Bog Myrtle & Peat

As this blog grows and turns over upon itself, I realise that it becomes ever more confusing to follow. Ten years ago, I worked on a single piece of moorland and all ideas stemmed from one place. That was pretty simple to follow, but now I work across five properties, and it makes me wonder… Continue reading

I’ve been looking for some rough country to graze my cattle this summer. It’s not easy to find land to farm in Galloway, particularly when you’re a young(ish) person without much money to spend. The best ground is completely beyond my budget, and the poorer land is often bound up in subsidy agreements which mean… Continue reading

As part of work I’m doing for Working for Waders, I headed out yesterday morning to interview some farmers in South Lanarkshire. They’re part of a really exciting project based on wader conservation across a large piece of land along the Clyde Valley, and the project is exciting because they have done most of the… Continue reading

It’s worth recording a small and irritating cock-up. In speaning the calves, I moved them to the stackyard and began to ply them with hay and turnips. But the stackyard is small, and successive days of rain have made it a little mucky. In the midst of mud and sleet, it was obvious that some… Continue reading

Dull days, but no snow to show for it. In fact it fell on all the ground around me, leaving a green, slushy hoop along the riverbend. I stared greedily at the hills, then prowled around my mud in a temper. There’s no reason for me to envy snow, but I can’t deny a childish… Continue reading

Skylarks blaring on the moss, and the same old gabble of shelducks at Kirkennan. It’s hellish wet and foul enough to make you heave, but these small nudges send ripples over the pooly land; the otter-mirk and ‘suckle-bud respond. Continue reading

I was obsessed with aspen for some time. I hoarded it, and tried to propagate the seeds. I lost my ability to see it as part of a wider list of trees, and for a while I worked on the assumption that aspen alone would cure all the ills I felt on the hill. So… Continue reading

I am almost too old to speak on behalf of the young. Thirty five years is a dizzy tally, and my days of soft-handed protest are now behind me. But in travelling around over the last few months, I’ve met a host of exciting young people working hard for nature and conservation, and I feel… Continue reading

I keep a few sheep and send their lambs to the freezer. They go to the tup in November, and this year I’ve been slow at fetching them back. So it was yesterday by the time I loaded them into the trailer, all red-arsed where the raddle’s rubbed them, and the tup gone dumb and… Continue reading

It’s a mistake to let weather like this get away from you. I hate the wind, and I’m filled with spiteful rage to find it free and happy. Such a wind is hardly joking; having been given free rein, it tugs my cuff and sneers, saying “now what?” It was a rough day to work… Continue reading