Baling hay

In a massive turnaround, the West Indies cricket team won the second test match at Headingley.

It looked unlikely after the first day’s play and then the second had draw written all over it. Declaring on 490-8, Root was justified in thinking the England team could bowl out the Windies easily on the last day. But they showed determination and great skill to take it, levelling the series at one test all.

The victory was mostly down to two glorious batting innings by Shai Hope who became the first cricketer to score centuries in both innings of a first class match at Headingley. Not only that but it is the first test victory in England for them in 17 years.

While I really enjoyed going on the first day, I reckon the last would have been pretty amazing. Mind you, after the thrashing at Edgbaston, it would have been a real risk that they’d have even made it to day four, let alone five.

Meanwhile here in Farnham, the weather was still hot so I cut the grass. This was a bit of an imperative given Carole claimed the rain would arrive at 5am tomorrow. I was going to cut it before we went away so today was as good as any day, really. It was a lot easier to cut than the wildflower meadows in the park, which, fortunately, I didn’t have to do.

Every year the park managers leave big sections of the grassland areas to grow wild. It means a lot of insects which, of course, means more fertility as well as food for other animals that feed on insects. It also makes for glorious views across rolling hills. Possibly most important is it gives Freya somewhere to bounce through when doing her lamb impressions.

Then, around this time, a tractor comes along and cuts the vast swathes of wildflowers, packs them into bales and then takes them away to, I guess, feed livestock.

It always make for a lovely stroll and reminds me that while this is a park, it still continues to grow and nourish the environment in other ways other than a place to walk dogs and small children.

The Avenue in portrait…for a change

The bales never stay around for long before being picked up and taken away which means that while I’ve seen this process in various stages, the final removal I’ve yet to see.

That was until today. What happens is a tractor with a front fitting drives up to the bales and scoops them up. The fitting on the front has big spikes that bite down on the bales as the forward momentum of the tractor forces them into it. It works quite well though I did see him break a couple up.

Still, I was lucky to be there with my handy video to record some of it.

By the time he’d finished, there were three levels on the trailer.

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One Response to Baling hay

  1. Mum Cook. says:

    That was great as when I was over we saw the bales but not the removing of them so now I have thank you. I thought you had two gardeners so you didn’t have to do the mowing anymore. Love mum xxxx

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