Treshnish Farm

Daffodils showing through, days getting longer

2012-01-28T13:29:00.006Z

Last weekend we went to meet up with friends at Inveraray. The journey we envisaged when planning this reunion, was to take the ferry to Oban, do the chores in Oban (buying specialist items we cannot get on Mull) and to take a leisurely drive down to Inveraray, arriving mid afternoon in time to meet our friends who were travelling up from just south of the border. We should have known better. XCweather forecasts showed lots of wind for Saturday and going on recent performances lots of wind meant lots of ferry disruption. We couldn't leave home in time to catch the 11am ferry from Oban (which turned out to be the only crossing to Oban that day). Farmer had cattle and sheep to feed before we left. So we decided to aim for Fishnish in good time for the 'service review' mentioned on the Calmac app at 12.45. Nothing happened for a while. The flashing sign continued to give old news for a while. Then we saw the ferry nudging its way out from Lochaline into the Sound. The photograph above was taken before the sea state worsened - in front of our eyes. One minute this gentle roll, the next minute huge swell. The ferry turned round and retreated into Lochaline again. Next review was eventually given as being at 4pm. We decided not to wait at Fishnish, but went to Tobermory for lunch at 'the Pier', a new cafe on the pier, under Cafe Fish. The weather came in in drifts, some moments the bay looked relatively calm and the next wild. We had a very nice lunch. We filled up with petrol at MacKay's Garage.

We went back to Fishnish. We waited. And waited. Then we saw the ferry appear again. The sea state had gone down. The ferry came slowly across and eventually reached the jetty. The ramp was lowered. Cars drove off. 2 cars drove on. Suddenly the staff were not waving us on, but hands up in firm No - Stop gestures. Ferry slid sideways off jetty, wind powered. Out into the Sound again, and tried again to land. And again. Each time the wind blowing it off the jetty. Quite exciting? So near and yet....? Luckily for us on the third attempt the ferry managed to stay attached to the jetty for long enough - we were hurried on up the ramp, waves lashing against the jetty at our heels. Once all were loaded, off we went. Mildly disconcerting then to read a text from Calmac mid crossing, telling us that sailings on that route had been cancelled for the rest of the day! Actually the crossing was not bad at all, and we were soon safely on the other side. Faced with a 94 mile drive to Inveraray. We considered ourselves lucky to have got off the island at all. In the end our journey from Treshnish to Inveraray took longer than our friends journey from Cumbria! Woke up Sunday morning to a flat calm Loch Fyne, and sunshine accompanied us for most of the day, a quick and easy journey home and all the Oban chores done on the way.

Calving will start very soon, and the cows who have been in the cattle shed for some weeks now, need to get their annual dosing against worms and fluke. This cow seen here trying not to swallow her medicine is No 63. She was one of the foundation heifers of our small herd. We bought her from a farm near Huntly along with 5 others. We were given a very generous kick start by a Aberdeen Angus cattle farmer who farmed near where I grew up - she took our heifers in for some months of bovine B&B and put them to her pedigree bull. We hoped the majority of their first calves would be female so that we could increase and improve our breeding stock, but of the 6 there was only one heifer that year! (typical). Anyway that was in 1998 and 63 has been with us all that time! She is the only 'original' one we still have living on the farm, and she will live out her days here. Farmer was impressed, yesterday, that she has all her teeth still and was looking good and healthy!

It can seem like it does nothing but rain and wind here sometimes, but yesterday was sufficiently beautiful that I could not resist the temptation to flee the office and go in search of some vitamin D.

Dusting of snow on Rum (in distance above) translated into hail freezing on the ground here and made for an exciting (icy) run over the hill to Ulva Ferry School to meet Mike Mackenzie MSP along with 2 SNP Councillors - Mike was at Luss when Farmer got to the end of his Cycle for the Schools last May, and he had said then that he would like to come over and see what USCA were doing. The USCA story seems to be attracting alot of attention, and we are grateful for the support we are getting from home and afar. By the time I left to come home again, the road had thawed and the sun was still doing its very best.

This is the lochan next to Duill Cottage. There are 2 pairs of Mallard on it just now, and a patient statuesque Grey Heron most days.

In between regular cattle and hogg feeding duties Farmer managed to get into the garden this week as well. This compost bin had been blasted by the wind during one of the gales, it looked as if it had exploded from within. So here it is rebuilt and in a new hopefully more sheltered position!

The vegetable beds are mostly a mud plain just now, but there is some growth coming in the young rhubarb crowns.

The walls of the polytunnel have so far survived the gales. I know I will really regret allowing the thistles to set seed, but they are so beautiful. Snowdrops are still flowering prettily, and some of the daffodils are already several inches high.

But how much longer this pane of glass will stay put I don't know. This window frame was used in the filmset for the Eye of the Needle starring Donald Sutherland which was partially filmed here in 1981. The sills are rotten too. (something else to add to the never ending maintenance list)

Slivers of snowdrops herald a new year

2012-01-09T15:41:00.011Z

Happy New Year! We hope that you have had a happy and peaceful festive season and that the year ahead brings good times, health and happiness as well as great holidays.

Treshnish has quietened down, after what turned out to be a busy festive season after all. I was worried that no one would brave the potential weather event situations, and that the cottages would be empty. But in fact we had a full house, all bar one cottage, and from all accounts everyone had a lovely time despite the storms and the powercuts!

Farmer and family left on Hogmanay and drove through pelting rain to Dumfries and Galloway. There was very little traffic, just lots of rain and plenty of puddles particularly on the twisty road between Crianlarich and Tarbet, Loch Lomond. It was certainly a damp end to the year but we woke up on New Year's Day to brilliant sunshine. The sculpture below is a Matt Baker from Dumfries-shire where we saw in the New Year.

Over the next few days we visited friends and family across Scotland, making up for months of being at home almost alone (!), and I have to confess that we did also succumb to the advertising around 2 of Edinburgh's newest residents. Controversial as zoos are, Daughter was keen to see the pandas, so with species conservation in our minds as our 'excuse', we spent a morning at Edinburgh Zoo. I am afraid that despite my mixed feelings about wild animals in enclosures, I felt a little bit of excitement in seeing these rare animals in close range.

We caught the ferry back last Sunday afternoon, and it felt as if we were definitely past the shortest day as we drove off the ferry at 4.45pm there was still a little streak of light in the sky.

It was sad to see the damage along the way from the storms that have affected the whole of Scotland at various times over the last few weeks. I felt particularly affected by the loss of familiar single trees in the middle of fields or along hedgerows, which have been struck down by the wind, tell tale limbs lying on the ground their bright wounds exposed, or worse - trees lying prostrate on the ground, skyward root plates and branches reaching out horizontally. Landscapes suddenly changed by the force of nature - take nothing for granted - things do change.

And on Monday we woke to sunshine! It seemed like a long time since we have enjoyed that experience. The novelty of seeing shadows. And at night the moon has been so bright. On Radio Scotland in the morning, the traffic news includes disruptions to the Leverburgh crossing to Berneray because of the low tides. I love hearing that.

The winds over the last months have meant that the turbine has been working hard. We are nearly at 30,000 kWh now. This is about 30% more than we generated in the same 3 months last winter. (I suppose that means we are lucky that we have only lost one shed roof and some slates!)

The first snowdrops. Short but a nice sign of spring! Farmer has moved the bird feeders away from the grass so that they hang from the sycamore branches. This means that the hens who loiter and graze the fallen wheat at the foot of the bird table/feeder are now scratching around in the deadened long grass under the trees rather than creating muddy patches in the 'lawn' that take months to recover! The hens don't seem to mind.

Farmer and Jamie have been taking advantage of the dry bright day to take the tups out. The ewes were given cobalt and selenium, and sent back to the hill. The tups are now grazing in the field by the house - I get a fright catching sight of the bright orange and red warpaint Farmer marked them with at the start of lambing.

Lots of deer around just now too. I had to go to Oban on Thursday for an USCA related meeting, and saw more deer than humans or cars on the Treshnish to Salen part of the journey. (20+ miles) Deer 4 - Cars 1. Between Treshnish and Calgary, there were 2 hinds grazing just beside the road. They gracefully calmly crossed in front of me, and swiftly disappeared up the hill above the road. A pair of stags grazed in an area of young woodland, having confidently mastered the knack of crossing wires and fences designed to deter them. Coming home in the dark, the field beside Calgary graveyard had lots of deer grazing.

This tin shelter near Dervaig was thrown on its roof in between Christmas and New Year, and hit again by the wind while we were away. The bare earth that had been the floor of the shelter now open to the skies, and beside an upturned rusting wheel barrow, a hoard of empty hazel nut shells.

Below is one of our farming neighbour's handsome Shorthorn bull enjoying the sun near Calgary.

Routine maintenence is underway in the cottages. Farmer is catching up on the chores around the place. Daughter back at school. USCA and Treshnish compete for my attention - in a good way. Prasad has been seeing the big 3 alot. Cottages are booking up fast. The winter rhythm. And every day the sun rises a couple of minutes earlier and sets a minute later than the day before, which by the end of January will have made a significant difference to life!

Turning of the tides - and a Happy New Year

2011-12-30T14:13:00.011Z

This post will be short. Running out of year, before the New one rolls in. Farmer and family are off, before dawn tomorrow, to celebrate Hogmanay with friends and family - a tour round Scotland before school starts again on the 9th. So if there is not a New Year post for a week or so after we get back, please excuse!

The photos on this post are from yesterday (the tin shed near Penmore on its roof - blown out of the ground) and from earlier in the year.

Weather related issues have dogged the last few days. High winds (again and again!). Yet more powercuts! Yesterday's was caused by a fire on a hydro pole between Calgary and Ensay, which burnt through the pole. The hardy team of engineers managed to do a running repair - by lowering the top section above the burned out bit, and bolting it to the rest of the pole, thus securing the line.

Powercuts, coming when you least expect or want them, makes you realise how dependant we all are on electricity. Being connected to the national grid means that the turbine is automatically switched off in a power outage so having our own turbine and solar PV does not mean we are safe from the effects of powercuts - no smug, we are alright thoughts here! But without the electricity the woodchip boiler cannot work either (no controls, no pumps to circulate the heat) and as a result of yesterday's powercut, we discovered last night a safety feature we didn't realise it had - if the power cut comes whilst the boiler is firing, the boiler will 'boil over' and dump the excess hot water on the floor of the boiler room - so that it doesn't damage itself! It soon regulated itself once the power was restored. Thankfully 6 of the cottages have wood burning stoves and we are planning on putting in stoves to the other 2 in the coming year.

Lucky not to lose the 'solardome' greenhouse in our garden in yesterday's blast, as one of the windows blew out, but thankfully the rest of the structure stood up to the challenge.

The grass in the garden has gone yellow, from salt laden wind and excessive rain! Windward side of escallonia hedging salt wind singed and threadbare. Natural selection in the sycamore trees clinging to our garden edge, as dying branch tips hasten to the ground whipped away from tree centre by sudden gusts too strong to withstand.

Lots of candles at the ready for the next powercut - just in case!

The cows are safely in doors - dry and warm, easily fed - as long as you can open the sliding doors. Wrestling with gates in the wind that are almost impossible to open, fighting with feed bags and feeling the full force of battering rain or hail as Farmer goes to feed the hoggs is something else.

