IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Stephenson Way, BOURNE, PE10 9DD

One of the post-war estates with a mix of highly sought after homes is Stephenson Way, built to the east of the town in the 1970s and named after George Stephenson of railway fame because the old Bourne to Sleaford line ran through part of the land eaten up by the development.

Urban back gardens have become a haven for flora and fauna as intensive farming practices and the constant use of agro-chemicals continue to destroy their natural habitats out there in the countryside. Putting out morsels of food regularly and the judicious planting of small trees, shrubs and flowers can attract birds and insects all year round such as this small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) photographed in Stephenson Way, Bourne, feeding on a buddleia, the only survivor on a bush of that year’s fading blooms.

The most familiar farming sight is ploughing, the annual turning of the upper layer of soil to bring fresh nutrients to the surface while burying weeds and the remains of previous crops and allowing them to break down. Here a four furrow reversible plough can be seen at work in the autumn on a fifty acre stubble field between the north of Bourne and Dyke village. See also Image

The plough is drawn through the soil creating long trenches of fertile soil called furrows and the field is then left to dry out before it is harrowed ready for planting. Here a four furrow reversible plough can be seen at work in the autumn on a fifty acre stubble field between the north of Bourne and Dyke village. See also Image

The farming year is a continual programme of activity beginning with ploughing in the autumn through to seeding, fertilising and harvesting and then the cycle begins again. But ploughing is among the most familiar of our countryside scenes and although the horse has now been replaced by the tractor, it still evokes a reminder of our dependency on the land for our food as it did in past times.

Wheat is a major crop in the Lincolnshire corn belt that extends throughout the county to Bourne in the south where the fields are so close to residential areas that the combines sometimes have to drive through housing estates to reach them. This sixty-acre field between the northern outskirts of the town and Dyke village can be seen from my first floor study window from where I have a grandstand view of the farming year and having seen this crop planted and grown over the past few months, it is now the turn of the combine to harvest it, a task that takes only a few hours before the grain is ready for despatch.

Butterflies are becoming a less familiar sight in our back gardens especially those close to farmland where agricultural chemicals take their toll but we still get occasional glimpses of these colourful visitors such as this beautiful peacock (Aglais io) settling on the buddleia long enough to get a picture.

After the combine comes the baler, seen here collecting pea vine left over from the harvest in a 50-acre field north of Bourne which will soon be under the plough, preparing the land for another growing year.

There was a time when proud car owners devoted Sunday mornings to washing and polishing their vehicles to keep them looking in pristine condition throughout the week but today such tasks are regarded as a chore and it is easier to telephone for a car valet to come round and give it a shampoo and polish such as here in Stephenson Way, Bourne.

In past times scrumping was one of the lesser crimes of boyhood because taking the odd apple from an abundant tree was not regarded as theft. It is a less frequent occurrence today when fast food such as pizzas, crisps and chips takes precedence to fruit and so these ripe and juicy apples hanging over the pavement from a front garden tree in Stephenson Way are safe from young marauders and even the windfalls lie untouched on the ground, save for the odd peck from a passing blackbird.