPECKERS DRUMMING
If you are walking in or near woodland, or have some mature trees on your plot, you may have started hearing Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming quite early in the year, but it becomes a more common sound in late February and March. It comes in rapid bursts and can be heard over a wide distance, which is absolutely their intention! The birds prefer rotten, hollow branches as it helps magnify the sound.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Spring 2025-Ausgabe von The Country Smallholder.
Abonnieren Sie Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierter Premium-Geschichten und über 9.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Sie sind bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
WEITERE GESCHICHTEN VON The Country Smallholder
The Country Smallholder
Making sure you put enough nutrition into your dairy goat to support her milk production
Sarah Day, nutritionist for Small Holder Feed offers feeding advice for your dairy goats to help them be happy, healthy and milky animals.
6 mins
March 2026
The Country Smallholder
Welcoming the very start of the spring season
Henrietta Balcon makes the most of the new crop rhubarb
2 mins
March 2026
The Country Smallholder
Starting with Pigs - before you start
Linda Aldous outlines what you need to do before anything porcine arrives on your smallholding
3 mins
March 2026
The Country Smallholder
Insurance to protect livestock - and your peace of mind
Looking ahead to a busy 2026 for Pedigree Sales, farmers and breeders will be preparing their livestock for the upcoming markets
2 mins
March 2026
The Country Smallholder
Getting Your Electric Fence Spring-Ready: Expert Q&A
As Spring arrives, it’s the perfect time to give your electric fence some attention. Based on questions we discuss regularly here at www.electricfencing.co.uk, here’s a list of the checks you should be carrying out now, and why they matter.
2 mins
March 2026
The Country Smallholder
Check your kit for the busy seasons ahead
Agricultural journalist, and machinery writer Jane Brooks, joins us for her regular look at the world.
4 mins
March 2026
The Country Smallholder
Flock together: is now the right time to add more hens?
Andy Hill explains how to integrate birds into a flock without feathers flying
4 mins
March 2026
The Country Smallholder
The secrets behind maximising incubator hatch rates
Buying quality point of lay hens can be an expensive proposition these days (even if you can find a local source of the breed that you want). Incubating fertilised eggs can save a great deal of money and make many more breeds accessible. If you already keep poultry that includes a cockerel, an incubator means that you can hatch their eggs either to increase your flock or to sell. Hugh & Fiona Osborne have been using incubators for many years and have learned that getting a good hatch means attention to detail.
7 mins
March 2026
The Country Smallholder
Making choices for your chicks
Victoria Roberts BVSc MRCVS says Natural and Artifical Incubation are not an either/or choice
5 mins
March 2026
The Country Smallholder
An appetite for asparagus
Our Experts answer your questions
1 mins
March 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size