Comparing the past - May

Comparing the past - May

The field is growing very quickly at the moment and I think it is time to start comparing how things are with how they were a year ago. It's easy to forget what the field was like and I have just realised that the 30 ft by 12 ft bed of manure which is about 1 ft thick is where the old chicken shed caravan and duck pond was.

May 6th 2013

The chicken shed caravan with a lean to shed beside is on the left with the duck pond behind it.

Click on images to see larger version

May 11th 2014

There is a weeks difference between the 2 photos but one of the surprising things is how far on the fruit bushes are this year compared with last year. The fruit garden is enclosed by fencing to stop rabbits and on the left of the fruit area are raspberries which are almost non existent in last years photo. So much more foliage! 

The grass is about 1 ft tall now where as this time last year it hadn't really started to grow. Last year the field was flooded over the winter which may have hampered growth but also last year was the first year in many that a horse wasn't eating and trampling the grass so it may have taken a while to get over that shock. In the Autumn of last year the long grass (seen as deeper green) was cut to about 3 to 5 inches (I forget exactly) so it had a head start for this year.

If you enlarge the photos by clicking on them you can also see a big difference in the foliage of the surrounding trees. Most of the Hawthorn blossom was out last year at this time and some of the hedge on the right, and big tree far back left  also seems quite bare. The comparison between the 2 years is really quite stark.

I had noticed and commented on the last comparison of the months, March, that the Hawthorn was about a month ahead this year and it is clear that things haven't caught up yet.