A slice of Wiltshire

The tractor is cultivating a field that has been in stubble since the spring barley was harvested for German beer in August. At this distance the John Deere. with its green cab and yellow wheels, looks like a toy tractor, but in fact its a monster!

The nearest field was cultivated in September but since then it's been too wet to drill the seed. It should be done this week. The bright green in the next strip is kale, which is part of the Grey Partridge mix. We planted this strip for the Higher Level Environmental Stewardship Scheme, and it's home to lots of birds and animals as well as grey partridge. The deer and hare particularly like it. Our farm manager, Phillip, says he saw some snipe in there last week, but I've not seen them recently (and never whilst carrying a camera).

The green in the field beyond the tractor is grass :-) It's a water meadow alongside the stream that will become the River Wylie. There is about 2" of water underneath the grass at the moment. It always has the earliest and lushest grass in the spring.

On the side of the Downs is a scrubby woodland, Truncombe Wood, the "combe" being a cleft in the side of the Downs caused by a dry stream bed. On the top of the Downs are sheep (though I can't see any in this photo) and a glider club landing strip (they flew this morning but there are snow flurries this afternoon).

A sort of vertical slice of Wiltshire!