The tups are still working but they will be taken out in a week's time, and the ewes will be sent back to the hill once more.

We have had a fairly epic year all in all. Enjoyed almost all of it. Loved alot of it. Hated certain bits of it. And stressed about too much of it. What next year has in store time will tell! We don't expect to win any awards or get quite as much publicity as we got this year. But we will keep on keeping on at what we do - and a few things more than we have done before! 2012 bookings are looking good for a busy season ahead - lots of repeat guests which is always lovely, and some new faces too who we look forward to meeting.

During the coming farming year, we will be monitoring the fields and seeing how the new grazing management is affecting the bio-diversity, we will hopefully be doing something clever with excess wind power heating water for the district heating - and we will look forward to welcoming some of you here in the coming year. Happy New Year!!!

Mild mid winter

2011-12-22T16:14:00.006Z

This is the Christmas blog! Our Christmas decorations are down from the attic, the tree went up today, and tattered Polish decorations hang in a window - the streaks are from the salt laden winds of 2 weeks ago. No point in washing the windows given the stormy forecast for Christmas Day.

We certainly do not seem to be having the icy, snowy blast that we had last winter. The mild weather may not be as pretty to look at as the cold clear crisp solar days of the last 2 winters but it is easier to get around, and this year the Christmas play - a combined effort by Ulva and Dervaig primary schools - was actually held at the traditional time - before Christmas (rather than way into January with the children having to sing 'we wished you a Merry Christmas' etc etc). The performance had a Victorian music hall theme this year, with about 30 Victorian children all singing, dancing and quite a few of them playing recorders, cello, violin, percussion and piano! There were two raffles - one for a Hamper, kindly provided each year by a woman from the Ulva side of the hill; and this year the second raffle was for a painting of a Highland Cow by Graham Bruce - which we won! It is now hanging proudly in the farm office!

Last night was the Christmas Party at school, which was a lively occasion with lots of very excited younger children - wide eyed and enthralled when they heard the faint sounds of the reindeer bells, followed by the appearance of Santa in the classroom. (He wears green wellies every year whatever the weather). Lots of games including the most exciting one involving putting hats, gloves and scarves on to attack bars of chocolate whenever you threw a six; and before we knew it, it was 9.50 and time to go home. Thick thick fog on the top of the hill above Burg made the drive home an interesting one.

School finished at lunch-time today. One of the girls in primary 2 told me excitedly, as we were all saying goodbye and Happy Christmas at the school gate, that her mum had seen Santa's sleigh and ALL the reindeer outside the school during the party. The look on her face said it all.

Mixed weather makes for great light at times, no light whatsoever on the darkest days. Today it has been another of those flat days with no sun, the feeling of there being no light, grey cloud clinging to the hills, reflecting in the grey sea. Damp and mild. And the wind is getting up now as it gets dark. The shortest day is over, which is always a hurdle well past.

On the farm, the feeding regime is well under way. Farmer's back is sufficiently recovered that he can carefully lift a bag of feed again so he has been doing the feeding on these dark mornings. The cows are still outside but with the ground so wet, it is likely they will be brought indoors before long. We want to avoid poaching the ground or making a mess with buggy/tractor/quad getting to the fields to feed.

Sunlight hits the Tiree ferry heading back to Oban.

And sunlight on the trees outside my window with that magical about to rain light on the sea behind.

Sincere thanks to all the lovely visitors we have had staying this year and to everyone who visits the blog - wishing you all a very Happy Christmas wherever you are, and a Merry New Year.

In between the storms

2011-12-12T13:44:00.006Z

We were lucky. The Recycling Shed may have lost its roof, and we may have to spend some time clearing up things that have been blown around, but there was nothing major, and our house is solid and we were warm. We lost the electricity for a couple of hours on Thursday and all day and evening on Friday, but some areas still don't have their power back on.

It was awesome watching the sea. Words cannot express how huge long and high the rollers were making their way up the bay.

Thanks to those of you who emailed to find out how we had fared in the storm! Some die-hards would say we have this weather all the time, but I think this is only partially true. We do have strong winds, but they more often and not blow through within a few hours. In the 17 years we have been here, we have had lots of storms, and whilst the averages around 60pmh might happen quite often (tonight, now as I write!) the peaks of 91 mph on Tiree 15 miles west of here don't happen quite as often! Alot of neighbours I have spoken to found Thursday's wind very distracting, almost disturbing - unsettling certainly. I felt very twitchy all day, and only relaxed when the wind dropped. Watching the shed roof peel off like the curling lid of a sardine can was like watching footage of a American hurricane on the news, and then realising that we were in the middle of it.

I am glad there wasn't anyone staying in Duill! (It was all fixed the next day, well in time for the guests who are staying there now).

A family from northern England were staying at Haunn last week, and I was worried for them during Thursday's storm, but they assured me they had seen similar winds when living in the Far East - typhoons and cyclones! On the Friday, by evening we still had no electricity so we drove down to give them some more candles and tea lights. They were all warm and cosy in candlelight sitting by the fire, but grateful for the additional candles!

Part of the Recycling Shed roof lies in the burn.

Friday morning, we had a little snow - actually thick enough for a time to realise it might folly to send Daughter to school, so she came home again (quite pleased). Within a couple of hours it had melted. The sea was flat calm again, as if the huge rolling, huge breaking, perpetually moving, rising and falling football-pitch-sized waves had never been happened 24 hours before.

Jamie's puppy learns about riding in the buggy.

This little gate into the veg garden was recycled from the original fank, where the wood chip boiler is now. The wind blew its fastening right out of the gate post!

The Aracona hens enjoy the great outdoors. The Keder polyhouse survived the winds, but Farmer had opened the side vents before hand which hopefully saved them from being blown out, as the wind could get out the other side.

A quiet winter rhythm is taking shape. Jamie comes in in the morning to feed the hoggs - as they are in he can do this early before light. Farmer feeds the cows later on. They are receiving a bit of 'hill cow cob' - even though they are still fat from the summer grass, it is better to keep the weight on them, rather than yo-yo dieting. It is not good for them to be too fat before calving so Farmer will do some condition scoring to help assess whether they need more or less additional food. The ewe hoggs are still in the cattle shed. Ewes and tups together in their different groups in the in-bye fields. The cows are in between the Point and the Haunn field. They are all munching on the deferred grazing, left from under grazing the fields during the summer so that flowers can safely flower and set seed whilst ground nesting birds rear their young before the silage is cut.

Another storm is raging whilst I write. Torch by my side, just in case. Goodnight!

Windfalls, wind and rolling seas.

2011-11-26T00:35:00.011Z

Another week has raced by, with the usual ups and downs and tribulations! Heavy rain over last weekend morphed into wind and rain this weekend, with a lot of deep red showing on the wind forecast! The turbine has been spinning away on the hill, and the numbers on the generation meter tumbling up to nearly 27,000 last time I looked. It cannot nearly be Christmas? We received our first card this week, and I have not even thought of cards to send.. another pre-Christmas panic coming up. We have one or two bookings for Christmas and several for New Year, plus a few short breaks in between now and then!

On Tuesday I went to Oban in order to go to a Renewable Heat Incentive talk, which was interesting. It took place in an atmospheric village hall in Benderloch, called the Victory Hall. The original building had a large modern hall on the side, but we were in the older room and its tongue and groove walls looked as if they could tell a tale or two - of dances and ceilidhs and Christmas plays. The Renewable Heat Incentive will be a good scheme for anyone thinking of using wood to heat their homes, and may help us further reduce the carbon footprint of the Haunn cottages - I have my eye on a pellet stove/boiler for Toechtamhor one day...

Off to East Cottage to light the stove for new guests coming in this afternoon from Edinburgh. It was lovely sitting there with the sun pouring in the window, as the stove warmed up. Peaceful and quiet. All part of the days work. (How lucky am I.) The pretty painted stone and cork boat are little momentos left by guests.

Before going out to Benderloch I went up to the market to retrieve our sheep and goat 'movement book' which was under the counter in Caledonian Marts office. We had a batch of lambs, our last ones, going through the ring too - Charlie this years pet lamb was one of them. Daughter and her friends at school had written him a good bye card, and I was instructed to give it to Charlie before he went 'away'. Our animals had already been sold by the time I got there, as I was on a later ferry, and so I brought the card home with me. I don't quite know what I would have done with the card had I found Charlie, as it actually gave me a lump in my throat to read the card - thinking of Daughter's 'humanised' lamb going off in to the 'real' world, having been petted by friends and guests all its young life so far. Once your animals are sold, you can go to the office and pick up your money then and there. In an old fashioned way you are offered cash or a cheque. I opted for the cheque! There is always a buzz when a sale is on. Lots of people catching up on the news, exchanging information, doing deals, coming and going. It reminds me of trips to Forfar Mart with my father when I was a child, that same echoey sound of the auctioneer's voice and farmers talking in the background, stock gates opening and closing, the smells, the temperature even, slightly chilled. Outside in the car park, pickups, 4X4s, landrovers, trailers and lorries fill the car parks to overflowing.

Last post I mentioned the poorly hoggs. Jamie helped Farmer vaccinate them the other day, as well as giving them a mineral and vitamin boost. They are in the cattle shed still, on a diet of hay and nuts. I went to get some logs the other morning, and there was a real calm in the building - sun streaming in through the spaced boarding, and very little sound. The general feeling now is that they are recovering which is a big relief, as they look a bit better now. Thank goodness.

The next task was to paint the tups. Jamie was doing the heavy work and Farmer did the painting. Separated groups of ewes and gimmers are put with different tups, to avoid fathers onto daughters. The colour combinations the tups are painted helps identify them at a distance! This is the time of year when the in-bye fields really get their clean up, in terms of the longer grassy tufts being eaten down - preparation for next summers wild flower crop! This is the end of the first year of our SRDP management regime, and we are not sure it has been as effective as previously, but we will know more by the end of the winter, in how well we can get rid, through grazing, of any matted grasses. Part of the agreement is that we will monitor it, and we are doing that.

I had to go down to the school on Friday morning. Sitting in the office with the Head Teacher, looking out at Ben More with its first dusting of snow this winter, a pair of sea eagles soaring around and around. The flying barn doors. This stormy weather has not been a total washout. Changes in light are stunning, as tempests of hail scud across the sky one minute followed by intense sunlight the next and a double rainbow. The sea takes on a deep greeny blue, as the sky darkens with the next downpour and the whites of the waves, huge waves, roll over and over, and afterwards again - there is Coll, having been hidden by the wall of low fast moving shower. Watching a kestrel hang on the wind, quartering the ground below it. Watching rock doves flutter past, and fieldfare disappear over the stone wall in the Haunn field.

The storm this weekend peaked last night between midnight and 3am. We live in a house with solid stone walls and slate rooves, but you can still feel vulnerable when the blasts of wind echo round the gables of the house, and blast noisely across the chimneys. Even though you know you are safe, the din can be terrifying, and the feeling of insignificance in the presence of the power of the wind.

Comforting spell in the kitchen making chilli jelly, escaping relentless rain on Saturday, using windfall apples given to us by friends in Angus. Very satisfying task for a very wet rainy afternoon. But today, the sun is strong between the showers. The wind died down almost instantly, and the sea is back to its more usual winter state.

Hoggs, whelks, nuts and nights out.

