THE weather continues to be unsettled, with a line being drawn on our barograph rising and falling from day to day. Just as the ground was starting to dry a little, along comes another storm, delivering yet another 25mm of rain in one night. Like us, crops do not like chilly, wet weather and some of them are beginning to show the stresses and strains of having continual "wet feet".

Our agronomist, Rex, walked our crops a few days ago, just to take a closer look. He said that some looked good and others not so good. Our winter wheat seems to be doing quite well at the moment, although one field has an abundance of blackgrass, with the delightful Latin name, alopecurus myosuroides, etched on my brain from my college days. Blackgrass is also known as slender meadow foxtail, twitch grass or black twitch. It is one of the biggest challenges faced by arable farmers today. The majority of blackgrass plants now emerge within crops, rather than prior to sowing, when control is easier.

Blackgrass grows to a height of between 80 and 90cm, flowers between May and August, before shedding the large number of seeds it produces. It has become herbicide resistant and unfortunately some modern farming practices, such as minimal tilling and the sowing of autumn crops, do not help. Blackgrass can occur at very high densities, seriously reducing yields of wheat and barley.

However, it is our winter barley that has a few problems. There were signs of BYDV (barley yellow dwarf virus). This disease is the most widely distributed viral disease of cereals and is transmitted by aphids, especially during less cold winters. The aphids feed on the phloem of the leaves transmitting the virus to the plants at the same time. Once in the phloem cells the virus replicates, which is very stressful for the plants. The leaves of the barley plants show yellowing, but it is the stunting, reduced root growth and delayed or no heading that leads to a reduction in yield.

Another problem spotted by Rex was the presence of gout fly in our winter barley. This insect pest can damage many other species of cultivated and wild cereal plants. There is an autumn and spring generation, with our barley being affected in late September, when the gout flies lay their eggs on the upper side of the leaf. The larvae hatch after about a week, then crawling down into the shoot, causing it to swell. This main tiller will die, but most crops recover well as new tillers replace those lost, so yield will not normally be affected. Rex said that the longer days, hopefully warmer weather and a little nitrogen fertiliser should help all our crops to grow on well.

Harry, a farming neighbour, has planted two fields of oil seed rape on Manor Farm, which have also suffered due to the weather. The plants in the wetter patches of the fields have literally turned blue, looking decidedly unwell, but as with our crops, longer days, warm sunshine and some extra food should give them renewed vigour. Kevin has an additional problem with the oilseed rape on Stowell Farm – pigeons. I do not think I have ever seen so many gather to feast, not helped by a row of tall poplar tress along one side of the field, where the birds shelter before planning another mass attack.

Walks across the fields of Manor Farm are becoming a little more interesting from a wildlife perspective. I spotted what I believe to be a fallow deer grazing in one our fields adjacent to a wood. Fallow deer come in a variety of coat colours and this one was quite black around the rump area and across its back. I also saw a field vole, six skylarks hovering and singing above a field of grass and a hedgehog.

To finish this week, I would like to congratulate the Chippenham Young Farmers ballroom dance team for coming third in the regional final held in Weymouth, just missing out on a final to be held in Blackpool.