nepia

I expect we'll see Black Kites here one day and maybe not too far in the future the way the climate's going. They are the world's most widespread raptor.

Actually this could be a good reason to use the app; just point your phone towards the garden/woodland/fields, hit the green button and see what's there even if you can't hear it. You may be pleasantly surprised. For example I had no idea blackcaps were so numerous or widespread - they're everywhere, heard (apparently!) but not seen

Not jealous. Not at all

@farmer rod They're as good as on your doorstep; brace the kettle! I'll be in touch soon Jon

It tells me how deaf I am

All good ideas chaps. I have raised veggie beds, I have slate crates to line with dumpy bags for 'alternative' planters and I have a pair of 1200L non-bunded oil tanks on 600mm pedestals for rainwater harvesting from the roof of a 6x9m Sussex barn. Sooo.... if anyone wants to make their own posh planters or harvest their own rainwater I have just the things for you... 😁

@AHPP I'd rather not keep the bottles at all if possible so I'll offer them to anyone who'll listen. I don't actually see why they couldn't be used static on a pallet (rainwater harvesting?); wouldn't a ratchet strap round the middle be sufficient to maintain shape? As said all taps and caps are in good order

Now you tell me 😭

Ta daaaah! Found a guy 40 miles away with two different entries on the Bay; asked him how many he actually had and picked up six today. I don't want the bottles but finding cages alone.... well it's difficult enough to make me start a thread on the subject. In the highly unlikely event that anyone has a use for six bottles with working caps and taps then fill your boots; they're in west Kent on top of the North Downs.

I'm just embarrassed

I think the term must be broad ranging in interpretation. I have in my mind images of widely planted trees in France with grazing beneath. I would think also that the old tradition of grazing sheep in orchards followed similar lines; the trees then were bigger than production trees now and the rows far apart so plenty of light reached the ground - along with dung which was largely what made the system work so well

@Rac man it would have been nice if you'd asked before putting that up 🤭

That sounds like a place I will wander around one day that's near here - Stanmer Organics in Stanmer Park, Brighton. It's Brighton so the Park is very hippy and organic but that doesn't make the people bad. I buy tree saplings there for very little that have been grown from locally (=Sussex) sourced seed

This one's in the garden doing its fantastic thing

I must have watched Top Secret 100 times as an adult