2011-11-20T11:12:00.016Z

Another busy week passes, as the days get shorter. We had a brush publicity - the RSPB Award still attracting attention. The builder has departed from the farmhouse renovation having done a fantastic job, and we are in the novel position of having wood-chip heating whenever we want it, and even when we don't - but we are waiting for the plumber to come and finish off, and install a final thermostat so that we can control it all better! The boiler has been making us scratch our heads recently, with one or two minor faults - on pumps and valves on the plumbing side, rather than the boiler itself - and thankfully for those times we have been able to switch over to the fossil fuel so the our guests have been warm. I am as stingy as before on how much heating we have on in the house, as when you see that trailer full of wood-chip arriving, it is plain to see how much we consume in keeping our house, the office/laundry and the four Treshnish Cottages warm. A frightening amount!

We have had clear skies under a huge bright moon for several days, and good tides and kind weather for whelk picking. Several folk from around and about have been out picking the shoreline whelks. A back breaking job - and they earn every penny. Access to the shore is on foot in most places, so not only do they bend down for each and every one they pick, but they know in order to get them to their market, they have to carry each orange string bag full of them back up to wherever they left their car. A few seasons ago, Farmer was surprised to see a pile of whelk bags, representing all that work (and hard earned cash) left lying. Every time he went past he expected them to have gone, but they were left and ended up rotting. Sometimes the whelk pickers come in by boat. Last year a tent with food and sleeping bags was abandoned along the shoreline by Port Haunn, and we surmised this was from a mobile pair of 'whelkers'.

In November the hoggs (weaned ewe lambs kept for breeding) come in to the cattle shed to learn about 'nuts'. This especially formulated mix of flaked grains, peas and molasses is an important supplementary food for sheep, but unfortunately seeing it in a trough is not an automatic signal for the hoggs to know that they can or should eat it.

During our first lambing back in 1995, some of the older ewes contracted twin lamb disease (where they need extra food to regain condition, and quickly) but as they did not know how to 'feed' we could not get them to put on the extra bodily condition they needed. As a result we decided that from then on we would 'teach' our hoggs to 'feed'. In animal welfare terms this is a godsend, as it means you can nurse an animal more successfully back to health by bringing them in and knowing that they can 'feed' whilst you administer to them.

The 2011 hoggs have been causing us concern this week - we lost 2 to unknown causes. As in previous years, they were taken off their mothers when the main crop of lambs were sold, vaccinated, and set to graze the in-bye ground. Every day they have been checked and occasionally one has been cut out of the brambles, but other wise no problems - or so we thought.

Recently some of them seemed to have lost their usual 'bloom', their coats were 'stairy' - suffering from something but we were not sure what. The locum vet came to the rescue - she came over one evening and took blood samples so that we can find out what was wrong - as they are indoors just now learning how to feed this was quite straightforward. They had been given a combined fluke and worm medicine as soon as we realised something was wrong, and thankfully, they are now beginning to look better. And the sweet smelling 'nuts' are disappearing fast from the troughs. We will keep them in so that we can re-test or treat them as necessary and then they will go back out to the fields. As far as we can, we try to run a clean grazing system but with the extra flock on the in-bye now (the cheviots) it is more difficult to juggle within our new grazing management plan. This is obviously something we need to monitor more carefully, as we don't want the balance between animal welfare/good health and grazing regime/Conservation to get out of kilter.

The hill ewes have been gathered, and are in the fields waiting for the tups to go out with them. Farmer is still off work, though he is recovering well! The Contractors and Jamie did the gather, and picked up 2 'roughies' (unshorn ewes) and left another along the shore (on a particularly difficult part of the coast, where it is safer to leave the ewe than try risking getting a dog too close, in case she goes over the edge). Being a 'roughie' means that you have avoided coming in at shearing time and at spaining time (when the lambs are taken off). Bracken cover makes it easy for them to hide, as well as there being tricky hidden bits along our 4 miles of coastline.

Middle Cottage in November sunshine, with the 2010 corncrake nesting ground in the foreground. I have decided I would like to be on holiday here at the moment. The weather has been good for the last week or so. The island is quiet. The light at this time of year changes all the time - providing great opportunities for photographers. Lots of wildlife around. We have had visitors staying in 4 of the cottages this week, enjoying short breaks, winter weeks and special offers. A friend of ours is staying in East Cottage. She is an artist and has been out every day with her huge bundle of materials, ready for all weathers, working in the elements, and coming back to the cottage when she is too cold or light falls. We spent the evening there on Saturday, delicious meal, glasses of wine by the fireside, so warm and toasty. Coming out to fresh air and the short walk to the car, in the dimly starlit stillness of the sky, quite magical, and it was so very quiet.

Daughter's school at Ulva Ferry held a Bring and Buy Sale for Children In Need on Friday. They raised a whopping £271 in an hour and a half. The community was so generous bringing lovely items to sell, we think we will have to hold another sale at a weekend so that we can sell it all! One mum does fantastic face painting, and Farmer came home sporting a very colourful dolphin on his face. By the time he got home he had forgotten about it and went off to show in the guests who arrived to stay in the Studio!

We had a nerve-wracking day on Tuesday. Mark Stephens from Radio Scotland Out of Doors came to interview us. We stuttered our way through his questions and hopefully didn't make too much of a fool of ourselves. Dread hearing it on the radio though! Once that was over, we met up with Leianna from RSPB Scotland who had come across to make a short film (thankfully only minutes long) for the Oxford Farming Conference in January. Dave Sexton came over to be interviewed by Mark too. Dave is our local RSPB officer, and once Mark left, Dave used a flip camera, for some 'informal' filming, whilst Leianna did the more official interviewing and filming. There was an air of unreality to the whole thing particularly with 2 of them pointing cameras at us! But it was lovely to have an excuse to show them round the farm again, not that there were many flowers to look at (it is November) but the weather was fantastic and Treshnish was looking very beautiful - full sunshine and clear views.

There are still lots of European blackbirds around, with their black beaks. There are 2 of them in this brave sycamore in the farmhouse garden.

Screen Machine has been on Mull for a few days, so we had another night out this weekend - going to see Jane Eyre in Tobermory. We ate at Cafe Fish who have won the Good Food Guide Fish Restaurant of the Year 2012 - it feels very 'seaside', sitting above the ticket office on the Calmac pier, looking out on twinkling lights across the Bay through the rain streaked window panes, eating freshly caught seafood. I still do a double take when the lights come up at the end of a film and you are not in a large multiplex cinema but in the back of a lorry in Tobermory car park.

On Tuesday the last of the 2011 lambs go to Oban Market. The end of another sheep year. The Contractors, whose help has been invaluable over the last few years, are off to pastures anew in the New Year. We are extremely grateful to them for their help and we wish them well. We are lucky to have found Jamie to help us in the future.

Thank you to everyone who has been asking how the Farmer's recovery is going. He is well on the mend now. Still a long way off being able to work but happily walking a few miles again - and not in pain.

Pest control and blue eggs.

2011-11-10T12:17:00.007Z

These larches defy the wind in the small copse fenced off from the sheep, for regeneration, near the cattle building.

These 2 handsome tups have come to Treshnish from Knock Farm in the shadow of Ben More. In 10 days time they will be out in the parks with the hill ewes. Next week the fank, so often still and empty, will be a busy focus for sorting out the hill ewes and the cheviots, checking over all the stock before they go out for tupping. This is when we use the higher numbers of ewes to mob graze the fields, bring down the heights of the tufts. All good for next year's pollen plants! The hoggs will need to learn how to 'feed' soon - and so Jamie has been getting the cattle shed ready - bringing the troughs in from beyond Haunn, and making sure the water troughs work.

The wind turbine field is a useful holding field for the 'odds and sods'. These are lambs and cast ewes who should have gone to market last month when we were in Shieldaig. We couldn't find a space for them on a lorry or trailer for the last sale so they are still here - probably luckily, as the return ferries from Oban that day were cancelled because of the wind and alot of farmers got stuck in Oban overnight. We have had a dry week, with only a very few showers, and most of them at night (perfect). It hasn't felt that windy either but the turbine is heading up to 26,000 units now which shows it has been windier than this time last year.

This Escallonia is outside Toechtamhor garden, it is a remnant of the garden planted when the cottage was built in the 1940's. In the spring there are rows of daffodils leading from the gate beside the escallonia to the road too. It suffered very badly during last winter, and its splayed desperate shape is perhaps not pretty, but we are loathe to remove it. Look at it flowering in spite of its falling splat in the wind. And those bright shoots on the trunk. A kindly chop and trim are needed to allow it to recover as it deserves. The further away one has completely died (bottom photo).

These handsome hens are Araconas - our new additions to the poultry flock. At the moment they are doing a great job, living in the Keder tunnel, scratching up and eating any grubs and bugs as they go. We are looking forward to having their blue eggs to give to our guests next summer.

The barn owl box in the sunshine this morning whilst walking the dogs. It is such a bonus having the brightness of the sun as the days get shorter.

Moments from the last 7 days

2011-11-07T18:55:00.010Z

A quick catch up on the news.

2011-10-27T18:04:00.008+01:00

Sorry, it has been a few weeks since my last posting. We had a week's holiday (a very wet one), up in Wester Ross at Shieldaig. We stayed in a cottage overlooking the loch and its Caledonian pine covered island with resident sea eagles. The cottage was bright and had lovely views - when you could see them through the sheets of rain being flung at the large picture windows! It was very well equipped with every appliance you could possibly wish for, and more than we knew how to use, but we were shocked when it dawned on us that we had chosen a cottage which didn't seem to have thought in any way whatsoever about the environment despite being right on the sea - it had the largest range of chemical cleaning products I have seen outside a supermarket - things I had never encountered before and had not known existed! Not a bottle of Ecover or Bio-D to be seen, no compost bin, no recycling encouragements...

I have to take full responsibility for our non green cottage choice. I was blinded by the need for south facing light and big windows - for the convalescent farmer to look out of whilst Daughter and I went off exploring. I did not take eco credentials, or lack of them, into account. I had looked on Green Traveller, Organic Holidays and GTBS websites but there wasn't an eco/green self catering cottage in Shieldaig that I could see, and this was where we wanted to be. I will be more careful next time as to where I choose!

Access to the Shieldaig cottage was along a path from where you could leave the car, and the cottage came complete with its own wheelbarrow for carrying your luggage (very sensible). Daughter and I quite enjoyed the unloading the car process (it was dry luckily at that point!) - navigating a plank bridge with a wheelbarrow precariously loaded with our bags! We had a really good holiday despite the rain and wind, did lots of resting and reading, and managed a few short walks with Farmer who was enjoying the novelty of walking without pain for the first time in 6 months.

One day we re-visited the decaying salmon fishing station at Redpoint, walking through the biggest puddles to get there, and through a lovely herd of cows already enjoying some winter feed on the edge of the pinky sand beach. (I will put some photos on the tinsheds blog over the next few days). Another day, we went over the high road to Applecross - the temperature gauge on the car went 7 degrees at sea level to 1.5 degrees at the top and we experienced our first snow of the winter. (gulp)

Farmer is making progress. Every now and then he does too much and has to retreat back to sick bay for a rest, but all in all, he is pleased with the lack of pain and can walk a couple of miles now which is a huge improvement on how he was, and a great relief. Thank you to everyone who has been asking after him!

