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Photography
In the same week that I put my long lensed camera on the bonnet of the car, forgot about it and drove off, I found this picture online (above) which really sets the bar for wild bird photography. My camera may now be smashed and require repairs to the tune of a couple of hundred… Continue reading
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A Dash of Lime
The game cover was drilled yesterday, and today the spreader came up with a ton of lime. The soil samples I took earlier in the year showed that the field’s pH is very low, so if my crop is going to stand a chance of performing well, some action was called for. I could probably… Continue reading
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The Mix
The time has arrived for the game cover crop to be sown, and it has been quite fun mixing a custom crop for the Chayne. After a great deal of humming and ha-ing, I settled on an odd combination of this and that which will now be drilled into the field which has been ploughed… Continue reading
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To brood or not to brood?
For the last week, my two bantams have been dancing around the issue of going broody. They take it in turns to sit on the clutch of plastic dummy eggs, and one of them always sleeps on the clutch at night, but neither are really committing to the idea. Perhaps it’s because it’s been so… Continue reading
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Tawny Chick
Just wanted to post this picture of a tawny owl chick in the fir trees behind my house. I would never have spotted the little brute if he hadn’t been silhouetted against the last glow of the sunset, and he sat squeaking cheerily away to himself while I crept up and took some photographs. An… Continue reading
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A Rare Swim
I am not one of nature’s swimmers. I don’t enjoy the feeling of sudden and panicked terror which overcomes me as soon as I go out of my depth, and I have such an inefficient swimming technique which means that I am totally exhausted after just few feet of wriggling and thrashing through the water… Continue reading
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Idle Hours
I had some time to spare on my return from Perthshire last week, and I spent them driving slowly up the side of Loch Rannoch with my binoculars and camera lens sticking out of the car window. There were all sorts of things to look at, and by the time that I finally turned to… Continue reading
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Late Lek
Just worth mentioning in brief that I’ve just returned from a press trip up in Perthshire and had a chance to see what was going on at leks in the shadow of Schiehallion. It’s always a real pleasure to watch displaying blackcock, and even though the biggest lek I saw this morning held just six… Continue reading
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Baby Incubators
At almost three weeks old, it’s still impossible for me to tell what sex my two silkie x light sussex bantams are. I’ve followed all the usual criteria for sexing them, and the best I can deduce is that they are one of each sex, although which is which will be the next question. Now… Continue reading
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Buzzards and Adders
I posted in some detail last year on the subject of buzzards killing adders, and as the seasons revolve, it seems like the time has come again for adders to be picked out of the young bracken. Most people don’t like adders, and it won’t be heartbreaking for the majority of readers to see these… 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 