The Call of the Wild - Extinct for 400 years - Narrowboat Life - Episode 233

本站添加: 2026-05-04

[00:00:13]Each morning here in Frampton on 7, we're woken at 6:00ish by this eerie call. Cranes became extinct in the UK at around 1600 due to over hunting and wetland drainage.

[00:00:44]Now, thanks to extensive breeding programs in the southwest of England over the last 30 years or so, we now have approximately 250 birds in the UK.

[00:01:11]a wetland landscape is essential for the crane survival in the UK and conservation groups have worked with farmers and local land owners to ensure that the land is kept just how these majestic birds need.

[00:02:08]So, I did have a parcel to post um but the post office was quite a long way away. So, we cruised the boat for about half an hour this morning, morowed up, had a cup of coffee on the bank in the sunshine, and it was lovely. And then found out that the little village post office closes at 1:00.

[00:02:25]>> Yes.

[00:02:27]>> So, we're going for a lovely walk.

[00:02:28]There's a woodland up here called Roseswood, which I've been to, but you haven't. And I came in the winter, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what it's like in the springtime.

[00:02:39]And it's such a gorgeous day. And it just in the spring when the weather gets like this, all of a sudden you get a a warm day like this and it feels hotter than it actually is, doesn't it?

[00:02:50]>> Yeah. So, >> apparently it's about 20 21° today. 22.

[00:02:54]>> But it feels so warm. So, the shorts have come out the cupboard. Short sleeve shirts are on.

[00:02:59]>> I had to dig out under the bed for the summer clothing box to find some summer stuff. Tomorrow it's going back down to about 12° centigrade again.

[00:03:08]>> Normal. Um, but you were going to clean the boat today. The roof of the boat, won't you?

[00:03:12]>> Yeah, but it's too glary, you know. Just uh >> you have to make the most of these days, don't you? You do.

[00:03:18]>> It is the perfect spring summer day today.

[00:03:22]>> Summer. You're pushing your luck about summer. I Beginning of April.

[00:03:27]>> No, I'm not because the trip boats have gone past today. And when the trip boats are out, that's officially in my book.

[00:03:34]That's summer. No.

[00:04:12]It's going to look wild, isn't it?

[00:05:15]Roseswood was established in 1992 and named after Roseanne Rayburn, a local ballet teacher and choreographer who lived nearby.

[00:05:27]There's a lovely little picnic area in the woods and an ongoing program to establish wild flowers. And to mark the millennium, a trust was formed to administer the woodland for the local community.

[00:05:59]Cheers.

[00:06:06]>> That's very nice.

[00:06:07]>> Yeah, it's very nice, too.

[00:06:32]While Rich is working on the aotment, I'm left at home to make some lunch to take down with us. And we're really enjoying having these herbs growing at the front of the boat. I'm making a salad, so I've just nipped out to snip a few chives.

[00:06:47]And it's um beautiful. They just nipped into the salad. Pasta salad with vegetables and fresh bread for lunch.

[00:07:14]I've taken on another plot. This is plot number three. The only reason I've taken it on is because I want somewhere to grow all our excess stuff and stuff that's been given to us. Uh, you know, just a plot out the way. Just not going to spend too much time on it, but just grow some flowers that I want to grow on there.

[00:07:33]Uh, I say I've taken on another plot because France says I must be mad and I must be. But anyway, I've had a good crack at it. So, uh, let's give you a walk around. I guess it's about 25 ft wide at its widest and about 50 foot long. The soil in here is absolutely wonderful.

[00:07:54]Really lom me. Um so I must uh get some compost in there, enrich it a little bit. So what I've done is I've been given some potatoes and I've just thrown them in here. I've dug holes, put the potatoes in, and then turned the ground on them, and then topped them with some of the soil that's over there. There's quite a lot of in that bed there. The weeds are bound to come back in the trenches and on the mounds, but I'll just keep on top of it as much as I can, pull them out, and uh when the potatoes appear, they'll do most of the weeding for me. All being well, give them a bit of a feed with chicken manure pellets.

[00:08:59]So, the bed you can see in the background there, I've just weeded. But I haven't dug it. I've just weeded it.