I would be lying if I said we were having a perfectly normal autumn. A neighbour reckons there has not been one day without rain in the last 6 weeks - fairly grim at times, but when the sun comes out you forget the wet days.

It has been a quiet time on the farm. With the lambs and calves sold, and only a few stragglers still to sell, the silage is made, (some still in the field as it has been too wet to take a tractor in to collect it), new tups settling in with the others, and holiday cottages not fully occupied this week for the first time since March. We have a few short breaks coming over the next few weeks - enjoying the quiet of the island as it turns inward for winter.

Some colour in the field beyond the cattle building.

I do not tire of the view of Shian and Duill - standing out so white with Calgary and Caliach headlands behind them.

The windy aspect of the bad weather in recent weeks has been great for the turbine. It has passed 25,000 units now and is heading for 26,000! We had to phone Turbine Services last week as the box housing the generation meter was making a serious din. We wondered if it was over-worked and with the new owners of Proven not taking responsibility for the warranties on previous turbines we were a little worried we would be in for something expensive. Thankfully all it needed was to be shut down for 10 minutes, and then turned on again!

The knock on effect of winning the RSPB Nature of Farming Awards 2011, and the huge amount of publicity that brought, has been that we are getting booked up for next year much earlier than usual. This is wonderful for us, but not so great for those regulars who want to book and find that we are already booked for the time they want to come. We are even taking bookings for 2013!

24,000kWH and rising

2011-10-08T12:20:00.014+01:00

The promise of an Indian summer would perhaps have more aptly described as a monsoon. This is the burn next to the farmhouse. It has been running full blast for days. Luckily a little trench digging recently has meant we have not flooded the house again.

This is where you realise what a very sad individual I am. I wouldn't say I am academic enough in my approach to merit the term 'geek', but I do enjoy watching how our turbine performs. Our Proven 6kW wind turbine was installed around the 18th of October 2009. As part of the application for SRDP funding we had to submit a budget/business plan. This needed to show that the turbine installation was viable. We based our plan on producing 10,000kWH per annum and so we were very pleased at the end of year 1 to have generated just over 12,000kWH.

Earlier this summer when we discovered that a set of springs needed replacing (found one of the springs embedded in the ground near the turbine base, having blown off in a late May gale), we had to put the turbine brake - and wait. It took 2 months for our installers to get the okay from Proven to come and replace the springs under warranty, and as a consequence, we didn't produce any electricity for those 2 months. During that same 2 month period the year before we had generated 1,700 units. So for the second 12 months, date to date, we were bound to be down on production.

It was mid August when the turbine was repaired and spinning again. And I have been watching the generation meter and wondering whether or not we would catch up and amazingly - this week 10 days ahead of its second birthday - we have passed the 24,000 unit mark - short of the mid October anniversary - and in only 10 months of full working mode. Suffice to say, we are delighted!

The weather has been very unsettled and varies from one day to the next - in extremes! Yesterday we woke up in Glasgow to brilliant sunshine and had the most beautiful drive up to Oban with Farmer laid out in the back of the car. Autumn colours and brilliant blue skies. This morning woke up to low mist, dull sky, warm still air. Cobwebs dripping with misty droplets. Everything still and slightly dank. Now the wind has picked up again and it is raining hard. The rain does interesting things to the colour of the bracken.

Farmer's operation was a success, and now the challenge for him will be to do what the doctors order, and rest accordingly - for the next 6 - 8 weeks. So the focus in the farmhouse is definitely on convalescence and recovery. School holidays started yesterday so it could not be better timed.

On the farm, life must go on though and thankfully we have good help and support. On Monday the Dervaig Contractors brought the cows and calves in to the cattle shed in order to separate them, as the calves were going to market the next day. Cattle have extremely strong maternal instincts and taking the calves away is heart-breaking to watch. They take several days to calm down once the calves have gone. Lots of calling and mooing and searching. From past experience of post-weaning calves (and several destroyed fences) Farmer now leaves all the gates open from Haunn to the farm which allows them to rove.

This year somehow, a gate was closed by mistake and one cow was accidently left in the Haunn field whilst all the others were up at the cattle shed - Jamie managed to get her back to the others and brought the bull and No 63 up from 'the bottom' so the whole herd was back together. And another - just as I was leaving to go and catch the ferry in order to go and visit Farmer in hospital - got caught between a fence and a wall. Luckily both Dervaig Contractors and Jamie were able to sort that out for me.

The Dervaig Contractors took them to Oban Mart for us, and they were 2nd or 3rd through the ring. Prices were better than last year, but still down on the year before (the last year of our organic status). It is not a great feeling to know that your quality animals have not reached the price they deserve, and there are many possible reasons for this. Whilst not being pedigree Aberdeen Angus, they are nearly all pure Angus, where most of the west coast cattle are continental, and perhaps this is what the buyers who come to Oban expect, or to that particular sale, expect. It has sharpened our resolve to try and forge a relationship selling direct to the same farmer each year. We did this in the last years of our organic status, and it meant the animals went directly to a farm, missing out on potential trauma in the market, and that we knew what price to expect before the animals left the farm.

Anyway they have gone now and usually the cows would be enjoying the aftermath of the silage ground. But we still haven't finished silage making yet! I think we may have to abandon it though. Walking across the fields with splashing underfoot. The mess of taking a tractor into the fields just now would be unthinkable.

Good to see smoke coming from the Heating Station again. We have had a few issues with a pump recently and are grateful yet again for the oil back up boiler so that at least the guests can be warm - we really hate having to resort to it but we don't feel that we can expect our guests to give up their warmth whilst we sort out the tiny occasional niggle in the system. (There are vague but exciting plans afoot to lessen our dependence on wood-chip..... more of that later in the year....) The nearest panels to the Heating Station are the solar PV (Photo voltaics) and the ones on the farmhouse roof are the solar hot water ones.

Patterns in bi-annual foxgloves. Loved how these leaves almost spiral out of the ground. When so much vegetation is going into its dormant and dying off stages, it is lovely to see the beginnings of next summer's flowering plants already.

A screw-driver, a book and a bearing - life this week at Treshnish.

2011-10-01T17:04:00.010+01:00

This fencepost is at the top of the track which leads down to Treshnish from the public road. Lovely view of the woodland and the sea beyond from there. I took the time and walked through the natural regen. woodland area with the dogs, noticing the autumn colours creeping in slowly, to collect Daughter from the school car.

We have had a week of minor irritations, little hassles and problems but mainly the usual ingenuity has got us through - skin of teeth, fingers crossed and all that.

Nearly flooded but not. Yesterday was wet - rain of monsoon proportions. The farm track was reminiscent of foreign rain storms, brown rivulets running in fast and sharp zigzag lines down slopes of any gradient, and at one point heading straight for the back door of the farmhouse.

By evening, the brave guests had all arrived safely and finally before nightfall, the faintest pink sky above Coll to lift the spirit. Thank Goodness.

And today - dry and sunshine again, but underfoot very soggy.

September Silage..leading into October. We have had some beautiful days interspersed with the wet ones. Warm. Sunny. Windy. Another attempt to make the winter food for the cows. It used to be that we made silage in August. Our new Rural Priorities agreement stipulates that we wait until September.

This year has been an exception - what with Farmer being supposedly off work with sciatic pain and waiting for his operation, then Jamie who helps on the farm going off island for the best of family reasons (a beautiful baby daughter called Vhairi!) mid month and on top of that - the unsettled weather. Grabbing a chance and a break in the weather they managed to make a good lot on Wednesday - but it was nearly October!! Daughter and I took them ice creams we had bought in Dougie's shop - though they were pretty soft by the time we got them there!

The new (to us) baler doing so well ... or not? Having made and moved a good number of bales, finished the field as light began to fall, ice creams a distant memory...Just as it was getting dark, heading back to the farm, a bearing went on the baler and for a moment, the track to Haunn was blocked, and it looked as if it might remain that way for some time! Thankfully, they managed to get the limp baler off the road and out of the way of the guests. We ordered a replacement bearing the next day from Glenside Tractors in Campbeltown, and it arrived the next day. Thank you Royal Mail. (Not like the new pump for the wood chip boiler which is sitting in a carrier depot in Inverness - 10 working days it has taken so far, whereas if it had been popped in the post it would be here by now).

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.... for a while. There is something ironic about all the rain we have had, and running out of water! At Haunn, a capacitor (sharp learning curve - what in my past life taught me about capacitors?) burnt out on the pump that sends the filtered water up into its storage tank on the hill. Why? Because inside a locked 'shed' a pipe suddenly became dislodged and started sending water into the Haunn garden instead...How? Goodness knows. But anyway, some sharp thinking and knacky plumbing meant that our guests never knew anything was amiss and Farmer does a trick with a screw-driver, a book (Bill Bryson) and his reading glasses until the new capacitor arrives.

Meanwhile it is now October. The ground has not really had a chance to dry up, even though it has been a beautiful afternoon but silage making had to resume. Make the most of the day whilst it is good. Farmer's on the Zetor as I write. Turning the silage grass. It is beginning to brown, from all the wet over the last couple of days, so they have to bale it now or it will be useless. Jamie is catching up on the orange tractor with the baler. Stopping every so often to clear the blockages from the wet grass. It won't be the best quality silage we have made but this has been one of 'those years'.

Last image in this post is tonight's sunset. Minutes ago. Makes up for all those tense moments in the week. Good night.

Contented cows on open grazed grassland and breeding sheep to market

2011-09-27T10:26:00.007+01:00

Late flowering Rosa Rugosa near the Studio.

Today the Contractors have gone to Oban to sell 13 Cheviot gimmers and 27 cast ewes for us at Oban Market. It is a Breeding Sheep sale so hopefully someone will pay a fair price for our animals! We have no guarantee of what price we will get.

It was a good day for drying yesterday. And some colour still in the heather.

Mother and daughter. The calves are going to be sold next week. So sometime this week Farmer will call them along the track from the Haunn field into the Park, so that they are close at hand for weaning.

Before we had our own cattle, our neighbour grazed his cows here during the summer. He would take them back across the road when the calves were weaned and sent to market. Frequently the cows would come careering back over to Treshnish, bellowing and calling to their 'lost' calves. It would take a few days for them to calm down. We have the benefit of the cow shed, which means we can separate the cows from their offspring, and pen them opposite each other so there is the comfort on both sides - knowing where the other is, but safely weaned.

Calves, with Haunn Cottages in background.

Bittersweet affection between cow and calf.

Dying colours of Knapweed.

This lovely dun coloured heifer has been with the bull for the first time. So she will have her first calf in February. Her colour comes from her mother being a red coloured Highland/Beef Shorthorn and her black Aberdeen Angus father.

Seedheads near West Cottage, looking over to Tiree.

Mercurial light over to Tiree.

This is a Fox Moth caterpillar. We found two of them in the grass near the Haunn Cottages. They were HUGE - over 2 inches long. Fox Moth wingspan is 40 - 65 mm. Big.

Boundaries. This dyke dates back to when Haunn was a crofting township - there are 2 ruins next to West Cottage, as well as the remaining stone walls of a small animal enclosure in the Haunn gardens.

Mushroom ID is not my strong point.

The working dogs wait while we check the cows! Interesting interaction with the inquisitive calves. They sniffed the buggy. Not knowing the dogs were inside. Frights on both sides.

