Johny Kingdom

[sanderling]

Dan...

Yeah, I thought the bloke building the hide looked just like Ray but it was probably just the outfit...

[stripee]

thanks kml, I was a bit sorry to miss the kites. Fortunately tonight no football or rugby on in Wales, so JK prog on. The hares were amazingly fast runners. I think his lake will look great in a few years, it needs time.

[Dan Salter]

Definately not Ray ...lol...i re watched last nights tonight (and tonights) just to check...

I also agree to an extent about the theme park comment...well no...im happy about all he is doing, the only thing i dont like is the "Badger roller coaster fair ground circus thing"...thats not on really...but hides are fine...the lake is a huge bonus to wildlife and bio-div etc....the hares idea is nice...if it works?...not sure about stocking fish in the wildlife pond just for the Otters but i guess thats his decision....im also keen to see what he plans to do with that huge horrible pine plantation woodland i didnt realise he had on his laaaaaand until tonight?...would be nice to see that gone and maybe re planted with mixed broadleaf...or just felled and left to succession?.

[juliejam]

For me it was another good watch..He always gets me laughing by the end of the program..He's very lucky to have some much variety of wildlife on his Land..He looks such a big softy at heart..and seeing those Deer on his land made his day...seeing him jumping out of his car and running after them ...for a moment i thought he had forgotten to put on the handbrake..


Julie

[PMG]

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

I have to say, I winced as I watched this tree 'performance' as well. I'm a bit ambivalent about J.K, but I have to say, last night's installment was very good and I'm looking forward to tonight's (maybe I've been won over after all)
In recent years there has been some major 'Dibnahisation' (I wonder, with persistence if I could get that in the O.E.D?) of the B.B.C and I have to say I quite like it! Though Christine, from 'Christine's Garden', does my head in.

Regards, Chris

I think I too have been won over after last nights prog - I haven't changed my mind about Johnny's character - and he is a character - I'll bet he;s got up to 'all sorts' in his time - but he's essentially a 'showman' I don't know whether thats a good or a bad thing but there's no denying his enthusiasm. If earning money on the telly, guiding folks around etc has netted him enough to buy some LAAAAANNNND then good luck to him. Whatever he does with it or at it will increase its diversity - the pond is a good idea - as they are being filled in all over the country. Just why he's dug it like a pit and doesn't appear to have shallow bits and why so steep sided must be down to inexperience. Maybe he won't ask for advice on how to do things - tho there;s plenty books and written advice on all aspects of countryside 'creation'. Maybe 'serious' sorts of folk won't help him - or maybe he doesn't like these kind of folk and wants things his way - on his LAAAnnd!! Whatever as they say!

Ooooh errr Chris - you got me worried now about Christine - cos I look and sound quite a bit like her

Pauline

[coasty]

Well I think the guy is great, Ok he isnt very politically correct but he is honest and cares for the countryside.. I cant help thinking about the Vis character Farmer Palmer every time I see him.

[witham]

I don't know much about establishing a mahusive pond like that, only smaller garden ones, but I was surprised when he said it was full, I thought he was leaving it again for the clay banks to harden and I expected there to be a bit more water in it, the banks seem very steep and there's not much flatter space left for animals like deer etc to drink from it.
I also agree that definitely wasn't Ray, maybe his first cousin twice removed Ray

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by PMG

I think I too have been won over after last nights prog - I haven't changed my mind about Johnny's character - and he is a character - I'll bet he;s got up to 'all sorts' in his time - but he's essentially a 'showman' I don't know whether thats a good or a bad thing but there's no denying his enthusiasm. If earning money on the telly, guiding folks around etc has netted him enough to buy some LAAAAANNNND then good luck to him. Whatever he does with it or at it will increase its diversity - the pond is a good idea - as they are being filled in all over the country. Just why he's dug it like a pit and doesn't appear to have shallow bits and why so steep sided must be down to inexperience. Maybe he won't ask for advice on how to do things - tho there;s plenty books and written advice on all aspects of countryside 'creation'. Maybe 'serious' sorts of folk won't help him - or maybe he doesn't like these kind of folk and wants things his way - on his LAAAnnd!! Whatever as they say!

Ooooh errr Chris - you got me worried now about Christine - cos I look and sound quite a bit like her

Pauline

You had better not look what I said about Christine then..

The vegetation will eventually grow over the banks so small mammals and amphibians will get in and out..As for the deer they may get stuck and drown It will probably flood in winter too..

Those Red Deer were gorgeous..

[PMG]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

You had better not look what I said about Christine then..

The vegetation will eventually grow over the banks so small mammals and amphibians will get in and out..As for the deer they may get stuck and drown It will probably flood in winter too..

Those Red Deer were gorgeous..

That's what I mean I'm like her - I get mistaken for a bloke too - but in my line of work its better than being small, slender and looking frail

Pauline

[Meta menardi]

I could forgive him a lot after the lampreys last night. He has an eye for some things, but I think his pond is a potential disaster.

[Dan Salter]

Back to the badly designed pond...my hunch is that the digger driver if he has had any sort of experience digging ponds/lakes before i bet they were "fisheries" lakes stocked with carp when this kind of profiling would be fine...normal...almost like a reservior...but clearly its totally wrong for wildlife...the vegetation will help a little eventually but thats a long way off considering the tiny amount of plants he put on a half acre pond (and all in one blob then another blob on the island?)...pond design/profile is a bug bear of mine as we now have 4 so called wildlife ponds on our college campus that are all breaking every rule in the wildlife pond profile book! and even after myself and many others mentioning this to the lecturers...there is now pond number 5 being built on our countryside training area which looks more like a sunken jaccuzzi with sides to steep even i wouldnt be able to get in or out? i just dont get it....its not exactly rocket science...but the fact lectureres are teaching it wrongly makes you realise why so many ponds out there are built wrong (for wildlife)...
its simple.....think tea saucer(with a deep centre)....and NOT casserole dish !

