Last week while I was away, I got a rather excited phonecall from my father, Holger. He’d gone down to Cae Non and found three heavily pregnant ewes had got into the field. There was nothing I could do from afar except call the farmer, who removed them the next morning (Diolch, Alwyn!) fortunately no damage had been done, but it soon became clear what the problem was: a thirty foot section of fence had blown over in the recent storm ,Doris’ – the dead bracken acting like a sail and snapping the raher rotten fenceposts.
So, this afternoon, I thought I’d get some spring air in my lungs and have a go at repairing the fence. I thought it might take a few hours to do as I reckoned I’d have to dig all the posts in – the last time I had anything to do with a pig wire fence was when I was 7 with my grandfather. But I was pleasantly surprised. 20 minutes to clear the bracken, then the posts went in easily with a little persuesion from a 13-Lb sledgehammer. The ground here is very soft. Satisfied that the posts were secure, another 10 minutes of stapling the pig wire to the posts and job done.
I have noticed other areas of fence that are going to need similar treatment before too long, and as usual I’m looking for a more natural alternative. Perhaps a hedge, or maybe trees every few yards to act as living posts. I don’t know yet, only that something will fit.
In other news, as you can see in the photo, spring has come to Gwynedd… today we have had a very big event that terifies the renewable energy industry. A sunspill. I’m enjoying it while I can!