I am loving the sunlight on Montbretia. Clinging on to the colour and light of dying summer - it is definitely autumn now. And soon the wind will have blasted the last blooms from the garden, and leaves from the trees. Last weekend we had large deliveries of locally sawn and bagged logs so whatever the weather we and our guests can be warm!

In between the equinoctial showers

2011-09-23T11:09:00.007+01:00

In between the showers, the wild and windy storms, we have had some lovely sunny moments this week. Farmer was grateful to the Contractors from Dervaig for coming to sort the last lambs and odds and sods for the next sale - on Tuesday in Oban. They put them through the fank and kept them to one side so that they are easy to round up for when James comes with his lorry on Monday. They are going to the market the afternoon beforehand and will be looked after by the Lairage Man overnight.

The weather brought torrents of rain one day and warm enough to eat outside days the next. Several of our guests felt enticed by the weather to swim in the sea this week. The camp site at Calgary has thinned out - in fact today when we went past, for the first time, it has been empty of tents or camper vans.

Clear peaty water running in the Treshnish burn. The heather is clinging on to its colour - just.

And brambles. What we are really missing is the vibrant red and orange of the rowan berry this year. Usually the rowan branches are bending with the weight of their berries but this year there are very few. We are about to order the beginning of the winter supply of bird food. The feeders will be an important life line this winter I fear.

We inherited these pink nerine lilies when we moved here in 1994. They are a welcome autumn colour in the vegetable garden.

Rosa Rugosa has flowered beautifully this summer, in Studio garden and in our vegetable garden. The huge hips are a valuable food source in autumn. The cows and calves have been in the Black Park for the last couple of weeks. There is plenty of grass for them. The scabious has been battered in the wind and the last few knapweed heads are clinging on, but most are over now. Sheep are allowed in to this field after the 30th of September.

We had a visit from someone last weekend who was surveying for signs of Marsh Fritillary. This is a key species in our management aims for the in-bye. He was not sure why, but said even though we have a huge amount of scabious, it seems that Marsh Frits favour some areas over others. What he looks for are their hibernation webs at the base of the scabious in clumps of grass. We were a little disappointed that he didn't find any, though he did explain numbers were low this year. He had been on the island for a few days and not found any sites that he didn't already know about.

Peaks and troughs and recycling.

2011-09-18T17:44:00.007+01:00

Friday, as you might imagine, was an epic day with the announcement that we had won the UK RSPB Nature of Farming Awards. But by evening, we were down to earth with a bump and a thump.

Farmer left first thing on Friday morning to catch the 8.45 ferry to Oban in order to go to his pre operation medical check up at the Southern General in Glasgow. We were assured this could not be done by the very capable team at our local surgery in Tobermory, as he needed to meet the surgeon and have his operation procedure explained to him.

Hospital transport picked him up on the pier and delivered him to the hospital - it was arranged that he would be through with his check up by 2pm in order to get back to Oban for the 6pm boat home. Someone took 75ml of blood. They paged the doctor but no one came. They offered him lunch and cups of tea. They sent him home at 2pm. He had not seen the surgeon nor had the procedure explained nor signed the Consent Form. A race to Oban with 2 other patients was exciting (to say the least) and they arrived in Oban at 5.56 - which would usually be too late for the 6pm ferry as foot passengers must be ready to board 15 minutes before departure time.

When Farmer was half way between Glasgow and Oban I picked up a phone message from the Consultant who regretted that he had not seen Somerset that afternoon, and regretted further that he had to cancel Somerset's operation (due for Monday) as there was illness in the theatre staff. Bump. At this point I realised just how much energy we had invested in the operation being done this coming Monday, and how gutting it was that it had been postponed.

Somerset had no idea at this time about the cancellation, and luckily for him, the ferry was late and they were allowed on. Not so lucky when he tried to start the car at Ulva Ferry (when he stopped to pick up Daughter from an after school friend visit) the car would not start -at all. That was the second bump. But kind family lent him their car and so they did get home eventually.

Meanwhile at Treshnish, I was showing in the Treshnish guests. And all of them were a little cold. As the heating in our house has not been connected to the centralised wood chip boiler yet, I had no way of knowing that something was amiss. We have a warning light outside the Heating Station but that was not warning!

Investigation showed the boiler itself full of hot water but the system was cold. I guessed pump. Panicked. Phoned the Plumber. Emergency heaters for the guests and fingers crossed. He was here within an hour and a half - and on a Friday evening too. The fantastic Plumber (hope he reads this, but doubt he will) was confident. One thump. Nothing. Another. Slight noise.. another thump....action. Now I know. If the pump isn't working - thump it. (And the next day I had to do just that, as it stuck again!) Within half an hour everyone was warm and cosy. (and we have a new pump on order).

So from the dizzy heights of winning the Award to the reality of every day life - in one short day.

Today. Sunday. Sunshine. Warm. Walk. Sitheans. Heather. Dragonflies. Sunspots on the lochan. Late flowering Bog Asphodel. Looking at the view. Ling. Warning red fungi. Ewes watching. Dog watching.

And the worrying news that Proven (who made our turbine) have gone into Receivership.

Ever since we had to put in a new water tank, we have been worrying about how to insulated it so that it doesn't freeze. Finally Farmer hit on the solution - having seen the pile of tyres outside the garage in Tobermory. He is going to surround the tank in a wall of earth filled tyres! Brilliant! Recycling at its best - and no materials cost for us! All we need to make is a removable lid.

Some news and a big thank you.

2011-09-15T20:18:00.016+01:00

I can tell you now. We had a call last week from Stuart Howsden who, Scottish members of the RSPB will know, is the Head of RSPB Scotland. He told us the extraordinary news -that we had won the UK Nature of Farming Awards...but that we were to keep it quiet until it was announced in the Telegraph on Saturday 17th September. What? Keep it secret?

What a secret! The days between then and now have felt terribly long! I realise now, worryingly, that I can lie through my teeth without batting an eyelid. So many people have asked us how we got on, and over the last 10 days we have looked them in the eye - and lied.

On Wednesday Dave Sexton, the Mull RSPB Officer, met Stuart and Dan (from Scottish HQ) at the ferry and brought them over to Treshnish in order that we could be presented with the Award and that they could get the necessary photo for the press release - see pic above taken by Dan.

It was a gloriously sunny day after some shocking stormy and wet weather earlier in the week. (Blue skies at last) Somerset took them on a tour just past the Haunn cottages, back to the farmhouse for a quick lunch before they were off back to the ferry (via Loch Na Keal and some sea eagles!) and we were left to attempt to absorb it all.

A staggering 22,000 people voted compared to around 6,000 last year. And amazingly we received 6,900 of those votes!

All we can say is a very sincere thank you to everyone who voted for us. Knowing that our blog has a readership of about 12, it is likely that our thanks will not reach the thousands who did vote for us, but the genuine thought is there.

There has been so much support from so many folk - on the island, off the island and from total strangers, and to us this has been the biggest 'win' of all. But it seems getting a Scottish farm to win the Award became an RSPB Scotland priority so thanks to everyone involved in that. RSPB staff on Mull (Dave, Debby and Sue) have really put in the time getting the votes at the Sea Eagle Hide, on the ferry, at BirdFair, on twitter. Thank you all.

The Telegraph article was published online early.

I will update the blog with farming news soon!!

The afternoon we lost Granny.

2011-09-10T18:06:00.007+01:00

Can you spot her anywhere? Granny is the miniature wire haired dachshund who came to stay for the weekend. We went for a lovely walk on the Sitheans and lost her in the heather.

Before you call out the rescue services.. she wasn't lost for long, but it is difficult to spot her in the heather, which as you can see, was looking amazing in the pre Hurricane Katja stormy light.

Farmer was very excited to see some grouse droppings. We value the few rare coveys of grouse on the rare occasions we see them on the hill.

That time of year again

2011-09-05T16:04:00.005+01:00

The blog has been a bit quiet of late. The whole voting thing for the RSPB Nature of Farming Awards was exhausting and I was very glad when the deadline was over, and we could see beyond. We were touched by the huge amount of support and encouragement we received from so many people - from guests past, present and future, from strangers, from old friends, from neighbours, from all over the place. That is the big win as far as I am concerned, for that felt very special. Enough said!

The initial forecast for today looked dull and damp but actually it has been sunny and beautifully warm. Lots of bees enjoying the sweet nectar from vibrant montbretia by the garden wall, and dangling fuschia flowers. They seemed to ignore the hydrangea but I couldn't, and the kidney vetch in flower and in seed pod.

It was warm enough to feel like a fine Scottish summer day, but activity was definitely autumnal. The big sale at Oban Market tomorrow means lots of farmers would be sorting their lambs today. It is harvest time in the fank. Selecting the hoggs (ewe lambs) to keep for breeding, selecting the lambs for sale, taking off the 'cast ewes', ear-tagging the lambs, making sure everything going on the lorry has the right ear-tag, the right paperwork - as well as all the medicines needed and making sure the paperwork is in order. Lots of pens with different lots in them.

Thankfully, with Farmer out of action, we had the tireless help of the local Contractors today, who worked a 12 hour day and came in smiling at the end of it all with the list of how many there were to sell now, to sell later and not to sell at all. And Jamie came along when he could, to lend a hand. Farmer still managed to sneak into the cattle shed and move some hurdles to make the cattle pens into a lamb proof jail overnight.

Daughter tested out the memory of her past pet lambs - aided by a small amount of sheep food - soon had a stampede of Alice, Brownie, Breeze, Agatha, Brian (and the rest) almost knocking her over to get at the bucket. Suffice to say, they remembered her. Or the winter feeding regime. One of the two. But all so very much tamer than the hill ewes who would not be nearly so brave! (Above are Agatha and Alice) (Below is Brian) (And below that Breeze)

The sheep had all been gathered in last week, to the Park - the big field around the cattle shed. It is green and grassy so plenty for them all to eat prior to today. As soon as the ewes had been through the fank, they were put back onto the hill, and for a while they hover near the hill fence - torn between wanting to get back to their regular 'heft' and wanting to find their lambs.

Last week with family staying Farmer managed to fire up the Dutch Oven again, for a delicious beef stew.

The last photograph today is of the peeling paint on the rusting gate post at the corner of our garden.

A storm is getting up now - it has been well forecast in advance and we are prepared for high winds and rain. In between bouts of wind and rain against the farm house window in the dark, I can hear the plaintive bleating of ewes for their lambs. I hope the ferry isnt cancelled.

You can't hear the bees, but there were lots of them buzzing around.

2011-08-25T17:37:00.003+01:00

Sometimes you have to ignore the paperwork. So I did this afternoon, and went to photograph Field Gentian in the sun. It was blissful down in Scoma field, near the Haunn Cottages. I ended up photographing Devil's Bit Scabious too, and the lovely wetland end of the Natural Regeneration woodland area. Views out to Rum, Coll, Muck, Skye, Canna, Eigg and back in towards Calgary Beach.

Small steps and wild flowers

2011-08-21T16:04:00.008+01:00

After a quick trip to Tobermory this morning and some lovely fresh Tobermory Bakery rolls for lunch, filled with Mull Cheese, Farmer donned his crutches and we headed west with the dogs. Tig (see photo below) had her first experience this week of dog grooming. No one has quite got used to her tight fleece!

