Bog Myrtle & Peat

My partridge chicks are still thriving at eight weeks old, and they are beginning to develop into their adult plumage as the summer begins to slide into autumn. The first flecks of powder blue breast feathers appeared last week, and now they are starting to show the fragmented foundations of chestnut bars on their flanks.… Continue reading

It is three weeks since Charlie the bull arrived on the farm, and it has been a mixed story so far. His painful feet have not improved, and it has emerged that there is something bothering his rear left leg. It’s almost impossible to gauge how serious this problem is because it is masked by… Continue reading

I go through cyclical phases of enthusiasm for artwork, and I’ve spent the last three years in an agonised frenzy working to set down some of the notes from this blog through the medium of oil and canvas. Maddeningly, I’ve consistently failed to reach a standard which would allow me to have the confidence to… Continue reading

As I pluck and gut the first grouse of the year and prepare them for the oven, I can’t resist a quick note about grit. Recent posts reveal that I’m getting a little obsessed with grouse grit at the moment, and I was interested to see what grit was being used by the birds on… Continue reading

Summer died with the first grouse. A gradual, ambiguous shift between seasons suddenly resolved into a single moment of thrilling change. The cream of the season’s young blood rose up from the heather, and they hung for a moment in breathless silence. I could have touched the nearest bird with the tip of my shotgun.… Continue reading

Worth a brief snippet to include this photograph of a stoat which I took in our garden on Friday. The little monster was rushing around in the wet grass after the rain, and as he worked his way towards our hen run and my partridge pens, I wondered if I had made the right choice… Continue reading

More photos from the hill-top trail camera reveal that the early-rising grouse I photographed last month were not a one-off. Small groups of grouse continue to visit between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning, although very infrequently. Grouse grit is not needed so much in the summer when the vegetation is lush and easily digested,… Continue reading

It was interesting to find that the small plot of heather which I fenced off to study in 2010 has been utterly destroyed by heather beetle over the last few weeks. I had originally planned to use this plot to show how grazing pressure was altering the vegetation on the hill, but after two years… Continue reading

I was stunned to find that I had caught a grey squirrel in one of my mink traps this morning. Grey squirrels are fortunately still very scarce in Galloway, and I have only seen two or three lone outriders in the last ten years. The most surprising thing about this catch was its location –… Continue reading

August has arrived in a whirlwind of finches. Our new house is surrounded by several hundred acres of rough grazing, and a good deal of this ground has been left to grow without any grazing all summer. I now look out of my office window into a glorious sea of golden seedheads and bronze rushes,… Continue reading