[00:09:05]Basically managed to find some uh rhubarb we've stuck in over the corner there. But this end, I'm going to leave it just wild. It's uh an absolute haven at the moment for bees. This stuff, this dead nettle, they absolutely love it, the bees. So, I'm leaving that there.

[00:09:28]I'm emptying this compost out. It's been here. It's fallen to pieces. And I'm going to, well, I have been siving out the soil and putting the soil on the plot. So, I've got these pallets here that are going to form the basis of the next compost bin. Got a water butt full of water. This shed I share with the plot next door, but I'm not going to use it. I don't need to, but I shall prop it up a bit better.

[00:09:57]Um, but it's got guttering all the way around it and I shall feed that into some of the spare water butts I've got.

[00:10:06]So, that's basically it.

[00:10:08]I'll have it for this year and if somebody wants it in the next season next year, they're welcome to it. But, it's going to keep on top of it to a certain extent rather than let it go to rack and ruin. And hopefully it might be a nice little plot for somebody this time next year.

[00:10:32]A fellow a lotmenter was digging up this plant which is vabina banariensis.

[00:10:37]Absolutely stunning plant. So I gave it a soaking for a couple of hours cuz it had no uh soil around the roots and stuck it in the ground. Fingers crossed.

[00:10:49]on our way home from the a lotment with Archie and we are surrounded by thousands and thousands of dandelions this year. So, that had to be done.

[00:10:59]We're picking just enough, leaving plenty for the bees. Usually, it's recommended just pick one in 20. Uh, they're an important source of nectar for the bees. So, make sure you leave enough. And I'm going to make dandelion honey, which isn't honey, but it's a good alternative.

[00:11:23]So that's my 100 dandelions soaked in um 350 mil of water overnight after boiling for about 15 minutes.

[00:11:35]And um this is the resulting juice which looks a bit murky at the moment but I've got to add equal volume or equal weight of sugar to this. Cook it down for between 20 minutes and half an hour until it gets a bit syrupy and then it's done. The full recipe is on a previous video. We'll put the link down in the description. Um, and the recipe is also on the website. But if this works, there's still thousands of dandelions everywhere. We might be in um for a second batch. Fingers crossed.

[00:12:08]>> Pop over to the website floatingboat.com.

[00:12:11]Click on recipes and there's all Fran's recipes and you'll find the dandelion honey at the bottom.

[00:12:20]Looking out of the side hatch, we counted something like 15 16 different species of native plant.

[00:12:28]From nettles to mar's tail, you wouldn't want them in your garden particularly.

[00:12:33]But we make a point of never cutting down the vegetation at the side of the boat when we've mored up, no matter how high it is. Sometimes it makes stepping off the boat a bit precarious, but you just have to make sure of your footing.

[00:12:45]But the wildlife just uses it so much and loves it so much. It's just a a shame for us to cut it down.

[00:12:53]All we do is just tread a little area at the back of the boat so we can see to get on and off.

[00:14:00]We're looking at you, Archie.

[00:14:05]very interested.

[00:14:12]Hello.

[00:14:16]They're beautiful, aren't they?

[00:14:26]Somebody looks happy.

[00:14:31]I've had a lovely time with the goats.

[00:14:34]Can we have one?

[00:14:35]>> No.

[00:14:36]>> So, tell us what you've got. Oh, tell us what you've got. That stinks.

[00:14:41]>> It does smell a bit like a farmyard in here. I am really happy. This is This bag is baby angora goat. It's their first shearing. Um, and it is just so soft. And look at these locks in here.

[00:15:01]This is fabulous. So, I've got two big bags of this. And I've got two bags of one year old um goat wool, which is a little bit coarser than this. It's crazy that the cost of this wool doesn't even cover the shearing, let alone the upkeep of the goats for the year. They get shorn twice a year. This is about 1 and a2 kg and an average shearing is about three or an average goat produces about 3 kg a year I think. Um it's amazing and these animals were kept as pets. They've got such a fabulous life. Really happy. It's just it needs a lot of work now. I've obviously got to pick out all the mucky bits, pick out any bits of straw. It's going to need washing and maybe dying.

