Last week the farmer started the hay harvesting and we saw the grass being cut and turned to dry. The next part of the process is that it is pulled together into loose piles and then… magic happens!!  The baling machine comes along, swishes the hay into bales and wraps it in cellophane all at one go. I could watch this wonderful piece of equipment for hours.

The baling takes place all day and into the early dusk – which is when this picture was taken and I decided to show the natural light rather than use the flash here. Once the magic machine is done, the field is left with neatly wrapped piles of hay scattered across it.

The next step is to load this onto a trailer and then take it off for storage back down the hill in the main part of the farm where all the outbuildings are.

And off we go….. job done.

The countryside is generally about the cycle of life and death both for animals and plants – however sometimes sadly the natural lifespan is interrupted – especially if you are not looking where you are going and fly head first into a conservatory window!

On a more uplifting note, around an hour before sunset the rooks invariably gather on the power lines for a bit of a social.

At some point they decide it’s time for a bit of a fly around and it can be fairly spectacular as they all take off and swoop through the sky above the farm.

They will then either return to the wires and have another chat or fly off into the copse at the side of the field where they nest for the night.