In the name of pigs...

We’d like to thank all our young visitors over the last few weeks for putting suggestions in the box for naming our new piggies! We are pleased to announce that the names have now been drawn and are as follows…

The Oxford Sandy & Blacks are called Ron (male) and Sugar (female), and the four Saddlebacks are called Banjo (male), Alex (male), Buffy (female) and Rainbow (female). 

The lucky draw has spoken, for good or bad… Make sure you come and visit our lovely pigs in the sunshine this summer! They love attention, although we don’t recommend touching as they may think your fingers are delicious crudités.

Hello June!

After a beautiful bank holiday weekend in the sunshine, the weather has been a little bit miserable this week. It’s certainly not the June we were wishing for! Hopefully it will brighten up throughout the month and we’ll be treated to a delicious English summer – that means at least one day a week with no rain…For some of our farm wildlife, the rain is always a pleasant treat! We found this handsome toad on the steps of our visitor centre, looking a little bemused and covered in cobwebs (where had he been lurking?!). Fortunately we moved him before he was squashed by dog paws or visitor shoes, and he now lives in the wildflower bank among the comfrey flowers.The swallows have now returned to their nests in the eaves of the roundhouse roof; if you look very closely into the darkness you can see them flitting in and out in search of insects. They certainly don’t seem to mind the smoke! We are also on the lookout for our family of stoats, who last year we watched carrying their kits across the site in search of a new den. We managed to get this photo of one mid-leap!

Elsewhere, the site is always filled with the songs of yellowhammers and wrens, and the cackle of woodpeckers as they dip across the downland. We have lots of great events over the next few months, so why not join us and bring prehistory to life amidst the beautiful scenery of the South Downs? Have a look at our events here.

The pigs are back in town

Regular visitors will know that last year we said goodbye to our biggest pigs Beryl and Bertha due to their mammoth size causing health problems, along with the four weaners that stayed with us for the summer. The great news is that we now have six new piglets living at Butser Ancient Farm!We have four Saddlebacks from our friends at Manor Farm near Southampton, and two Oxford Sandy and Blacks from Bedales School in Petersfield. When we first introduced them to each other there were the usual squabbles and nibbles of ears, but one week later they have devised a hierarchy among themselves and now tumble along together quite happily.But alas! Our piggies are yet to be named! We have set up a name suggestion box in our visitor centre, and we would love your ideas on what to call our new porcine pals. Until we make a decision, here they are in all their ferocity:[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWk4FxITV4I[/embed]

Beltain 2016: 'It was the best one!'

What a fantastic weekend it turned out to be in the South Downs! Our annual Beltain festival was bigger and better than ever before, and the team at Butser would like to extend a very warm thank you to all the visitors, volunteers and exhibitors who made the event an evening to remember. This year our mystery wickerman took the form of a great wicker stag, with the body of a man and the head of a deer – complete with white blaze, gleaming eyes and antlers!

The site was filled with an array of brilliant performers and exhibitors, including prehistoric re-enactors, ancient craftsmen, drummers, Morris dancers, live folk music, ancient musicians, storytelling, Roman cookery, astronomy, woodwork, metalwork and magnificent birds of prey. We truly are very grateful to all our performers for making Beltain the magical event that it was meant to be – the visitors seemed thrilled with what we had to offer this year.

Thanks to ticket fees, on-site purchases and the overall generosity of our visitors, we have raised a wonderful amount of money to fund future archaeological projects and develop our education programme. Every year the farm welcomes more and more visitors, and we are keen to develop the site further to enhance your experience with us and really take our visitors on an intriguing journey back to ancient Britain.

We would once again like to thank all our volunteers who worked tirelessly to bring Beltain together. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2017 on Saturday 29th April!

Above: The wickerman by Rebecca Saunders

Above: Pentacle drummers by Inside Hampshire

Above: Drumming by Eleanor Sopwith

Above: Clash of weapons by Eleanor Sopwith

Above: Roman cookery by Eleanor Sopwith

Above: Ancient people by Eleanor Sopwith

Above: Ancient crafts by Eleanor Sopwith

Above: Pentacle drummers by Rebecca Saunders

Above: The burning man by Eleanor Sopwith

Above: Lighting the torches by Rebecca Saunders

Above: The torch procession by Rebecca Saunders

Above: All that remained of the wickerman on Sunday morning!

