11th July 2025

A Week on the Estate: Summer Heat, Converging Hunters & Harvest Begins

We’re almost halfway through meteorological summer and very warm weather is expected over the next few days. For us, the current mini-heatwave is forecast to peak with a daytime high of 30C on Friday 11^th July, tapering down to 21C by Tuesday 15^th. Enjoy the weekend’s sunshine but do look after yourselves.

The harvest is already underway and challenging weather demands skill, experience and adaptability from the arable team. Spring 2025 was the driest in over 100 years with an average of 80mm of rainfall across the UK, contrasting with a seasonal average of 229mm. Summer has brought some relief but the picture remains remarkably dry. England also had the warmest June since 1884. Both heat and lack of rainfall were most pronounced in eastern counties like ours.

Wonky weather aside, we remain blessed to do what we do in the wonderful Lincolnshire Wolds. That’s why we’re thrilled to welcome the brand-new Farm School to South Ormsby Estate. If you missed our interview with Amy Jones, one of the Farm School’s founders, you can read her blog HERE. Amy’s recent podcast appearance is HERE and you can follow the Farm School’s socials HERE. If you know a young person who’d love to get better acquainted with the farming lifestyle and landscape – and our curious chickens! – we heartily recommend a chat with Amy.

If you’re following our socials, you’ll know that Jacqui’s been out and about with her camera, capturing our wonderful and varied birdlife. Our wildlife-friendly farming practices are giving her plenty to go at! On that note, it’s time to catch up with our BirdWeather.

Here’s the BirdWeather top 20 (by acoustic activations) for the four weeks to 10^th July:

1. Woodpigeon (131,747) / 2. Wren (77,482) / 3. Goldfinch (64,701) / 4. Blackbird (46,540) /

5. Jackdaw (44,503) / 6. Chiffchaff (19,936) / 7. Chaffinch (19,865) / 8. House Martin (17,436) /

9. Rook (13,387) / 10. Greenfinch (9,817) / 11. Song Thrush (8,310) / 12. Robin (8,088) /

13. Goldcrest (7,694) / 14. Feral Pigeon (7,308) / 15. Blue Tit (6,483) /

16. Long-tailed Tit (5,438) / 17. Carrion Crow (4,846) / 18. White Wagtail (3,684) /

19. Yellowhammer (3,378) / 20. Stock Dove (3,364)

Also of note are the swallow (28^th with 2,323 hits), the redstart (30^th with 1,401 hits), the bullfinch (40^th with 436 hits) and the swift (54^th with 140 hits). The wren’s success is no surprise to this writer, who is routinely woken at dawn by this tiny bird with the mighty voice. It’s also wonderful to see those aerobatic, migratory bug-hunters, the house martin, the swallow and the swift (pictured above in that order), doing well here.

The swift has been particularly affected by changing farming practices and declining bug populations so their modest resurgence is encouraging. Here’s our favourite swift fact: they are not related to swallows! Despite being close in appearance and behaviour, house martins and swallows belong to the Hirundinidae family, whereas swifts belong to the Apodidae family and are more closely related to hummingbirds. Their similarities come from evolutionary convergence; widely separated species that evolve to fill similar niches can end up looking somewhat alike.

If you’re a bird enthusiast, do keep an eye on our BirdWeather. Our acoustic monitors are opening a window onto an otherwise hidden world populated by traditional farmland species making a welcome comeback. There are all sorts of pleasant surprises in the data and browsing it always cheers us up.

Finally, if you’re planning a walk around South Ormsby Estate next week, please note that we’ve scheduled culvert repairs at Furze Close. The work will begin on Monday 14th July and last for five days.

Footpath 111 on the west side of Furze Close will be affected. We aim to complete the job on-schedule and avoid weekend working. Thanks as ever for your support and understanding.

If you’d like to join the conversation, we’d love to hear from you. Just head to our Facebook page HERE and comment beneath the latest blog post. As ever, thanks for your support.

* House Martin image by Ian McFegan / Flickr CC

* Swallow image by Katsura Miyamoto / Flickr CC

* Swift image via Wiki CC

A Week on the Estate: Summer Heat, Converging Hunters & Harvest Begins

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