'Hedging' my bets or monkeying around?

Hedge 1, Sandy Hill copse

The Monkey strainer,  Hedge 2

Who says sheep can't count! click image to see

Tough goal set by Mike today to complete the construction of Hedge 2 and surpass the efforts of last week on Hedge 1. I was worried especially as Hedge 2 was longer in length and there were more environmental challenges to face. True Mike had made an early start in preparing the ground, setting up the high tensile wire and pounding in the first 5 posts. Add to this we had the tractor on duty so perhaps  we had a fighting chance.  Helped by good ground conditions,  using the metal bar and Drival we had fixed into the ground the first row of posts by lunch, a great start.

Spent lunch time on a wander around Sherborne village and the fields around Sherborne Brook . Good news was the sight of so many healthy spring lambs especially since many sheep farmers {especially those without adequate shelters}, have suffered tragic losses due to the extended cold & snowy conditions this year.

The afternoon began with an assessment of the existing fence line which stretched between Sandy Hill copse and Clarks Close. This was to provide the other side of the Hedge 2 rectangle but needed the addition of some new posts to replace the less stable existing ones. The good news was Mike used the tractor with bucket to drive the posts into the ground but the bad news was some of them were located in the middle of the existing stretchers of blackthorn hedge which needed to be 'pruned' back {painful!}. The next step was to return to the newly constructed post line and use the mighty Monkey strainer to set the wire tension prior to fixing the chicken fence wire. So Mike took charge of rolling out the chicken fencing along with joining up the separate batches needed to cover the entire fence line length. Meanwhile I was kept busy stapling the high tensile wire to the posts and using the pig ring gun to hang the chicken fencing from the high tensile wire. Working flat out the chicken wire fencing for the new fence line was completed by close of the day but this left the installation of chicken fencing for the old fence line. Close to meeting the challenge but no cigar! Next challenge would be to plant the 1000 hedge plants made up of Hawthorn, Blackthorn and Spindle for the Hedge 1 and Hedge 2 rectangle 'frames' , then wait 3 or so years for the hedge to mature.