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Bullfinches
There have been bullfinches in the same little glen just before Christmas for the past five years. I don’t know what they get from the place – it is just rank heather, weeds and bracken. Sometimes they eat seeds off the docks, and sometimes they just seem to lounge around on what remains of the… Continue reading
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Snaring Season
As the legislation surrounding snaring gets tighter and tighter in Scotland, I speak to more and more people who are thinking of just packing it in. Farmers and small-time syndicate keepers just can’t face the red tape, and although they dread the consequences that a drop in efficient fox control could bring about, a culture… Continue reading
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Haws and Hedges 2013
As the new year approaches and a new list of projects starts to be made up, I decided today to make an early start on a length of hedge which will go in along the inside of the field where the game cover went in this year. Fortunately, the dyke is in relatively good nick,… Continue reading
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Christmas Harrier
This seems to be the time of year when hen harriers become quite conspicuous in unexpected places. I see most of them on the Chayne during January and February, but in late December each year I seem to come across one or two in what I would normally imagine would be far from harrier country.… Continue reading
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Loose Ends
Worth posting an update on the ermine which made an appearance in the stack of logs at the beginning of the week. True to form, it was curious enough to come back for a look at the damage that I had done to its nest and was not put off by the fact that I… Continue reading
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A Maize Experiment
Just as an experiment, I bought a bag of maize to try on the pheasants at the Chayne. They have been hitting the feed hoppers pretty hard since the first snow came down, and I’ve actually been struggling to keep them full of wheat for the past fortnight. All kinds of other songbirds have been… Continue reading
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Heather Beetle
As part of my work for the Heather Trust, I went down to the Peak District yesterday to look at the damage caused by some extremely serious heather beetle outbreaks. Heather beetle is not something I’ve ever really had to deal with on my own ground, mainly due to a shortage of heather, but it… Continue reading
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Christmas Tree
Cut them down, make them look stupid and then watch them slowly die. If only more religious festivals involved the ritual destruction of a sitka spruce tree. Continue reading
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The White Death
The past week has been dominated by stoats. Not only did I manage to catch the marauder in my mother’s hen run, but I also spotted a pure ermine yesterday while pacing out the dimensions of a new fence which is due to go up in the next few weeks. For a moment, I mistook… Continue reading
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Cold Snap
The snow which fell a week ago is still lying after successive periods of hard weather, and it really does seem as though winter has descended upon Galloway with quite a bump. I have to go round in frequent circuits of all the bird drinkers to defrost them, and the only hens who are even… 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 