Bog Myrtle & Peat

Cattle in the rain, and the grass in a hurl of water. The bull works and the failing leaves turn up their bellies in disgust. There are times when I see great progress in the calves; signs of growth and prosperity. But they’re small and cool in the rain, and their curls soak the water… Continue reading

In reading back through a recent post on grazing, I was mildly surprised to find that I had recorded rabbits as a species which had benefitted from the summer cattle. Rabbits are a very new arrival on the list of conservation concerns, and it’s strange to find that I have begun to consider their habitat… Continue reading

Wasps have come like a dark, devouring force. I gather windblown apples for the pigs, but every second skin is hollow. Sweet, puffy flesh has been replaced with furious stingers; they come for me with expressions of antsy fury. It’s a game of russian roulette in the sticky grass – I reach for the fruit… Continue reading

Floods and more rain. The river spews onto the meadows and the dawn brings a host of herons to the grey pools. They sulk and stride in gangs of eight or ten, and the limpid goop trails a ripple from their hocks. Now and then they’ll jab for a worm or a busted frog, and… Continue reading

There’s a wide moss at the back of the house. It’s deep and wild and punctuated by enormous granite boulders. This is an excellent habitat for all kinds of wild birds; the grazing is usually deferred until the autumn and the grass grows deep and thick all summer. This system suits the farmer who owns… Continue reading

Grouse hang cooling in the yard with a loop of twine around their throats. I chew upon the next move. There’s no reason for the changing seasons to fixate me like this, but we’re sliding now and the evidence is scrawled across miles of sky and open country, clear as day. I fell to bed,… Continue reading

We shot the hill and found it thin. I’d never seen such a poor showing of purple flowers, and the lower slopes were red with caustic rub of heather beetle. Many of these plants will die now, and the remainder will struggle on into the autumn in a state of hurt confusion. It was inevitable… Continue reading

Odd things happen when you cross belted galloways with riggit galloways. The belt is a domineering trait, and the rigg is easily masked. So when I laid the two breeds together in 2018, I emerged with belted galloway calves – every hint of a rigg had been annihilated in favour of a bold black and… Continue reading

August in a sigh of rain. A million birds in the swarming dawn; meadow pipits and finches like a mist in the grass. I lie half-awake before sunrise and watch birds bathing in the dew like sparklers. Who knows where they came from; and who knows if they’ll see the evening? Because these birds are… Continue reading

The cattle go for months on end without my input. They don’t need me for anything, so I linger around the fringes and offer them food when they want it. I keep an eye on them, but there are times when I go to visit my beasts in the deep grass and they look up… Continue reading