Farming at Thornham

It was good last week to see the sheep on Blacksmith's Meadow being rounded up by sheep dog Roy. They had to be gathered together to be put through a foot dip. There were in fact two dogs earlier in the morning and they just knew their job so well. The sheep weren't stressed they just moved gently into the penned area. So much easier than when the Field Centre and Walks staff have tried to round them up without the help of the dogs! That took hours and everyone was stressed!

On Red House Farm they are busy with planting spring barley and sugar beet. They are spraying the crops and making best use of the lovely weather.


Our scarecrow fortunately doesn't stop the birds coming from the garden by the Field Centre office, we like to see him there!
Not everyone is interested in the farm or the garden, the play equipment is always popular.

more exciting signs of spring at Thornham

Click on play and watch the video of the toad spawn and emerging tadpoles. The toad spawn is laid in long strings rather than the clump of frog spawn. Look at the bottom of the film for the tadpoles swimming around and as the camera moves up, the movement on the water is where there are masses of tadpoles breaking through the surface of the water on the pond. This video was taken of the pond on the left of the Spinney edging Hobby Close, not Spinney pond which edges the Park.

Blue tits have begun to build a nest in our box which has a camera inside, which is hugely exciting as they haven't used this box for the last couple of years. When you come to Thornham, the television screen to view the nest is in the lobby of the large meeting room known as the Display Centre.


The peacocks are strutting about displaying their magnificent feathers, the primroses and daffodils are out and the countryside is bursting into the green of spring. Well worth a visit to Thornham. Don't forget the Thornham Walks Easter egg trail and Easter bonnet competition on Easter Sunday 12th April. Start 2.00 p.m. meet at the main car park, children £3 accompanying adults free.

Seasonal changes

As part of our work to give schools as much back up and follow up material as possible we are compiling an archive of photos for their use. Each month we are taking the same 32 photos of areas of Thornham used by school groups for them to compare and contrast what changes occur as the seasons change.

We have done January, February and March.

No: 1 Farm Pond in January No: 1 Farm Pond in February

No: 13 Pinetum in February No: 13 Pinetum in March

Check out the web site as the year progresses www.thornham.org.uk and click on the teachers' area of the site.