-
The Burn Revisited
Six months after the huge burn we had down on land overlooking the Solway, I returned today for a wander around with the dog. 1,200 acres of heather went up over the course of 24 hours at the end of March, and the experience was one of the most hair-raising, exhausting and fascinating things I’ve… Continue reading
-
Peat & Smoke
Due to the fact that it’s a schizophrenic day for weather in Galloway, swinging between mild sunshine and miserable hail, the first thing I did this morning was light the fire so that there would be some heat in my office. As an experiment, I burnt some of the peat which has now been drying… Continue reading
-
Out of the Moult
Over the past month, my blackcock has grown some cracking new tail feathers. He’s quite shy about showing them off, and has only really lekked at night for the past few weeks. You could argue that because he’s blind, he doesn’t know it’s night time, but I’ve heard wild birds lekking at any time of… Continue reading
-
Chicken Dog
Just thought it would be worth including this picture of the dog pretending not to notice a party of approaching hens. She’s never shown the slightest inclination to chase them or have any dealings with them, but until I realised that, I watched her very closely whenever she went near them. She must have picked… Continue reading
-
Pheasant Poults
I realise that it’s been some time since I mentioned the pheasants which I hatched off under a broody silkie in early July. Now that these birds are just over eleven weeks old, maybe it’s worth mentioning that they’re doing quite well. They went out to their pen about three weeks ago and the cocks… Continue reading
-
A Few of My Favourite Things
Over the past three years, I’ve ranted about everything on this blog from Australian people to car air fresheners. I’ve also found time to get upset about haemorrhoids, Kate Humble, fabric conditioner, fisherman’s friends, sitka spruce trees and the fact that, as a society, we expect to pay less than £3 for an oven ready… Continue reading
-
Killer Corbies
Just worth mentioning that I saw a crow eating an adder yesterday morning. I made a point this spring of photographing a buzzard eating an adder to settle a score with a few select bodies who told me with some authority that I was a liar for daring to besmirch the reputation of buzzards by… Continue reading
-
The Peat Spade
Having experimented with cutting peat last month, I’ve managed to dry some peats out to such an extent that they are now burnable. Perhaps they are still a little damper than they should be and produced a little steam when they went on the fire, but the smell of the smoke was so pleasant that… Continue reading
-
The Incubator Army
During the course of this year, I’ve managed to accumulate quite a nice selection of birds for my project. I’ve used them to hatch off two broods of chicks, and I can’t help thinking that some positive steps have been taken. I now have two pure silkie hens (one partridge, one white), three silkie x… Continue reading
-
Pintail Pond
Keeping an eye on the bruised barley up at the flight pond, it’s obvious that I’ve had visitors. There are little passages through the weeds, and the floating feed has been pushed around and noticeably diminished when I go up each morning. There was a pair of mallard ducks on the pond yesterday morning, and… 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 