David's Digest

Despite forecasts of significant rain a couple of nights ago, here in Norfolk it was very limited indeed. On Thursday morning at 8.00oclock I tipped 3mm out of my rain recorder and by that time the clouds had passed over. Since then nothing and the freshly drilled crops, having had only a slight freshen up from the precipitation are crying out for rain again.

March was one of the driest on record and it doesn't bode well for decent crops if we don't get a significant fall soon. The latest forecast speaks of an unsettled week to come. But seven days ago it said almost exactly the same and we need more than the odd light shower.

It is, of course, far too early to start talking about poor yields at harvest time. But a few more weeks of this and that will become a reality not just a fear.

The experts said, some time ago, that we could expect longer periods of rain and drought and not so much mixed weather. It seems they may have been right and its a cause for growing concern.

OK, I don't post very often and when I do, for the last month or two at least, I probably come over like a one trick pony. But how much longer can this drought continue?

We have spring sown crops that are virtually gasping for moisture. The land is parched and although we have peas and sugar beet showing above the ground that actually look like they have grown a little if you compare them with a week ago, I wonder what they are living on.

The late drilled winter wheats look even worse. They haven't benefited from the second top dressing because there's been no rain to wash it in. And I daresay a lot of the N we applied has volatalised.

Old fogeys will tell you that its OK and that roots must be going down for whatever moisture is still in the land and that this will be good in the long run when it does rain. But how long is long? And will crops survive that long? And when it does rain, will it ever stop? 

The last time I remember a drought of this magnitude was later in the year of 1976 - and it was a disaster.

I see from todays Telegraph that Defra has initiated control measures to stop the spread of parakeets in this country. Apparently they were released several years ago and numbers in the Home Counties are beginning to build up. If left to multiply they could become a major nuisance and do untold damage to crops. So they have to be controlled.

The RSPB has said they would prefer the birds to be re-homed, in other words caged. But if that proves too difficult they would reluctantly agree to them being shot. Here, for once, all those involved, including farmers, are able to agree on action to prevent a build-up of trouble. Glory be.

And if the parakeets in Britain are anything like the gallar's in Australia, they're all member of the parrot family, the sooner they are eliminated from the wild in the UK the better. I remember, many years ago staying with a farming family in northern New South Wales where these "ruddy gallar's" as the family called them were virtually destroying their maize crop.

They flew around in flocks and once they settled on the crop were almost impossible to move. As regular readers may remember I have a personal vendetta against pigeons that eat my rape and peas. Limiting the damage they do is bad enough but I am certain from what I saw in Australia all those years ago that parakeets would be much worse. So, go to it Defra and RSPB and don't stop until you've captured or killed the last parakeet.