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A Scarcity of Crows
It’s being a very odd spring for the crows on the Chayne. I would usually have caught several pairs by now, but I have only been able to catch a single bird so far. It’s not as if my campaign is being badly directed (I don’t think) – I am just not seeing the birds… Continue reading
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Perdix Eggs
The saga of the laying partridges continues, with 38 eggs now laid in a fortnight. A silkie x sussex is sitting on the first clutch of a dozen, another dozen are getting started in the incubator prior to going under an old and trusted black rock bantam, and I gave ten to the keeper’s son… Continue reading
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Teesdale in the Spring
It’s always a huge pleasure to drive down to Barnard Castle, particularly at this time of year when the hills are heaving with birds. I spent three hours on Friday driving slowly around the roads by Langdon Beck, watching lapwings, redshank, dunlin, snipe, blackcock, grouse, curlews, oystercatchers, golden plovers, wheatears and skylarks. Some fields had… Continue reading
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Lucky Shot
The past few days have been spent on an extended excursion to England; not usually the Scotsman’s holiday destination of choice, but certainly a fantastic change of scenery for anyone with an interest in birds and moorland. In fact, being a southerner, it is much quicker to see a fantastic array of birds in Northern… Continue reading
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Cuckoo’s Return
What better way to wake up on a Sunday morning than to the sound of the first cuckoo? Pulling back the curtains, I looked out over the flattened streaks of bracken above the house, studded with naked willows and rowans. The ground seemed to be sweating, creating palls of mild, vaporous mist which wandered aimlessly… Continue reading
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Dummy Eggs
Now that the partridges are laying with some gusto, I’m having some trouble keeping on top of them. In theory, I am supposed to let the hens lay a clutch of eggs before removing them all and putting them under a broodie hen. In the absence of her first clutch, the hen will then lay… Continue reading
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Solo Performance
Given that this morning was the first still, quiet morning we’ve had for a while, I headed out onto the hill behind the house to look for a lek which I have been keeping an eye out for for a while. Although it looked promising from my bedroom window, by the time I had had… Continue reading
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Peak District Ouzels
Getting to know the Peak District is proving to be a very worthwhile exercise. A day spent walking in the hills above the Upper Derwent Valley yesterday with the National Trust tenant produced a jaw-dropping array of wild birds, and it was extremely exciting to get my first proper look at a ring ouzel. Having… Continue reading
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Dodgy Joinery
Despite miserable wind and rain over the past few days, spring has formally arrived. I saw four swallows on Monday for the first time, and have seen others every day since. The partridges are getting into a rhythm of laying, although one pair still hasn’t started yet. We’re up to ten eggs so far, and… Continue reading
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Welcome Wheatears!
Just hours after my first partridge egg, I not only found two others in the other pens, but also saw my first wheatear of 2013. It was blowing a gale up on the hill, and I had gone up for the afternoon to plant the last of the downy birch trees into a stand of… Continue reading
About
“Shout on, Morgan. You’ll be nothing tomorrow”
Swn y galon fach yn torri, 1952
Also at: https://andtheyellowale.substack.com
Bog Myrtle & Peat 