Very Lovely Visitors

This Easter we’ve been overrun by wonderful visitors enjoying prehistoric life in the sunshine. We’ve had shamanic drumming demonstrations, weaving displays, Iron Age cookery, Roman soldiers and metallurgy workshops, as well as our Easter bunny hunt and all the usual archaeological activities for the whole family!We thought we’d share below some of the kind and thoughtful comments left by visitors this holiday. We hope to meet more of you throughout the week and the rest of the warm months!‘Our first visit! Had a fab time, very interesting and the kids loved it. Thank you and keep up the good work – great stuff!’‘First visit for several years and enjoyed the new additions very much. A wonderful interpretation of ancient Britain.’‘Such lovely staff. Very knowledgeable. We missed you over the winter!’‘Wonderful achievement – great to see the past and live it too. Great day out for all ages!’‘Fascinating! Friendly and informative staff made for a very enjoyable and informative visit. Thank you.’‘What a great place. We will definitely come back for more! People were awesome, friendly and knowledgeable. I am looking forward to Beltain and hope to hear from you about running Nålbinding courses!’‘I loved the place because I learned some new things that I can tell my teacher!’‘Thank you! Your staff are amazing and the roundhouses and Roman villa are absolutely awesome!’

Celebrating National Parks with Liz Truss

Yesterday was an exciting day for Butser staff, as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Liz Truss visited as part of a new campaign to engage people with their national parks. The scheme involves giving every schoolchild in the country a chance to visit one of their local national parks, as new figures reveal only 10% of schoolchildren currently have access to outdoor learning.“National Parks already welcome over 90 million visitors every year and make a major contribution to our vibrant rural economy – but too many children in our country are not aware of these natural wonders… By instilling a love of nature in our young people and building thriving communities in every National Park, our plan will allow these unique spaces to flourish for generations to come.” (Liz Truss)Together with our friends at the South Downs National Park Authority, we welcomed the Secretary of State to visit Butser Ancient Farm, and later Queen Elizabeth Country Park, to see how beneficial outdoor learning is for local children. Thanks to SDNPA for their collaboration – and for providing a great selection of local cakes!Remember, from this weekend we’re open every day until Autumn – we look forward to seeing old friends and welcoming new visitors! Easter weekend activities include our Bunny Treasure Trail, Roman soldiers on site and the Hampshire Coppice Group demonstrating on Monday.Meeting the Butser and SDNPA teams in the Janus Visitor CentreWalking down to the Iron Age enclosureChalk carving with Herne Junior SchoolExploring the Little Woodbury roundhouseTaking a look inside the Danebury roundhouseOur new Saxon longhouse based on local excavations from ChaltonThe South Downs National Park put on a great spread of local cakes!

Spring has Sprung!

After months of grizzly and confusing weather, dare we say it’s starting to feel a little like spring? The air feels fresher and all those aromas of budding leaves are filling our lungs here at Butser. Yesterday we were lucky enough to witness the birth of our first lamb! From now on they’ll be popping out all over the place, and soon our flock will have doubled in size.Most excitingly, the A-frame of our wicker man has now been raised and the rest of the build will follow over the next few weeks, ready for our Beltain festival on 30th April. This year we have a brand new design that is rather different to our previous wicker men, but we’re hoping it will look grander than ever! As all Beltain-goers know, it’s very important to please the gods to ensure a hearty harvest…Meanwhile, the wildlife on site is waking up to the bustle of spring. Yellowhammers, robins, dunnocks and blackbirds have been decorating the hedgerow behind the Roman villa, and the song thrush has been tooting her melodies in the forest by the car park. The goats are particularly happy, as the fresh air and sunshine means they can leave their wooden shack and play outside in the grass. The chickens are contented as ever, despite their ongoing hatred for the pheasants.

Wildlife at Night

We find all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures at Butser, and recently we decided to try and capture our most elusive creatures on camera. Local school Bedales kindly lent us their trail camera from the Biology department, and over the last few days we’ve been placing it around the farm to see what visitors we have at night.We know that a barn owl comes and eats in our Saxon house, and another bird of prey eats in the villa, but unfortunately our attempts to film them have so far been unsuccessful! Last night, however, we decided to place the camera at the junction between the paths and paddock near the Stone Age enclosure, and on the ground we placed a few dollops of dog food.Success! We spotted a fox, badger, bunny, pheasant, magpie and our own chickens. We’ll keep putting the camera out this week and next to see what we can find – lots of fingers crossed for the owl!BadgerChubby Fox Tiny bunnyMagpieChickens