[snowdrop]

Perhaps he could get one of those lovely builders to knock him up a sloped or stepped gadget for wildlife access to his pond as a short term answer until the vegetation takes a proper hold? Though I have to agree it seems a bit too sparse and high up to be of use.

He;s touched lucky with .. His Laaand .. what with all manner of bird including kites and Otters, deer and Badgers. Will there be enough of ..His Laaand left to cope at the end of the series, I wonder.

[Stewy]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

I could forgive him a lot after the lampreys last night. He has an eye for some things, but I think his pond is a potential disaster.

I liked the lamprey bit too, I used to catch them along with bullheads in a local stream when I was a kid.

He liked having the deer on his land didn't he?

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Back to the badly designed pond...my hunch is that the digger driver if he has had any sort of experience digging ponds/lakes before i bet they were "fisheries" lakes stocked with carp when this kind of profiling would be fine...normal...almost like a reservior...but clearly its totally wrong for wildlife...the vegetation will help a little eventually but thats a long way off considering the tiny amount of plants he put on a half acre pond (and all in one blob then another blob on the island?)...pond design/profile is a bug bear of mine as we now have 4 so called wildlife ponds on our college campus that are all breaking every rule in the wildlife pond profile book! and even after myself and many others mentioning this to the lecturers...there is now pond number 5 being built on our countryside training area which looks more like a sunken jaccuzzi with sides to steep even i wouldnt be able to get in or out? i just dont get it....its not exactly rocket science...but the fact lectureres are teaching it wrongly makes you realise why so many ponds out there are built wrong (for wildlife)...
its simple.....think tea saucer(with a deep centre)....and NOT casserole dish !

I have only ever built one pond I copied Alan Titchmarsh's Design..On an old gardeners world I think. JK's looks like an old quarry that is near me it has JCB's the lot, they came to work on it one day and it had filled with water overnight. So they left it. It's now a fishing lake..

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by snowdrop

Perhaps he could get one of those lovely builders to knock him up a sloped or stepped gadget for wildlife access to his pond as a short term answer until the vegetation takes a proper hold? Though I have to agree it seems a bit too sparse and high up to be of use.

He;s touched lucky with .. His Laaand .. what with all manner of bird including kites and Otters, deer and Badgers. Will there be enough of ..His Laaand left to cope at the end of the series, I wonder.

I agree, although the Red Kite was not on his land it was on the land where the hares came from and then later he went to wales to view them

[WhiskyBottle]

Just caught the latest JK's on i-player.
That Red Kit by the road before he got to the feeding station was a buzzard
Great show though and I can relate to it better than the exotics from accross the globe.

[ChrisJB]

Originally Posted by PMG

Ooooh errr Chris - you got me worried now about Christine - cos I look and sound quite a bit like her

Pauline

Well, coming from the great Red Rose county, I sound a lot like her too (accentwise), though of course my voice is much deeper and more masculine.....

Regards, Chris

[PMG]

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

Well, coming from the great Red Rose county, I sound a lot like her too (accentwise), though of course my voice is much deeper and more masculine.....

Regards, Chris

LOL! According to form Chistines a bloke ............... Maybe we'll get to meet Chris (over the Mezereon maybe?!!) sometime and compare accents mine is mostly Wigan now with a smattering of Blackburn/Preston I'm told! Christine I think is more Chorley way?

Pauline

[Bouncytigger]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Can any tell me why the water in his pond on his LAND is turquoise

Thank God for that i thought it was my telly playin up

[witham]

( It will probably flood in winter too..)

I don't think it can flood as he's got that big pipe in it so if it gets above the level it is now, it just drains into it and out into the stream/brook, that's what I can't understand it doesn't seem very deep and if he's going to put fish in it to attract the kingfishers, Otters etc, he's not leaving much leeway if there's a drought and the natural spring slows down or if it dries up all together, he's going to be in trouble

[epops]

i like the way he was explaining to bloke who was planting with him that his laaaand was all clayiefied theres me thinking exmoor would be more peatyfied

[AndyC]

Only the very ighest ground on Exmooor be peatyfied, his bit bit just outzide the nationalized park anyway.

They were brook lampreys not river lampreys. They are still common in small rivers all over the southwest and they don't feed on fish! In fact in their adult form they don't feed on anything at all.

The thing I don't like about his pond is how close the bare earth bank is to that little stream. I should think a few big spates could soon start to errode it.

Still he can't be all daft, he's managed to buy fifty more acres of land than I ever have!


Andy

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by AndyC

Only the very ighest ground on Exmooor be peatyfied, his bit bit just outzide the nationalized park anyway.

They were brook lampreys not river lampreys. They are still common in small rivers all over the southwest and they don't feed on fish! In fact in their adult form they don't feed on anything at all.

The thing I don't like about his pond is how close the bare earth bank is to that little stream. I should think a few big spates could soon start to errode it.

Still he can't be all daft, he's managed to buy fifty more acres of land than I ever have!


Andy

I never thought about how close the pond is to a natural water course.. Big problems if he stocks his pond with none British species and what were those plants Hope they were none invasive indigenous types..

He only had enough money due to the filming work he has done.. Anyone with a bit of luck can achieve what he has..You never know Andy you could be next..

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by AndyC