OVER the last week there has been a noticeable change to the weather. The chilly breezes of late gave way to some hot, sunny days, sometimes accompanied by electrical storms, although here on Manor Farm we managed to escape them.

The Royal Bath and West of England Show also finished without rain and a vulture that managed to escape from the showground has now been recaptured.

At the beginning of the week Richard and I helped at the Space for Nature Open Farm Sunday event held at Manor Farm, Avebury Trusloe, kindly hosted by the Butler family. The farm is a member of the Marlborough Downs Nature Enhancement Partnership.

The event was a huge success helped by a warm, sunny day and saw well in excess of 1,000 people come through the gate.

There was a display of modern agricultural machinery, including a very large combine harvester, which was a great attraction, as a farmer was enabling people to climb into the cab. There were also a few vintage tractors on display, with access to the driving seat of one being organised by another farmer.

A table had been set up in a barn showing raw ingredients, such as wheat, with examples of foods they are processed into. Another barn contained a number of farm animals, including adult beef cattle, some calves, sheep, pigs and poultry. There was also area where you could learn more about honey bees.

During the day there were shearing demonstrations and extremely popular tractor rides around the farm, with queues forming from opening to closing of the event.

Richard and I managed to go on one of the rides later in the day, able to enjoy stunning views across the farm.

We were driven around fields of barley, wheat and oilseed rape, which were surrounded by field margins of flowers and plants which would attract wildlife. There were plots of land scattered around the farm designed for ground nesting birds and there were grazing beef-cattle and sheep. Children were also occupied with a range of activities, including the making of bug hotels. A great day was had by all who attended.

Here on our own Manor Farm the cows, heifers and bull have all enjoyed a week of warmer weather out in the fields. This, however, has a downside, as it attracts the flies and other biting insects, which really annoy the animals.

Richard cultivated our ecological focus areas, as we are trying to reduce the persistent weeds such as blackgrass.

He used a cultivator made up of rigid tines, discs and a roller. Ian has had to spray a field of winter wheat with a fungicide, as it is suffering from rust.

Our agronomist has told us that rust is affecting wheat on a number of farms this year. Rusts are caused by the destructive overwintering pathogen Puccinia, different varieties of which affect stems, leaves and grains, showing as black, brown or yellow mildew. It is an extremely damaging disease of mature plants, leading to yield losses of 20 per cent or even up to 50 per cent in extreme cases. One of our three fields of maize has had to be sprayed with a herbicide to control a large population of thistles and bindweed.

At the end of the week Ian mowed some silage grass for the Sealy family, our farming friends and neighbours, whilst Richard went to Stowell Farm to haul some silage grass from fields back to a silage clamp near the farm buildings for Kevin.

Earlier in the week Kevin topped some pasture at Bowood to take the seed heads off the grass to encourage more young growth.

Richard then borrowed the topper to chop up some tall weeds that had proved too much competition in a field of winter barley.

Richard and Ian decided that as germination of the crop had been poor, coupled with the weed problem, the best thing to do was to kill the weeds together with the few remaining barley plants and cut up the debris before incorporating it into the soil later on.