Bog Myrtle & Peat

Getting excited about spring migrants, I’ve been keeping a keen ear pressed to the window during the past two days in the office. Chiff-chaffs now abound, and seconds ago, while writing my column for June’s edition of the Shooting Gazette, I heard the first willow warbler of the year – a major milestone and one of… Continue reading

A quick turn around the Chayne with the rifle at first light this morning provided one of the most spectacular, dizzying, almost life-affirming engagements with nature that I can ever remember. More to come in due course, but lying out in the dew above an astonishing “cloud inversion” at dawn this morning, I was able… Continue reading

With the curlew’s return, I’ve been able to spot one individual bird that made his presence felt last year. Without artificial aids like leg rings or wing tags, it’s not easy to reliably tell birds apart in the field, but this one cock has a crippled leg which sticks out below him when he flies and… Continue reading

As part of a series of video projects, I’ve recently had to buy a new microphone for my camera. There will be much more on this to come, but suffice to say for now that I had some success recording skylarks and snipe yesterday on the Chayne, and I think the results are quite impressive.… Continue reading

Going through some photographs from last month, I couldn’t resist posting this picture of a Manx chough taken during my visit to the Isle of Man a few days ago. This bird helpfully chose to mob a raven over the cliffs at Peel Hill, and the resulting picture provides a handy sense of scale (below). It’s… Continue reading

Amidst all the excitement of spring, it was a rather gloomy experience to see the lapwings’ return to fields which were drained during last summer. Lapwings always provided a ready distraction on this ground, and for eighteen months I lived within earshot of their tumbling displays down on the low ground near the Chayne. Their… Continue reading

It was a foul day yesterday, so what better opportunity to stay in and play with the graphics tablet I was lent at the start of the year. Working with a stylus and having to negotiate photoshop made for a frustrating challenge, but I was encouraged by the tremendous scope for chopping and changing made… Continue reading

After another excellent day volunteering with the Galloway Fisheries Trust to clear sitka spruce scrub from the banks of the Little Water of Fleet on Friday, I headed home on the pretty route through black grouse country as the sun started to set. Although mildly disappointed not to see the short eared owls again, I got… Continue reading

It’s always a major date in the diary and a massive milestone of spring, so of course it’s worth marking the arrival of the first wheatear of 2015 on the Chayne yesterday – a game little cock bird bouncing around the knowes. The past few years have always brought hens first, so I wonder if… Continue reading

Having thoroughly enjoyed my trip out to the Isle of Man last year, I was keen to get back for round two – albeit with a single and extremely important change. No matter what happened, I was determined not to take the late night ferry crossing from Heysham which usually leaves the port at 2:15am.… Continue reading