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More Signs of Spring
Continuing with the theme of changing seasons, I found the first cotton grass flowers of the year this morning up on the hill. The camera was wet and the photograph is not exactly a work of art, but it’s possible to get an impression of the weird silvery flowers just emerging from the stalks. In… Continue reading
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The Seesaw in Action
A few days ago, my girlfriend’s quail met a sudden and disasterous end. Without warning, rats descended on the hapless birds and literally ripped them into pieces. There was none of the savage delicacy of a stoat or a weasel, which just puncture a hole in the back of their prey’s skull – the rats… Continue reading
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The Drummers Are Back
Winter is a bleak season up on the hill. For months at a time, the only sound is clocking ravens, so it’s a relief to hear the first stirrings of life which would finally indicate that spring is on the way. Up on a bleak, blue smirry hill this evening as the sun was setting… Continue reading
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Seesaw Traps
After a great year trapping stoats and weasels in 2011, I’m keen to try some new tactics. I’ve found that these little devils seem to be pretty territorial, so if one rumbles your trap site, not only will he avoid it but the fact that he is holding the area against incomers means that nothing… Continue reading
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Larks a Lordy
What began as a trickle last week has now become a flood. Skylarks hung in every corner of the sky as I walked across the Chayne this morning, and it makes a refreshing change to hear something more than the occasional deep “clock” of a raven. It won’t be long now until the curlews are… Continue reading
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Whisky a No No?
I was somewhat surprised this week to hear that the company behind black grouse whisky (and the Famous Grouse) is ambivalent towards shooting. The publishers of my black grouse book sent a representative of Edrington Group a PDF of the text and images in the hope that some sort of a tie-in would work to… Continue reading
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Solway Burning
A chance encounter yesterday presented a great opportunity to do some heather burning, and it seemed too good to miss. Heather on the Chayne is hardly present in sufficient quantities to burn, so it not only means that I’ve got alot of work to do, but it also means that I seldom get a chance… Continue reading
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Like a Cat in a Boilersuit
After three years up on the hill, I came across my first otter last night. It comes as no surprise that they are up there, and even if I hadn’t found their tracks in the snow, I would have guessed that they were about given that the low ground on the Chayne is criss-crossed with… Continue reading
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Preparing the Ground
The soil samples have produced good news and bad news. The good news is that the testing itself was not very expensive. The bad news is everything else. The field I intend to put under a black grouse friendly crop has a soil pH of 4.9 – extremely low and conducive to the growth of… Continue reading
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First Lek
After a night of alternating periods of rain and frost, the Chayne was virtually inaccessible this morning. Although the roads just looked wet, they were glazed over with translucent ice. Driving was dangerous, but walking was lethal. I had fallen over three times before I could make it to the nearest fence, and I then… 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 