Since I started this project, I have seen so many different sides to the farm. To begin with, it was all a blur. There was so much to see and learn that it was hard to concentrate on any details. As time has gone by, the massed confusion has, to some extent, passed by and Continue reading

The RSPB really do care about black grouse, but I had to keep reminding myself of it when I drove out to Geltsdale on Sunday to look around their reserve in the hills overlooking Carlisle. When I was interviewing some volunteers at the RSPB stand at the Great Yorkshire Show in July, they proudly informed Continue reading

The Chayne is accessed by over a mile of single track road. Grass grows green between the tyre tracks, and cattle grids buzz past underneath the car as you follow the narrow path around the hillside. Telephone and electricity cables run along the verge, suspended by a series of worryingly crooked poles, and it is Continue reading

I have been doing some research into the relationship between pheasants and black grouse. Many Victorian sporting commentators held serious reservations about  the increased number of wild pheasants in traditional black grouse habitats, and some went as far as to suggest that the imported pheasant was actually ousting the native black game from their traditional Continue reading

Walking out across the Chayne today, I was amazed at how badly the plant life is progressing. We haven’t had rain for almost a month now, and the wet ground is cracking up into dust and dead moss. The oats are coming along nicely, although they are starting to turn slightly yellow. If we don’t Continue reading

This is the first year that I have ever noticed wheatears on the Chayne, and over the past three months, the little birds have become a really significant part of the farm’s character. They flicked their white tails ahead of the car as I drove up to the farm, settling on the stone walls for Continue reading

My reconnaissance missions on the Chayne are far from over. When I first started to shoot foxes up there in September of last year, I quickly built up a store of information about the terrain, the wildlife and where the vermin could be found. As the seasons rotate, this information invalidates itself periodically. Now we Continue reading

The heather laboratory continues to go from strength to strength, looking magnificent in its current guise as a cotton field. Keeping the sheep off the hare’s tail cotton grass flowers throughout February and March has meant that the entire enclosure is now knee deep in puffy fruits. Black grouse and red grouse both love to Continue reading

I am becoming wary of caterpillars. Ever since I discovered that certain species occassionally undergo population explosions and destroy heather stands, I have treated every new species with suspicion. It turns out that the most pestilent species of caterpillar for upand keepers is actually faily small and dull looking, but uncovering fantastically decorated species as Continue reading

Walking through the rough grass above the new wood, I came across one of the most fantastic moths I have ever seen. He was lounging on a mixed tuft of purple moor grass and cross leaved heather, and when I tried to scoop him up for a photograph, he sprayed my hand with a runny, Continue reading