Anne-Marie Hamilton talks about farming in Hail Weston

On an arable farm, season follows season in an orderly fashion and the work gets done in the correct sequence each year.

Each task is undertaken without question as it arises. There is usually too much to do with planning the next job, to worry about the one recently completed, so I was rather surprised to read in Farmers Weekly that one of their farming columnists had been asked by his daughter – what her father’s favourite job was on the farm?

It would appear that he had never really given the matter much thought, and that set me wondering about whether Rob had one or not.

Rob, too, seemed slightly perplexed by the question, and it took him a moment to answer. He finally came up with 'hay making' (incidentally the same choice as the columnist), and I could well understand why.

Hay making is invariably carried out in the warmer, sunny months of the year and on this farm, we tend to use the little vintage yard tractor which does not have a cab on it.

Unlike the massive, noisy, computerised tractors which are used for many field tasks, the yard tractor chugs along and does not require undiluted concentration to operate it.

Working alone, the driver has time to notice his surroundings - a large brown hare loping across the field, a buzzard swooping down to catch a rat for its lunch, pretty wild flowers at the edge of the field, or something in the hedgerow.

It was whilst making hay this year that Rob saw something so unusual that it made him stop the tractor and have a closer look.

Hanging on the hawthorn hedge was what looked like a silk pouch – teeming with caterpillars – all of whom will eventually turn into nationally scarce small eggar moths.

Rob found the sac that contains the nationally scarce small Eggar moths. (Image: ANNE MARIE HAMILTON)

Maybe this is the joy of hay-making; time to contemplate the world around you whilst still getting a very important job done on the farm!