Bog Myrtle & Peat

The early days of March come as a welcome relief each year. Ravens have croaked overhead for months without reply, but suddenly the hollow noise is echoed from the moss by legions of frogs and toads, many of which perform unspeakable acts as they grovel in the mud. The ditches are soon clogged with wobbling mounds of… Continue reading

Revisiting a small alder plantation on the Chayne after four years, it’s been interesting to see the effect of cutting corners. In an attempt to save money, I recycled a huge pile of second hand tree guards from a plantation on the neighbour’s ground. Most of these tubes had been slashed and left to rot,… Continue reading

It’s been a while since I reported on the cattle, but I put this down solely to the fact that there has been very little to relate. The beasts lost some condition in the early days of January, but this was all within an acceptable margin and they took a restorative leap forward when they were wormed and fluked a month… Continue reading

Alongside changing circumstances, I could soon be in a position to return to some unfinished business. Long-term readers will remember my work with grey partridges in 2012-2015, alongside the various sagas which accompanied the birds as they adapted to life in the hills. I still believe that a sustained level of release would have started… Continue reading

Just as a postscript to recent notes on the subject of wild goats, it is worth reporting that we ate some goat last night and it was absolutely excellent – perhaps one of the best home made curries I can remember. Slow cooked with cardamom pods and cloves, the meat was beautifully tender – this… Continue reading

Despite all the work I put in to cutting heather by hand in November, there had been no sign that grouse were using the mosaic pattern until I headed up to check on Friday. Pipits and wrens were using the deep slots as cover from the wind within a day or two of the work, and a fortnight later I was pleased… Continue reading

In the briefest of foot-notes, the last few weeks have been spent in frenzied anticipation of buying a new house. In all the commotion, it is now sinking in that we might actually have to leave this little cottage in the woods after two years of fantastic but ever-more cramped circumstances. It was never perfect and… Continue reading

Satisfying to find that the grouse have responded to several of my new grit boxes on the hill. A huge amount of work went in to digging out turves and spreading grit in November, and I will confess that I was groping in the dark for a system that would appeal to birds. As much as I… Continue reading

As is always the case at this time of year, sparrowhawks have suddenly become absurdly conspicuous. I saw two on a short drive to check my traps this morning, and I have now seen at least one every day for five consecutive days. Unfortunately, this boom has come at grievous cost to a cheery little… Continue reading

Having ranted and raved about the lowly, near vermin status held by wild goats in Galloway, the time has come for me to put my money where my mouth is. An expanding and prosperous tribe of goats was recently culled in the forest above my house, and I happened to meet the stalker as he was coming… Continue reading