With the recent dry and sometimes warmer weather, we have been irrigating the new grass and enjoying watching the wildlife with their young visit Fenland Dog Park.
We are never happy with the weather!ย After a couple of wet months, then May was a dryer month with only 21mm recorded, against the 5 year average of 66mm.ย At the end of May we added a bit of water to the Dog Park to help keep the grass growing, hoping to accelerate a sensible date to be able to open Fenland Dog Park. (You will be the first to know when we can announce an opening date!).
On the farm we have a 10 acre (6 football pitches) reservoir, which can hold 82,000m3 or over 30 Olympic swimming pools of water.ย This water is abstracted from a main drain when it has excess water in it, normally during the winter and early spring months.ย We have an Environment Agency license to allow us to abstract this water, but they are keen to work with us and are very helpful, as otherwise it costs them money to pump this water into The Wash.
We have to make sure that the quality of the water is good enough before we abstract it, regularly testing it for its saline content and other elements that are found it water.ย The Dog Park had 20mm of water applied by our Briggs irrigation equipment reel and boom โ a giant hosepipe and sprinkler โ with the water being spread to 72m in one pass.ย If you put too little water on it can evaporate very quickly and if you put too much on you can risk flooding the grass.ย Experience of irrigating crops on the farm and knowing our soil type helps us to decide what may be the right amount of water to apply.ย We hope we put about the right amount on!
Now the grass is growing a bit more, it has been lovely to spot the wildlife that have been visiting Fenland Dog Park.ย On the mammal side, we have seen muntjac, hares with their young, called leverets, and the odd rabbit.ย On the bird front, we have spotted a green woodpecker, pheasants, English partridge, French partridge, and an Oyster catcherโฆ.and some swallows collecting their lunch on the wing flying above the Dog Park, and of course, plenty of pigeons!
Some of the wild flowers in the grass mix are starting to flower, and along with some historical weeds also flowering, they are giving the pollinating insects a bit of food source.ย As the site becomes more established, and once the fruit trees are planted in the winter, then we hope that we can encourage a broad mix of wildlife around Fenland Dog Park, and once the park is open, we look forward to hearing what you have spotted.
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