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While the going’s good
It has been a few months since Richard and I last visited the Chayne to lamp it. Having seen the tiny fox cub crossing the road on the way back from Orkney last month, I had a vague idea of how far along the breeding has come this year, but nothing prepared me for what… Continue reading
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Alive and well
No one has seen the blackcock for a while, so we were all starting to worry. He now lives so near the house that the shepherd tells me she can hear him calling at last light from her kitchen, but the fact that she has not been able to hear anything at all recently was… Continue reading
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The cotton fields
The heather laboratory continues to go from strength to strength, looking magnificent in its current guise as a cotton field. Keeping the sheep off the hare’s tail cotton grass flowers throughout February and March has meant that the entire enclosure is now knee deep in puffy fruits. Black grouse and red grouse both love to… Continue reading
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Gustav brings home the bacon
The new call bird hasn’t been long in working his magic. The hardest part of operating a number of larsen traps is catching the first bird, and many people find that as soon as they get a good caller from somewhere else, they are suddenly overwhelmed with successes. Sure enough, less than twelve hours after… Continue reading
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An experiment in drainage
My oat empire is expanding. Despite the fact that chaffinches have pecked away at the majority of the oats I sowed last week, the sky is the limit for the size of area that I can plant up with cereal crops. The major downside to the Chayne is the fact that nothing at all has… Continue reading
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A crow in time…
Knowing where the black grouse are nesting gives me the opportunity to focus my management efforts on the right area. I have sown oats in an adjacent garden and am now preparing another little patch on the hillside above the farm where I have seen the blackcock strutting around over the past few weeks. Much… Continue reading
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Sacrificial Crops
One of many suggestions to come from my recent meeting with John Cowan was the idea of putting in a so called “sacrificial crop” for the benefit of the black grouse. Despite being so much rarer than red grouse, blackcock actually seem to be rather easier to look after than their famous cousins. Historically, they… Continue reading
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Bespoke Ballistics
As was driven home quite firmly once again last week, rifle shots on the Chayne are always long. 1600 acres of open, undulating moorland mean that stalking skills are almost totally redundant. You either take a long shot or you don’t fire at all. My confidence with rifle accuracy is steadily building, but only because… Continue reading
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New ideas
The black grouse and his greyhen seem to be doing very well in the bog by the farm buildings. I watched him this afternoon as he jumped back and forth off the foundations of a ruined stone wall a hundred yards away. In theory, the greyhen should be sitting on eggs by now and he… Continue reading
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More caterpillars
I am becoming wary of caterpillars. Ever since I discovered that certain species occassionally undergo population explosions and destroy heather stands, I have treated every new species with suspicion. It turns out that the most pestilent species of caterpillar for upand keepers is actually faily small and dull looking, but uncovering fantastically decorated species as… 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 