Raining hay...

Along with the insects, hay making suddenly burst into life with slightly unexpected consequences. While enjoying all of the damsels round the lake the other Sunday, we noted a strange, large, black shape bobbing at the water's edge. It was a large round hay bale wrapped in plastic. There was only one place it could have come from, which seemed too fantastic to be true, so of course we explored all the other implausible options as explanations for this anomaly.

Only later the next day did we discover the truth that it had indeed come down from two fields away, through the bracken, bouncing over two fences, crashing through some trees, only to belly-flop into the lake with a walrus-worthy splash. Barnes-Wallace of bouncing bomb fame would have been impressed we are sure and this epithet has now been appended as a nickname for the farmer, which is sure to last long into local folklore.

No serious damage done apart from some bent fences - the posts remained intact. You could not have done that if you had tried.

Pictures show retrieval.

Perhaps it will become a new country pursuit? Or even be added into the Olympics for 2012.

It should be pointed out that the farmer removing the 'bomb' is not the same one who put it in there.