[00:15:52]But it's just gorgeous. These these look at these silky looks. It is lovely. So, this is going to make cashmere wool. Um, and I'm hoping just to spin it then into some very very fine shaws or something very special because it is very very special wool. So, yeah, I'm a happy girl and I can have as much of this as I like. Um, once I've got this done, she's got lots more there for me. Are you going to show the process next week of how you're going to convert this into something usable?

[00:16:25]>> Yeah, I'll I'll process some of this into some yarn by next week. It won't be dyed, but I will um wash it and card it and show you everything that happens to make this into usable yarn by next week.

[00:16:39]Hopefully.

[00:16:41]>> We're just taking Well, you're just taking a little break from editing.

[00:16:45]You've been sitting here for about a day and a half now, haven't you?

[00:16:48]>> Too long. Yes, >> it's a long process.

[00:16:51]>> Sometimes you can edit a video and it goes really smoothly and you know, no problems and then on a video like this, which is quite a short video, oh man, the life has been a battle, >> but never mind.

[00:17:04]>> It'll all be worth it. But we just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the patrons and members and people who uh give us money through buy me a coffee. It is so so appreciated. And in fact, this week your phone broke, didn't it? And we had to go into Gloucester and get it repaired. And it's never a cheap process. But without your help, we couldn't do things like that. And of course, your phone is what you record most of the video on, isn't it?

[00:17:32]>> So, it's an essential piece of equipment. So, thank you so so much for making all of this possible.

[00:17:38]>> And thanks to everybody that buys anything that we make, your scarves, my little pictures.

[00:17:44]>> Yeah, it's really appreciated. Thanks very much. And in fact, you've started getting back into your ass again, haven't you, now? So fingers crossed that there will be some of Rich's original artwork in the shop fairly soon. But no pressure.

[00:17:57]>> Okay.

[00:17:58]>> You've got enough pressure on you at the moment, haven't you?

[00:18:01]>> No, don't.

[00:18:01]>> He's got a birthday this weekend. It's not just any birthday. He's 65 and he's not very happy about it.

[00:18:09]>> Tell him how old I am.

[00:18:13]>> I don't Well, you know, it's just a number, isn't it? as everybody keeps telling me. But um yeah, I don't know how that crept up on me, 65. Um the worst thing is if if I was 65 a few years ago, I'd be drawing my pension because the bloody conservatives, I think it was, uh reset the um pension limits to 67 now.

[00:18:36]>> I think our kids are going to be well into their 70s before they get pensions, aren't they?

[00:18:40]>> Yeah, if they get one.

[00:18:41]>> But you've only just he's only just got used to being 64. or I bought him a When I'm 64 t-shirt last year for his birthday. And you've only just started wearing it cuz he didn't like the idea of that. So, I don't know when you're going to get used to 65.

[00:18:53]>> Well, they sent you two when I'm 64 t-shirts, didn't they? And when you went to send one of them back, they said, "I'll just keep it."

[00:18:59]>> Yeah. Yeah. So, going to be 64 for a long while, aren't you?

[00:19:04]>> But we've got a busy day now. You've got to finish editing. I've got to go to the a lotment, make sure everything is watered and safe because we're going down to see some family for your birthday, aren't we? Have birthday lunch.

[00:19:17]>> Um, and it's all systems go. But yeah, we just wanted to say a big big thank you really.

[00:19:24]>> Yeah, thanks very much. Um, and thanks very much to you for letting them know how old I am this weekend.

[00:19:31]They're all going to be sending messages now, aren't they? Saying, "I can't believe you're even 55, let alone Yeah, >> listen to me bigging myself.

[00:19:39]>> But talking of ancient things, this is a good link. Ancient things. We're surrounded by an ancient bird now. And the cranes have been amazing. They've been extinct for how long?

[00:19:51]>> Since the 1600s, early 1600s. They've not been breeding in this country.

[00:19:56]There's a few were few started to migrate from Germany, I think, uh, into East Anglia. But this breeding program that's gone on down here in the southwest of England's been really successful.

[00:20:08]And as I said earlier on, you know, the 250 birds now in this country. But what an eerie thing to wake up to, isn't it?

[00:20:16]That call.

[00:20:17]>> And we've got them making that call.

[00:20:19]We've got curios with their sad lament >> and a bitten. We heard a bitten, didn't we, the other night? We've never heard one before. Such a weird noise.

[00:20:28]>> Really mournful, dark call, isn't it?

