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Two Weeks Old
After two weeks, I now have only one grey partridge chick. The bacterial infection killed the second chick on Tuesday, so now I’m stuck with a single chick from the first batch. It’s being brooded with some quail, so it’s not on it’s own but it’s still pretty disappointing. The progress from last week is… Continue reading
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Re-Adoption?
Inevitably, the first batch of chicks to come off under the first broody of the year did so during one of the wildest and wettest weekends I can remember. The rain was thrashing down yesterday morning when it was revealed that the mixed clutch of pekins and silver sebrights had begun to hatch. For reasons… Continue reading
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Cat and Mouse
Worth mentioning that my insanely frustrating game of cat and mouse with the local fox cubs continues. They appear frequently enough for me to be at constant red alert, but infrequently enough for me to have lost my concentration when they do appear. Despite the fact that I am always carrying a shotgun at the… Continue reading
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Emerging Greenery
Twenty three days after the game crop was drilled, there has been some serious progress. The field is now covered with rapidly expanding little plants, and despite the fact that I still can’t tell a turnip from a radish, it’s very exciting indeed. It’s interesting that the local wildlife has shown such little interest in… Continue reading
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Pickled
Asking the local game farmer for some advice on the mystery madness which has knocked my grey partridge chick off its feet, I discovered some interesting information. I was also generously given several trays of damaged, misshapen and unusual pheasant eggs which failed the entry assessment to the incubator. Two hours later, I now have… Continue reading
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Seven Days Later
Just wanted to post this picture of the same partridge chick I photographed a week ago, when it was a day-old. I’d like to photograph the same chick every week until it gets its adult plumage, mainly because I don’t know much about grey partridges and it would be interesting to document it. He started… Continue reading
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Scoop’s Fox
After four consecutive days of rain, it was nice to get the chance to head up around the hill for a leisurely walk this afternoon. There was nothing in my traps, and as I came off the inbye fields and stepped into the car, something caught my eye on the road by the shepherd’s cottage.… Continue reading
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Further Partridge Setbacks
Despite having been lent a cracking “covina” fully automatic incubator, it looks like I’m set for another partridge disaster. I was sent two dozen eggs through the post on Tuesday and it was obvious that they had been very badly packaged. If you held the polystyrene packaging upside down, you could hear the eggs plopping… Continue reading
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Summer Weather?
All the warmth of May has totally vanished. When I was getting my broodies out this morning for their daily wander across the garden, I was struggling to keep my hat on as the wind rushed up the valley and drove rain down the back of my neck. I stood for a while with a… Continue reading
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Splay Legs
After my disastrous hatch of grey partridge at the weekend, I was fairly irritated by the fact the most promising survivor developed a dramatic case of splay-leg and quite rapidly became totally unable to move around the brooder. As I thinned out the stragglers and realised that I was only going to be left with… 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 