This Cinnabar Moth caterpillar was found on a bit of Ragwort which Farmer had picked. The strikingly stripy caterpillar on this frond of Ragwort was carefully re-located to some other Ragwort plants growing in a stockproof area, giving the caterpillar a good supply of food!

I have been back several times during sunny spells this week to see if there were more Field Gentian flowering. I took this photo yesterday morning.

By the time we had got home Farmer's pockets were full of Ragwort picked on his crutch aided wander. (No date for the operation yet). It is very important to strike a balance - providing food for Cinnabar Moth but not allowing too much Ragwort to go to seed. The last thing we want is dead Ragwort in our silage.

Angelica is still flowering. Love the variation in stage on the one plant, the faint white blossom on some heads, whilst other have moved into the deep purple seedhead stage. This plant had a great curl.

St John's Wort beautiful next to the Heather.

This Birch seedling has self seeded in the Black Park. There is lots of grass, and we will let the cows in here soon - though we are waiting for the breezy carpets of Devil's Bit Scabious and Knapweed go over first. No sheep in here until October.

Looking from the north side of Black Park back towards Calgary Beach. We have been told we are in second place in the RSPB Nature of Farming Awards, with only a handful of votes between us and the leading farmer. It is very humbling to have received so much support, so many votes, not only from our families, friends and neighbours but tremendous support from perfect strangers, and that is a wonderful feeling. If you want to vote there is still time. Click here!

It is sometimes the small and common flower like this Eyebright that catches the eye. The detail in the marking....lovely when all the other plants around it were far paler. We sat looking at the view: myself lost in flower photograph compositions and Farmer looking at the march of the bracken, longing for next year when hopefully conditions will be better and he can get the precious stone dyke habitats sprayed - the storms at the end of May this year put paid to aerial spraying this year. Black Park is still inspiringly beautiful as the flowers move into a later summer appearance - purple Knapweed, yellows of Hawksbit and the blues of Devil's Bit Scabious, amongst creamy Meadowsweet.

Our 6 kW turbine was fixed last week. The engineers arrived with a machine to aid winching the turbine down. In this photograph the gentle lean shown by the turbine is not wind damage, but the motorised winch beginning to bring her down. Must be alot easier using a generator and motor than doing it by hand!

Here you can see the end of the spring, dangling top left corner of the photo - gives you an idea of the length of the spring that had sheared off and embedded itself in the ground! Much to our relief all 3 sets of springs were replaced - and off she goes again. It is like having our old friend back - looking out from the kitchen to see the blades turning again. Noticing the blades turning when the wind gets up. A stationary turbine is no friend at all!

Hundreds and hundreds of them. Awe-inspiring.

2011-08-16T19:19:00.006+01:00

There are areas of Skoma field, near Haunn, with literally hundreds of Field Gentian. We have found one or two or a few more before, but never in the incredible number that Prasad found yesterday. Field Gentian are on the Threatened Species list. They open their sky blue flower when the sun warms them up. It had been raining hard today so they were tightly furled when I first got there. This field has not been grazed for several months and the Field Gentian are growing where the sheep love to sit! (and munch).

The grazing regime is paying off. Devils Bit Scabious flowering in fluttery carpets, blue heads dangling and swaying in the breeze, like a wild sketch of blue dots hovering above the grasses. This is an essential plant for the survival of the Marsh Fritillary as they feed on the leaves of the Scabious in March. In March there was no sign of this abundance, which tonight was really awe-inspiring.

I feel so lucky having spent an hour in the late afternoon early evening, wandering through these 2 magical sights.

We have been told that the voting is pretty close in the RSPB Nature of Farming Awards, and we are very touched by the response from past guests, friends, neighbours, islanders, people we don't know, and everyone else who has been supporting us, and asking everyone they know to vote. Having said that.. please keep up the good work!! It is not over yet! (And again, thank you.) This is the link to the RSPB website where you can vote.

Days out before holidays end.

2011-08-15T23:12:00.005+01:00

No chance for a Tunnocks tea cake at Crinan - by the time we got there tea room was closed.

Friday was the last chance for a family day out before the school holidays end, and we had a meeting in Oban first thing. So it seemed like a good idea to pickup an Artmap Argyll map and head out into deepest Argyll to look at some open studios.

Took a wrong turn up a side street in Kilmartin and found this rusting safe lying on the ground. It brought to mind the contrast between back lanes in Argyll compared to looted streets in London. In fact I was surprised that anyone would have had need of a safe here.

On our way back to Oban from Lochgilphead we took the turning up Kilmichael Glen. What a wonderful detour. Lots of tin sheds but no time to stop this time. This caravan beside the covered cattle crush, number 32. Gates to open and close across the potholey single track road. Wondering if it really was alright to be driving that way. Just after this gate stop, we passed an elderly farmer coated and hooded, walking his dogs - he smiled and waved as we went past.

Loch na Keal last evening on our way home from Tiroran gallery opening.

Treshnish heather where the sheep do not graze.

Prasad found huge numbers of field gentian today on a new site. I am hoping it stays dry long enough to photograph them tomorrow.

Another Salen Show

2011-08-11T22:48:00.004+01:00

I dont know how many inches of rain fell on Mull yesterday, but the burns roared, puddles filled, drains overflowed, and a neighbours house narrowly avoided being flooded by the river in spate, and everyone thought what unfortunate weather for the Salen Show the next day.

But this morning, it was drier and so the annual Show went on. Farmer looked after the Sciatica by filling a skip (?) as opposed to standing around all day chatting. (He finally got rid of the coin-op gas fired tumble drier we bought in 1996 from a boatyard on the Ross of Mull, which had become a bit of a fire hazard as well as an old gas cooker that we had kept for the 'just in case', but couldn't re-use because it is no longer legal). Daughter and I left him to it, and went off to share a picnic with cousins at lunchtime and consequently went a little too late to the Show.

Definitely missed most of the excitement though I did find myself taking part in one round of the Tug of War. NEVER before have I done anything so rash, and our end didn't win - my once in a lifetime shot.

At the end of the busy day we had mostly missed, we noticed crowds of footprints treading on footprints in the muddy grooves of livestock vehicle tracks; burger stalls packing up; bins filled with recycling; animals and humans wearing rosettes of all shapes and colours; chatting and greeting; buckets of stock showing equipment; empty cans; landrovers and pickups driving onto the show-field to retrieve their animals.

Debby and Dave on the RSPB stand got rid of all the voting slips for the Nature of Farming Awards. And apparently before we got there we were mentioned over the tannoy - very glad we were late and missed it.

All that goes on, against the back drop of the tide coming in and going out. By the time we circumnavigated this puddle on the way to the car, the tide was in again.

Coconuts and communities

2011-08-09T18:46:00.010+01:00

The USCA Fete.

Setting up Saturday.

Open for business in the Tea Tent.

USCA information.

Scarecrows watch it all.

Car park nearly full.

More crows.

Showcasing local salmon and beef.

Tug of War.

Mr Froggle.

More tugs.

Farmer's Coconut Shy.

Looking down on the field.

USCA Tea Tent.

USCA Produce Table raised over £300.

Runners return from Dun Mor Hill Race.

Bert Leitch, and Ronnie Campbell (who travelled all the way from Bunessan to do the Auction).

Finally, the day we had been planning for months was here. Teams of people from within and outwith the small Ulva School community came together to prepare, cook, bake, build, transport, to do whatever needed doing. And on the day, hundreds of island folk and visitors came along to enjoy the day. The atmosphere was really special, the coming together of lots of people for a common cause. There were so many things going on throughout the afternoon and evening, I don't know where to begin. First ever 'Prattley Competition', Hill Run up Dun Mor, sheep shearing competition; Tug of War; demonstrations of Mull Cheese making, spinning, bodging, wood carving; scarecrow making competition; coconut shy; face painting; tapestry; so many teas and cakes served; poike pots cooking stews and curry; fish filleted and barbequed; and later on songs sung, and tunes danced as rain started to fall on the marquee rooves. And people began to feel tired.

Late the night before the Fete, I wrote a timeline to relate the sequence of events that led up to the formation of USCA. Looking back on the dark days of last autumn and winter when the school was under threat of closure brought back all the despair of that time, and to get to the present day to the place we are in now is such a delightful contrast. It only goes to show. When individuals come and work together, great and unexpected things can happen!

USCA is on facebook.

Life returns to normality. Farmer's back still a bit raw and no sign of an operation date yet. Cottages are busy and guests enjoying the good weather and wildlife.

The lovely blue of scabious.

Jan and Cap cool off. They have just moved the sheep out from the hill park back on to the hill.

Last week Iain Thomson (AKA The Singing Shepherd) came to our rescue to shear our sheep. A team gathered together by the Contractors had the whole flock sheared, fleeces rolled and bags sown up in one go. The atmosphere in the shed was calm as Iain and Jim quietly handled the ewes, slowly and steadily working their way through the pens and pens of waiting ewes. It is obviously back-breaking work but they worked through and got it all done. The 'sciatic Farmer' was banned from helping. We are very grateful to them all for their considerable help.

We are racing through the summer now. Looking at schools going back next week. Still time to vote in the RSPB Nature of Farming Awards.

Silage making and sand faces

2011-08-04T04:40:00.006+01:00

Creative children make shell faces in the sand.

Deep purple seedheads.

The scent of Rosa Rugosa so pungent on an early August evening. Cutting the silage transports us into a new season. Despite the hot summers day, to make silage moves us swiftly into autumn, the season for gathering in, as we begin to store feed for the cattle in the winter.

Barnacles and limpets.

This is where you park your car, if you can find a ditch free space, when the beach car park is full Calgary. An indicator of good beach weather.

The weather forecast was not that great. But actual weather has been alot greater. One miserable 'its all over' day on Sunday but since then it has been wonderful. Even spent time on the beach! We could get used to this.

Farmer's back is still pretty bad, and the cocktail of pain relief makes for still more entertaining chat. We are really grateful for all the help we have been getting from friends and neighbours - today the shearers are coming to shear the sheep, and all the gathering has been done by the Contractors in preparation. Our other helper has been busy making the silage - every stage of the process - cutting, turning, baling and wrapping. It is only a small field, behind Shian and Duill, but has produced a good number of bales.

Watching brave swimmers cross the Cuin Sound.

Q. How large is a Zwartble brain? A. Alot smaller than his ears.

2011-07-30T17:51:00.005+01:00

One of the Farmer's summer jobs is to scythe the thistles, after they have flowered but before they seed. This year with the sciatica problem, the thistles have won and the seed is set.

Last year's pet lamb Brownie has been causing problems this last fortnight. He has started looking at the grass on the other side of the fence, despite the deep and lush grass on his side. He pokes his head through the square rylock stock fence, and then doesn't think to reverse his head out again, but stays there - stuck - until someone hears him bleating. It is a completely unnecessary action as the field has plenty of grass, but thankfully none of the rest of the gimmers or wedders seem to need to do the same (thankfully). However it causes great concern amongst guests and passers-by and he is frequently being rescued.

This years pet lamb Charlie is only slightly less troublesome. Whilst we were away on Barra he developed the need to headbutt humans in the leg or foot, and 'jump up' like a dog. We have turfed him into the field of gimmers and wedders now so he can learn to be more sheep-normal.

Matt Baker's Seabone - grassy view.

