Bog Myrtle & Peat

As always, this blog is the first thing to fall off the list of priorities when I get busy. It’s no wonder that there has been next to no time for typing up articles over the past few days, as we have finally sorted out legal paperwork on our plans to move house. Our new… Continue reading

Can’t resist a brief mention of the fact that the Heather Trust’s auction is now live. I generally try to avoid harping on about work too much on this blog, but there are two lots which warrant special attention from a Working for Grouse perspective. 1 – Lot 806 –  The Black Grouse, by Patrick… Continue reading

Amazing to see the hill is so cracked and dry as we approach the end of April. A fiercely cold wind has been in the North and East for as long as I can remember, and it has scorched the moss into a crisp. It’s no surprise that the snipe should be almost totally absent… Continue reading

  Corncrakes return from Southern Africa in late April, and they must stumble back into their summer haunts with a groan of despair. In a cold, dry spring like this, the land must seem extremely inhospitable. As soon as they have got their breath back, they head for the deepest available cover, and they rely on early growth like nettles… Continue reading

I’m thrilled to report that the barn owl box I built out of old “For Sale” signs in December is being used. I recently resurrected my old trail camera and set it up in the hayshed where the box was mounted, and I was absolutely delighted to find this image (above) on the memory card when… Continue reading

Having written about a slow start to the spring last week, it was a relief to find things well advanced when I arrived yesterday morning at 5am. Curlews flew in broad circles over the moss, whooping almost constantly and rising to steep fluttering climaxes in the first glow of sunrise. Watching them display, it occurred to me… Continue reading

Now that the leks are properly getting underway, it’s been interesting to catch up with some old friends. I’ll soon have seven complete years of lek surveys under my belt, and it’s interesting to see patterns and themes emerging as I return to the same places again and again to review their progress. Perhaps most startling of all,… Continue reading

It was extremely satisfying to revisit my hazel coppice work this morning to find significant signs of progress. The leggy trees were cut down to stumps in the autumn and we spent significant time opening up a gash in the high, shady canopy of mature sycamore trees to let the sunlight in. It’s still too soon… Continue reading

Yet again, I would be jumping the gun if I claimed that my six Galloway heifers were reinventing the natural history of Galloway, but it is interesting to note that wildlife continues to respond to their presence. It may be a simple coincidence, but hares seem to have colonised the field since the cattle were… Continue reading

Things are bizarrely subdued on the hill. Planting trees and then walking with a friend across the moss yesterday, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t heard a single curlew calling during the course of a two hour visit. This is absolutely unprecedented, and I would have expected curlews to be well on their way… Continue reading