Bog Myrtle & Peat

Low Airie, Glenkens – 7/6/20 The cattle have been out for a month, and it feels like they have grasped the meaning of their work. It’s fine to hear them ripping at the new grass, gently reshaping the hill with a thousand gobful tears. The ecological benefits of having them out are increasingly plain to… Continue reading

Cwa’een like milk-wort and bog-cotton hair! I love you, earth, in this mood best o’ a’ When the shy spirit like a laich wind moves And frae the lift nae shadow can fa’ Sine there’s nocht left to thraw a shadow there Owre een like milk-wort and milk-white cotton hair.   Wad that nae leaf… Continue reading

Courthill, Buittle Parish – 31/5/20 The calving is halfway done, and the new calves lie snoozing in a blare of sunshine. Here is the second generation of calves from my bull Godwit, and they’re a fine mix of patterns and colours. The most beautiful by far is an immaculately marked riggit heifer born last week… Continue reading

Courthill, Buittle Parish – 31/5/20 A week after it was discovered, I can’t resist a brief update on the oystercatchers which are nesting in my hayfield. These birds have become a signal point of interest this spring, and I pass their nest twice a day as I go back and forth to check the new… Continue reading

Low Airie, Glenkens – 31/5/20 It’s worth a note on the subject of shit, because as my cattle rove back and forth across the hill, they leave a visible trail behind them. I’ve always been curious about the conservation value of this by-product, and I’ve been steadily drawn towards the role of cow pats in… Continue reading

Courthill, Buittle Parish – 24/5/20 I sometimes find it hard to quantify the good I do. In muddling on between various experiments and following my nose towards a “better” countryside, it can be very difficult to measure my actual success. Despite my best efforts over the past decade, many of my favourite species have continued… Continue reading

Low Airie, Glenkens – 21/5/20 People said it would take years for the cows to make an impact at Low Airie. It’s a big piece of ground, and I don’t have many beasts to graze it. I had made my peace with the idea that I was trying to paint a hayshed with a toothbrush… Continue reading

Home, Parish of Kirkgunzeon – 18/5/20 Rain came at last, and the tin sheds sang loud and well into the night. I was up before dawn to find pearls of water running below the gatebars and the washing line, slung in the reeds and combed into the coats of cows and prowly cats. Day came… Continue reading

Barney Water, Glenkens – 18/05/20 A greening came to the loch-side. New grass sprang from the shores where water claps and paddles in the wind, then it rose and sought up the inflows like a rising tide, following the burn-banks back uphill; steady green and growing like a stain or an inkblot. A month ago,… Continue reading

Courthill, Buittle – 14/5/20 The first calf came in a swirl of frost and heavy breathing; a mix and a mongrel calf with half a belt and something of a rigg. This cow rolled the same genetic dice last year and came up with something different. Then it was black, and now it’s a muddle… Continue reading