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More breeding visitors
Even though we are now into May, I can see no end to the increasing diversity of bird life on the Chayne. Driving along the last half mile track to the farm this afternoon, I came across a pair of territorial peewits. The birds lifted up from the bog by the car and sailed around… Continue reading
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Big plans for a little wood
When the deluge of woodcock descended last year and the skies were filled with fluttering stripey bodies, the Chayne showed itself to be a real hotspot. At night, the fields were filled with bustling silhouettes, and it was easy to spot the birds as they flew out to feed on the darkening. After having put… Continue reading
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Throwing his weight around
It seems like life for this black grouse cock is settling into an easy rhythm. He tends to the greyhen in the bog for half an hour and leks for her, then flies to the top of the nearest hill to carry out in-depth patrols. I watched him this afternoon fly up over the road… Continue reading
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Further triumphs!
I have been worrying about my black grouse cock. If he didn’t have a female by his side, he was wasting his time by aimlessly lekking to himself. If he didn’t have a female, it would be a matter of time before he was killed by a fox and that would be the end of… Continue reading
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Fortifications
The cows are coming. Each summer, two lorry loads of cows come up from the tenant’s other farm in the lowlands and spend the summer behaving boisterously and making themselves unpopular. The shepherd is dreading their arrival, but this is the way things have been since time immemorial and nothing short of a major volcanic… Continue reading
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Good news and bad
When I found the first black grouse on the Chayne in over two years, I was thrilled. When I saw the second, I could hardly believe my luck. It turns out that I shouldn’t have believed my luck. I saw the same bird twice, and so it seems like we have a single black grouse… Continue reading
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Skylarking
Skylarks have become an enormous part of life on the Chayne. Along with meadow pipits, they fill the grass with rustling enthusiasm, bursting out from the heather to hang overhead like tiny fat kestrels, singing as if their lives depended upon it. I include this post at this point because I was thrilled to finally… Continue reading
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Comparing habitats
Although I hadn’t meant it to, this blog has become overwhelmed with posts about black grouse. I am utterly in love with the birds, and seeing them properly for the first time this spring has skyrocketed them up my list of favourite British birds. Finding them on the farm was a tremendous boost, and I… Continue reading
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The larch cometh
Larch trees are something of a new discovery for me. Before I began this project, all trees were dull, shapeless and ambiguously leafy. I could tell the difference between oak and horse chestnut, and I was only dimly aware of the existence of a handful of other species. Coming to manage the Chayne and realising… Continue reading
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Drinker moths and stonechats
The Chayne is really coming to life. An ever expanding list of birds, mammals and insects seems to be coming out of hiding across the farm, and what during the winter months was a featureless desert is now becoming an oasis of noise and natural industry. Skylarks, meadow pipits and curlews appeared within a few… 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 