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Grouse on the menu
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been dining like a king. As far as I’m concerned, grouse is the finest meat in the world, and when it’s still rare and a little bit bloody, it’s the best thing going. Fortunately, I have generous friends and family who have remembered me on their various grouse shooting… Continue reading
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Wildfowling Starts Today!
Today is worthy of celebration more for the fact that it means that wildfowl are on their way than it does that shooting can begin. As a goose struck teenager on the Solway, I used to lurk in the mud beneath Criffel in the hope of shooting a goose on the morning of the first,… Continue reading
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Finish Line
Generous visitors to this blog who have come back a few times will have spotted that I have been working on a second project alongside the actual management of the Chayne. Over the last two years, I have been writing and illustrating a book about black grouse which covers natural and sporting history, moorland management… Continue reading
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Welcome guests
Amongst the various objectives I have for the Chayne, encouraging roe deer is a major goal. I love watching these animals almost as much as I love eating them, and the prospect of having some on the farm is really exciting. Since I began to clear out the woodcock strip last year, a single doe… Continue reading
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The Galloway Hills
With a bank holiday looming and little in the way of sporting shooting on offer on the Chayne, it seemed like a good idea to head up country and do some hillwalking. Of all the hills you can see from the Chayne, Cairnsmore of Carsphairn is perhaps the most dramatic. Just shy of 800 metres… Continue reading
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Worrying News
After an idle summer, my ferrets are looking forward to getting stuck into their winter work, spreading chaos and heartache amongst Dumfries and Galloway’s rabbit population. The farm where we had such fun ferreting last year continued to carry a strong stock of rabbits long after the informal season closed, and I was hopeful that… Continue reading
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Mutually Unimpressed
Following the total collapse of a nine foot section of march dyke over the weekend, I headed up to the farm this evening to fix it. Through the binoculars, it looked like a simple job to put the coping stones back up, but when I got close, I saw that the entire dyke had sagged… Continue reading
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Whackin’ Bracken
Having spent the whole of yesterday with a heavy knapsack sprayer on my back, I can honestly say that bracken control is not exactly a barrel of laughs. Lugging a leaky sixteen litre container full of Asulox over the hillside, spraying the crisp fronds of chest high bracken with a woefully small jet fitting feels… Continue reading
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Shredded Meat
At a time of year when buzzards are at their most conspicuous, the added bonus of a free meal really brings them to the forefront. Driving home from work this evening, I came across three buzzards in a field of freshly cut silage, all bowing their heads together in a small party. Pulling over, I… Continue reading
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The Glorious Twentieth?
After the excitement of the Glorious Twelfth, it’s easy to forget that another open season takes place just over a week later. Not many black grouse will be shot in Britain this year for the simple reason that there are not enough to support shooting on any scale, but there was a time not so… 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 