The seasons are changing up on the moor, and while the first cotton grass flowers are still invisible beneath the sphagnum moss, snowdrops have suddenly appeared on the low ground over the past week. Crows and rooks are starting to look like they might be falling into pairs, and there’s no doubt that the red Continue reading

Having had no running water in my house for a fortnight now, I must say that this cold weather has really become a serious pain. The ground has reached a state of partial thaw and refuses to go any further, so the water pipes to the house are still miserably clogged with ice. If I Continue reading

Coming to understand that sheep have an important part to play in modern moorland management has been vital to my project, but I must say that it’s sometimes hard to swallow. Of all the small fenced off areas I have set aside for tree planting, sacrificial crops and heather experiments, the sheep have resented some Continue reading

The snow has outstayed its welcome. It has been lying on the Chayne for almost three weeks, and successive waves of thawing and freezing have meant that the last two miles of farm track are now utterly impassible to even the most determined 4×4. Taking an executive decision yesterday, I walked in and sprung all Continue reading

Unlike the rest of Britain, Dumfries and Galloway appears to be avoiding the worst of the snow, but we’re making up for it by having serious sub zero temperatures at night to keep hold of what little dusting we had last week. The Chayne is starting to look quite treacherous for an old Rover, and Continue reading

By a miraculous stroke of good fortune, I had the chance to join in with the Heather Trust’s recent heather restoration workshop near Edzell in Angus on Friday. Despite my fascination with all grouse species, my technical knowledge on the subject of heather is practically non existent. Placed in an environment alongside some of the Continue reading

This time last year, I was surprised by the appearance of several dollops of semi transparent jelly which appeared as if at random across the Chayne. The damp items varied in size from a pound coin to an orange, and they were found in wet grass, on open moorland and on gateposts. Assuming it was Continue reading

It seemed like it was about time to do another dawn patrol around the Chayne after several weeks of neglecting my duties, so I got up at seven o’clock this morning and put the .243 into its sleeve. Stars still lurked overhead, but as the car headed further and further up to the high ground, Continue reading

It didn’t seem to have rained all that hard overnight. I heard water splashing on the windows at around four o’clock as I busily rearranged my pillow, but there was only a miserable shower when I got up a few hours later and went out to feed the ferrets. I should have known that up Continue reading

The berries are here. Ever since the first week in August, the rowans have been blazing away with bouquets of red berries, followed shortly after by fuzzy red  strings of hawthorn on every hedge. I have been gathering berries here and there for the past few weeks, and although most of the rowans have now Continue reading