At Killiechronan yesterday, children riding on the beach.

The first perfect Grass of Parnassus in Black Park.

And carpets of Bog Asphodel.

The perfect combination of Wood Sage and Harebell. We have had lots of communication re the RSPB Nature of Farming Awards this week. Mentions on Twitter, on Facebook, in the Scottish Farmer, and lots of kind comments and pledges to vote for us from guests and friends which is much appreciated!

Treshnish asks for help to spread the word.

2011-07-22T20:23:00.014+01:00

I am not ungrateful. I had a wonderful holiday. But it went so quickly and there is so much going on now we are home. And the tapestry for wild flowers continues to unfurl its magic as the summer days roll through July. (all the flower photographs in this post were taken this week on the farm)

Barra weather was kind to us, as the Mull weather was kind to Treshnish in our absence. Family time. Sunshine. Pyramidal orchids. Six spot burnet moths. Delicious curry at Cafe Kisimul (twice). Sheila's home made ice creams. Meadowsweet. Bliss. Little boys playing cowboys with pistols. The Fisherman's Mass. An altar on a lorry, and fishing boats decked out in bunting and flags. Bagpipes. Wonderfully mad men in fast cumbersome fishing boats sardine packed full of relations and visitors racing across the Castle Bay like dodgem cars on a silvery water track. Beaches. Older girls with boogie boards. Waves. Sandcastles. More relaxed bliss.

But then Farmer's back gave out, the chronic sciatica became acute and we had to get the doctor in, and he came home lying flat in the boot of our very long car. We sent our bicycles home in a Barratlantic lorry to make more room for him. (they ended up in Glasgow rather than Oban but that is another story).

Imagine staying in a cottage that has a steep path and no vehicular access between you and the lay-by where the car is parked, with someone who can suddenly temporarily no longer walk. It was a worrying few days to say the least. But perhaps because we rarely go to the doctor we had underestimated the power of the pill. Woozy he may have been and very wobbly, but slow step by slow step Farmer hobbled on a pair of crutches up to the car, watched by the relaxed herd of cows and calves who were grazing around the cottage for most of our stay.

The long ferry journey for home left at 6.30pm and got us calmly into Oban just before midnight. Farmer lay on the floor for most of the journey whilst I strained my eyes unsuccessfully looking for recognisable shapes of land in the grey and wet gloom.

Home for a few days. Then Glasgow, seats down lying flat out in the back of the car. For MRI. Then appt. with Neurosurgeon. And home again. Prognosis is good. More targeted pain relief should make a difference and a chance of an operation in mid September. What happens after that is anyone's guess at the moment. Too early to know.

Last year when we were applying for SRDP funding for environmental measures, we spent a great afternoon in the company of Dr Tom Prescott (Butterfly Conservation Scotland) walking through the in-bye fields looking at a variety of flowers, butterflies and birds. At the end of the afternoon Tom suggested we should enter the farming conservation awards. This, in itself, was a huge boost to us. Between us, Prasad and I wrote the application for the RSPB Nature of Farming Awards and I sent it off. I never thought for a moment we had a chance of getting anywhere. So last month it was a enormous surprise to get a call from Dan at RSPB in Glasgow to say that we were the Scottish winner. Hence the photo of us at the Highland Show collecting the Award on the RSPB stand in an earlier posting.

And now it seems even more incredulous - we are one of the 4 UK finalists now!!! And the winner is the farm which gets the most votes from the general public! The other 3 farmers all farm in England - Shropshire, Wiltshire and Hertfordshire. Katie in the Glasgow RSPB office suggested that I posted this on our blog so that I could drum up more votes - which only shows they hadn't looked at the stats for the farm blog!

Anyway here are the details and it would be wonderful if you felt we deserved your vote. You can either vote online or by telephone or by voting card. (I will be sent some to hand out I think but haven't got them yet!) Vote here online or by telephoning this number: 0870 601 0215. Voting ends on the 31st August. Winner announced mid September.

Grateful to the many folk from around and about who are helping out at the moment. The 'Contractors' are looking after the sheep and cows. Jamie is doing the topping and bracken mowing in the lovely orange tractor. Brian is mowing the gardens lawns.

Farmer is our Local Hero.

2011-07-02T01:50:00.009+01:00

Farmer was nominated as Mike Russell's Local Hero after his (heroic) cycle ride from school to school in May. Local Heros are invited to participate in the Riding Procession at the opening of the new session of Parliament. This was a great day. I felt very moved and proud.

We were very well looked after - Michael Russell (our MSP, and Education Minister) and his wife Cathleen gave us a wonderful guided tour round the Parliament Building and introduced us to many people.

I don't have time to write much about it as it is 2 in the morning and I have to pack for Barra! So here are some pictures and I am sorry I can't write more just now.

At the Start. ARSN and Section 2 badges

Waiting for the off.

Here comes integrity or was it compassion?

More waiting.

Dollar Academy Pipe Band

Crowds line street in places. Residents lean out of windows.

Lunch for 1200 plus.

Inside.

Looking out from Ministerial Offices.

With First Minister Alec Salmond and Education Minister Michael Russell

Scores of wild flowers including the exotic Marsh Cinquefoil.

2011-06-30T09:02:00.007+01:00

Evening sun, Beyond Haunn.

Fragrant orchids, Treshnish Islands.

On Tuesday the Mull and Iona Ranger Service held a wild flower walk here, funded by Scotland's Islands. It was a lovely sunny day, and great to be out in the Haunn field and Black Park again looking at the glorious changing carpet of colours at our feet. The huge specimen of Northern Marsh orchid was still flowering beautifully, and close it the exotic looking Marsh Cinquefoil which I had not seen before.

The evening before, we went to the beyond Haunn field to look at a large and dense patch of fragrant orchid near the cliffs at the southern end of the Point. They were stunning but alas, as is the way of things sometime, a pesky group of cheviots have managed to get into the field so the numbers of sweet smelling and (presumably) tasting fragrants are diminishing.

I make no apology for the number of photographs of these beautiful plants.

We are off at end of school today (lunchtime) to Edinburgh as tomorrow Farmer takes part in the Riding Procession as one of Argyll's Local Heros. Those of you who know him will know what a reluctant hero he is! I will try and blog about it before Daughter and I disappear off to Barra on Saturday at lunchtime but I may not have time.

And again.

This week we have five cottages filled with returning guests - four have all holidayed here at the same time previously, it is lovely to see everyone recognising, remembering, greeting each other again. The fifth guests were here last in 1971, and they brought some photographs of Shian and Duill from that visit. A few changes (improvements) since then!

Evening sunlight over the Point. Looking out at Tiree.

The Highland Show

2011-06-25T16:13:00.010+01:00

Farmer and family went off to the Highland Show this week. We had not been since Daughter was 4 years old and had got her hand caught in an Edinburgh taxi door.

We left after school and caught a calm 5.10pm ferry to Lochaline. There was very little traffic and Glen Coe looked completely stunning. Bright sunlight and high in the sky white clouds casting shadows on steep scree slopes, this landscape is more beautiful every time we pass through it. Stopped at the Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum for something to eat - busy, friendly and a good way to produce food - good provenance of where it comes from, good attitude towards staff so everyone is responsible and responsive, and on top of all the right ethical noises the food is fast, fresh, real and tasty!

The Highland Show needs no words really and anyway I am embarrassed. So I will let the pictures tell the story and will write again soon.

Spink's from Arbroath smoking their fish in the open air at the Show. Smelt wonderful.

Behind the scenes in the Sheep pens.

Pure Zwartbles.

Border Leicesters with their rabbit like ears.

Balliemeanoch box of tricks.

A less posh box of tricks.

Receiving the RSPB Nature of Farming (Scottish) Award.

Tails.

Aberdeen Angus and wheelbarrow.

Impressive beeswax cup cakes from the Bee Tent.

Dorset Downs (I think).

Red Bull (in the sheep pens).

In the Show Ring.

Daughter's new favourite. Hampshire Downs.

Preening.

And the unpreened Tig stayed at home.

School visits, shearing, sunshine and starlings

2011-06-19T08:01:00.013+01:00

Nearly a week has gone by since the last post, and it is the longest day of the year tomorrow. Today we woke to sunshine and it has been one of those still blue sky days, with little to no wind, and birdsong the noisiest thing around. Daughter was excited because the school were coming to the farm today, no need to manically watch the clock as they weren't going to arrive until 10 am.

I cannot resist the sight of the fragrant orchid, milkwort and birds foot trefoil. Such a good colour combination.

Giant orchid specimen found by the 2 P6s at Haunn.

At Ulva School the subject of the current Personal Research Unit (the P.R.U.) is Renewables. Hence the visit. Each pupil chooses a different topic to research on their own. Daughter has chosen wind turbines. No excuse then not to get a good mark.

Trying to simplify biomass heating schemes and wind generation to 5 and 6 year olds level is hard enough, but I realised when trying to talk about the PV panels I really have little clue as to how they work. I just know they do. I think I managed to gloss over my ignorance! Anyway, surprisingly pertinent questions and we got 7 out of 8 of the children hugging the turbine. We respect differences of opinion here, and wind turbines certainly bring about polarity in opinion!

Whilst showing the pupils the turbine, Farmer was alarmed to find a spring poking out of the ground. It has come off the turbine. We have contacted the installers and were advised to put the brake on the turbine and await instructions. Proven will want photographs etc so that they can fix it under warranty. I am glad no one was standing underneath when it broke off. Guess it happened in the gales a month ago. You can see the earthy end of it where it had been thrust into the ground.

With the brake on, the blades are still.

Having got the technical stuff out of the way, Farmer drove us down to the Haunn field on the tractor and trailer so that we could show the children the abundant wild flowers there. The sun was still shining and felt warm on our faces. Buttercup, pignut, northern marsh orchid, butterfly orchid, fragrant orchid, ragged robin, eyebright, speedwell, mint, forget me not, heath bedstraw..and more that I have forgotten already. Wonderful scene, children dashing from find to find, hopefully stepping carefully and avoiding crushing the stems of hidden orchids.

Farmer is suffering. Whether it was due to months of fetching and carrying for the builders or the rigours of doing the cycle for the schools, but Farmer's back is playing up and has been for weeks and weeks. Not one who is happy idle, and not one who can let others do his work easily, he is a difficult patient. (I can say this because he doesn't ever read the blog). But with the school holidays looming (two weeks left of term) we are hoping to lure him away from the temptation of physical work and remove him to Barra. We are hoping for a calmer crossing this year as neither Daughter or I have forgotten the northward journey of last year.

Yesterday I went to a poetry reading at Ardtornish on Morvern, part of an event hosted by the Andrew Raven Memorial Trust. The poet was Thomas A Clark. It was a fantastic experience. The 'theme' was Paths, and he read from several books, some long and others short. The memorable one for me was as if walking on a Hebridean island, on the machair; beautifully crafted words painting evocative images of walks across the machair, of the wild flowers, of movement of light and water.

Weeding the polytunnel unearthed a rare sight. A mother hedgehog suckling her young. Her nest of grasses and weeds was so well hidden.

Starlings gathering in the Park last night. They seem to like following the gimmers.

The tups (above) and the hoggs (now gimmers) were shorn on Saturday. The zwartble cross shetlands look like goats without their wool.