[00:20:32]Yeah, it is.

[00:20:32]>> And then in the middle of that, we've got two really naughty ducklings that keep deciding. Mom's swimming around somewhere. I think she's got nine or 10 ducklings, but there's two in particular. I'm sure it's the same ones, >> keep swimming down the side of the boat between us and the bank. And they're quite safe because we've got big fenders. They're not going to get crushed. But mom goes frantic because they've come down the boat. And we can hear them right beside the duck hatch, funnily enough. Um, so we've got it all happening all around us, haven't we?

[00:21:04]>> We have indeed. It's uh an amazing place to be. It really is. If you've got time on your hands, do come along to Frampton on 7. The village itself is wonderful.

[00:21:14]And the toe path here, you can do a nice circuitous route all round and it's, you know, a good couple of hours well spent.

[00:21:20]>> Yeah. And two two good pubs now. So, >> yeah, two good pubs.

[00:21:24]>> Can't be bad, can it?

[00:21:25]>> So, we've better get on. Uh, we've got a podcast to record. the microphones are out ready for the podcast to record this afternoon. So, that will be going out >> just before this video goes out, won't it? So, um you know, if you're into podcasts or if you're not into podcasts, give us a listen. It's called Our World This Week. And uh we love making them, don't we? It's uh just wraps up the week nicely for us.

[00:21:48]>> And in fact, this week, I've just thought of another topic. We've got a little book that our topics to to discuss this week. Um, on Sunday we have been aboard Laura Maisie for five years >> and I can't believe where that's gone.

[00:22:02]Yeah, she was almost a birthday present for Rich. He's never going to get a birthday present that big again. Wait till he sees what he gets this year.

[00:22:09]>> But um, yeah, we'll chat a bit about that in the podcast. About five years aboard.

[00:22:15]>> Five years aboard. I can't believe it's been it's just gone so quickly. Yeah.

[00:22:19]And, um, >> April the 19th, wasn't it?

[00:22:23]>> It was. Yeah. Yeah. and we're still loving it. It there's no reason why we want to change or should change. It's a different way of life. It's a life less ordinary we call it. And um >> we still love it and we've got no reason why we shouldn't keep loving it. And uh so for the foreseeable future, this is how we're going to be living our lives.

[00:22:44]>> And especially Laura Maisy because we've got everything. There's few things that need doing the curtains are getting a bit faded now. So, um I'm going to bite the bullet and try and make some because that's another arm and a leg job to have curtains made. Um so, you know, a few things to freshen up on her. But basically, there's nothing nothing wrong with her at all, is there? She's a lovely lovely boat and is a floating flat. Really, is it >> is a floating flat. I've got to get outside and start painting the hole again. Touching up. It's looking a bit >> I don't know um >> tired. Well done. So, that's what I'll be doing in the next couple of weeks.

[00:23:23]And, um, we've got an update on Percy.

[00:23:25]Maybe we'll talk about Percy the motor home in the next episode.

[00:23:28]>> Yeah.

[00:23:29]>> Um, because we've just been dithering and dillying and deliing about what to do with him. Uh, we haven't sold him. We still got him. So, >> we need a discussion about him, don't we? Before we do anything. So, >> we might have to have an open discussion with all of you. See if you can come up with some solutions for us.

[00:23:48]>> Yeah, please do. It's funny as you get older, isn't it? You can't make decisions anymore.

[00:23:52]>> When you think we made the decision to leave land life and move on to a boat in 24 hours, the decision was made.

[00:24:01]>> Um >> I don't know. And we just dither about such silly things now. Like I dither for about an hour about what's for dinner tonight. So let alone whether we're going to keep the motor home or not. I don't know. Anyway, I'm going to the a lotment. Yeah. I'm going to finish editing this. Yeah.

[00:24:20]>> When you come back, we'll record the podcast and uh that's it. I'm going to enjoy my birthday weekend.

[00:24:26]>> Yes.

[00:24:26]>> So, thanks to everybody for watching.

[00:24:28]Thanks for subscribing. Give us a thumbs up and we'll see you on the next one.

[00:24:33]>> And of course, thank you for your support. See you soon.

[00:24:36]>> Terra.

[00:24:37]>> Bye.