For the love of flowers

2011-06-15T11:16:00.007+01:00

This photograph was taken out of Daughters bedroom window. Look at the dead leafed trees - difficult to believe it is June. I love the way the tups sit with 'Seabone' (by Matt Baker) as if it were one of them.

Watching the woodchip. At this time of year we use very little, so deliveries are few and far between. The fuel store has to be levelled to ensure that all the chip is used before new is tipped in on top.

Fragrant orchid, bird's foot trefoil and common milkwort.

Pignut

It is a dreich day today, cloud is low and air is damp (and at times wet!). Water drops cling to grasses, gently blowing in the wind. Walking the dogs to Haunn this morning was an absolute delight.

Fragrant orchids

Birdsfoot trefoil

Not sure if this is early purple or northern marsh - think it is the latter.

Tiny white star shaped petals

Yellow rattle

Greater Butterfly orchid

These photographs were either taken in the Black Park or in the Haunn Field. The latter is not being cut for silage this year, but we are keeping the stock out of here to allow all these flowers to safely set their seed.

Best laid plans.... surprising results.

2011-06-10T23:33:00.008+01:00

We had it all arranged - sheep were all gathered in, the Contractors were coming in to put lambs through the fank, the plumber had arrived and the sun was shining.

But for reasons (strong but dull in the telling!) I won't go into, instead of going to London we ended up in Cromarty, and very nice (eventually) it was too. We found a cheap deal on a cottage attached to a hotel outside Inverness and that evening as I crawled exhausted, into a comfy bed, I thanked my lucky stars that I was not on a train.

By next afternoon, sufficiently recovered to make a day trip, we headed across the green and leafy Black Isle to Cromarty so we could visit Hugh Miller's Cottage. Run by the National Trust for Scotland it is a delightful museum, and we enjoyed looking at the fossils and his birthplace, under the thatch. Cromarty charmed us, so we wandered and looked over garden walls at beautiful sandstone houses with lovely gardens, and walked in between rows of fishermen's cottages in warm sun, and exploring the difference in east to west coastal villages.

While we were wandering in Cromarty that sunny afternoon, the Green Tourism Week Awards were being announced in London, and as we did not hear anything from GTBS, we realised that to have been selected by GTBS as a Finalist for the Goldstar and on the shortlist for the Carbon Footprint Award was enough of a 'win' for us!

We ate at Rocpool in Inverness on Thursday night which was delicious, and the evening sun on Loch Ness was golden and summer seemed to be in the air at last. Refreshed we headed for home early Friday morning for School Sports day at Garmony.

Imagine our intense surprise when we got home to an email from Andrea at GTBS (Green Tourism Business Scheme) telling us that we had won not only a Goldstar but a Carbon Footprint Award as well! Back down to earth with a bang though, as the Haunn water supply had airlocked and Farmer spent the next 24 hours on and off digging holes and sorting it out.

The fragrant orchids are beginning to flower. I am surprised every time by the strength of their scent. So exotic for Mull.

The hens hide from the sun.

The sea pinks are nearly over now, but still en masse this beach near Ulva Ferry is softly pink, on a bright and sunny day.

View from the airlocked water supply.

Shieling Cottage, in evening sun.

Changeover day at Haunn; counting little angels

2011-06-04T17:46:00.007+01:00

It was lovely at Haunn today. The sun was shining and the air was clear. Birds singing, swallows diving in under the eaves of the blackhouses to carefully hidden nests. It isnt often I get a chance to help on a Saturday, and it was so nice being down there, and working in the cottages. In between times when I don't work down there, I sometimes forget the cottages now have electricity, and that the changeovers are more straightforward now because of that! No need to lug a generator in case you needed a hoover! I did have time to take some photos and look for orchids.

Buoys collected by guests and left as mementos. We have been at Treshnish for 17 years, but these cottages at Haunn have been holiday cottages for alot longer than that, and there are families who have been coming here on holiday for more than 30 years! Our first summer one of the regular families left a little carved cross (made from driftwood) on the mantelpiece in West Cottage. It is still there 17 years later, along side a pretty painted stone which they also made. It started a 'tradition' of guests leaving tiny little tokens - whether it is a painted stone, or a carving, or an oil painting of a mermaid. We have a collection of buoys from the shore behind the Studio, but I liked the way these ones had been left here, so I have left them too.

10 days after the storms, the bracken is putting up fresh fronds - alarmingly quickly. The young trees near the house still look very dead, fingers crossed they will produce a second leaf. We worry about the 2,000 trees we planted 3 years ago, whether they will survive.

Small white orchid, slightly battered and still to unfurl. Near Toechtamhor.

Ferns in the kail-yard beside West Cottage, Haunn. Fresh shoots in contrast to the storm battered burnt fronds behind.

The garden around East, Middle and West looking lovely. The foxgloves have appeared after the storms of 10 days ago, unscathed.

East Cottage windowsill.

This fuchsia was hit by the storm.

This one was not.

Farmer has been busy today. The cheviot gimmers (now ewes) were brought up with their lambs, so they can be checked over and counted. The lambs so quickly grow in size from the skinny loose skinned 'little angels' 6 weeks ago! Gimmers are less likely to have twins first time round, so Farmer was fairly pleased with the result we got, and J. who was helping him was kind about the size of the lambs!

The not quite so little 'angels'.

One of our neighbours tups, with the natural re-gen woodland in the distance.

Photographs of the Luss Finish Line Party

2011-05-23T17:20:00.007+01:00

Preparations before he arrives.

The marquee. Balloons and bunting.

The Luss village school.

And here he is. Over the Finish Line.

Passing on the message from Toward Primary School.

The ARSN tee shirt and the party decoration.

More presentations and support for Luss School and Parent Council from Minard Primary School with SNP MSP Mike MacKenzie, Councillor George Freeman.

Farmer had cycled over 250 miles in mostly rain and unseasonably strong winds! But despite the weather he had a great time, and enjoyed meeting everyone along the way.

Thank you to Luss and to everyone who showed him support and hospitality in the other schools and communities he visited.

Farmer on holiday

2011-05-21T22:48:00.003+01:00

If you look at the ForArgyll website you will be able to see the full story of Somerset's trip from Treshnish to Luss via 9 threatened primary schools in Argyll and Bute. I cannot post the photos I took today because I can't get them off my phone - will do so when I get home.

The last visit was today in Luss. A surprise Finish Line Party was arranged by the dedicated Parent Council and preparations involved anxiously watching the forecast and taking suitable action (involving a trip to B&Q to purchase a small marquee). Somerset was due to arrive between 12.30 and 1.

We got there before midday and were told he had been sighted in the village already, but he sensitively lurked around away from the school, and duly appeared sporting a North Bute Primary School tee shirt (slogan reading North Bute School - Family of Friends). Finish Line Ribbon was held across the road leading up to the school and over he rode to great cheers. Daughter and I were behind the ribbon and he was very surprised to see us there, but we wouldn't have missed it for the world. It had started to rain when we arrived and as I write, still it has not stopped for 11 hours.

A wet wedding taking place in the village, I hope the bride had an umbrella. High heels and bare legged guests look inappropriate in torrential rain trying to navigate deep puddles looking for the church. Luss village is extremely charming - attractive stone cottages with gardens bursting with Himalayan poppies, and overwhelming abundant greenery. Seems well ahead, compared to Treshnish - our trees around the house are still not fully in leaf. The Luss folk were lovely - welcoming and hospitable. 2 families of children had travelled down from Minard School which was great. Mike McGregor List MSP was there, as well as Councillor George Freeman, Labour MSP Jackie Baillie, and Alan Reid LibDem MP. What would this village be without a school? Lots of photographs were taken, and Somerset was interviewed by URTV. (not quite sure what that is but still!)

Pinks, orchids, pony traps, adjustment and regeneration.

2011-05-19T15:09:00.006+01:00

Carpets of pinks at Lagganulva on my way to an USCA meeting at the school yesterday. It was cold for May, but the flags are nearly out here too.

Azalea planted by the previous owners of Treshnish by the Ensay Burn. There are a few random rhododendrons on the way up the track too. In the photograph below you can see the young trees that have sown themselves on the verge of the track, where there is less competition from grass. Young trees are surviving on the open ground, but the grass does slow down the gradual movement out from the wood into the open space. At this time of year it is easy to notice the new trees appearing when their leaves are so fresh.

Common spotted orchids on the bank above Studio with bluebells, and frail white pignut flowers beginning to appear in places too.

This old pony trap was used on Mull before the Second World War by my family on the other side of the island. It is sadly riddled with woodworm, and needs loving care. Perhaps someone walking past will offer to restore it.

Farmer is on his way, through Argyll. The weather has been mainly horrendous. He has visited 6 of the 9 schools on the threatened list. He has done really well and met some great people at some fantastic remote rural schools! Tomorrow North Bute Primary, then Toward and lastly Luss. On Bute tomorrow he will meet Michael Russell, Argyll MSP (and Education Minister) and be interviewed by the Buteman newspaper! He will be taking small ferries across some of Argyll's peninsulas (Tarbert to Portavadie, Colintraive to Bute, Dunoon to Gourock. Gourock to Helensburgh, and getting a lift on a fast RIB. Planning this leg of the trip illustrates how diverse and spread out Argyll is.

Adjustment refers to the dogs. No puppies to look after and no Meg. Daughter has brought Tig into the house more, but she goes back to her kennel at night. In Farmer's absence, Cap and Jan are playing around again as if 7 puppies never happened, so alot of care being taken to ensure they don't happen again.

The Contractors come in daily to check the stock. Charlie the pet lamb is thriving.

The woodchip boiler alarm light went off today, and an error message I have never seen before came up on the Control Panel. Gulp. Where is the Farmer when I need him?

End of an Era

2011-05-17T12:47:00.005+01:00

Meg came to Treshnish in May 1996 (or 1997) as a fluffy bundle of Bearded Collie pup. She came from Strontian. She died on Friday 13th May 2011. Meg worked with Farmer - helping in her unique way on the hill, and using her invaluable skill in catching sheep - especially useful at lambing time. She barked on command during gatherings, and often without command at all. She put 110% into everything she did, whether it was caring for lambs or hiding in the long grass watching the sheep or Freddie the donkey who used to live here. An utterly irreplaceable family pet and friend.

Sunshine at times.

Shut out of Kilninian Churchyard.

Farmer cycles. In the rain. From school to school, carrying messages. Warm welcomes from everyone so far.

Evening sun on rock beside path to rocky beach below Treshnish farmhouse.

Thrills and spills.

2011-05-13T18:31:00.006+01:00

I have been trying to blog since the 12th, but internet has been very patchy. So patchy I cannot get it to upload photographs, so I am going to give up and publish post without any this time.

Written on 12th May: The weather has been mixed. We had thunder one day but we needed the rain. Plenty of wind for the wind turbine (just over 20,000 units now in 19 months). Plenty of bright light for the PV. Windy sunny days obviously very productive!

Great excitement: Prasad heard the corncrake yesterday. Not too far from Haunn. Farmer saw 2 Snow geese yesterday. When we first moved here in 1994 the snow geese came in every April to nest here. They diminished in number and finally about 10 years ago they stopped coming.

Lambing is nearly over. This afternoon, some walkers called in to report that they had seen a dead ewe near the Whisky Cave with bleating lambs near it. It is always appreciated when people come across something like this, that they tell us. It is difficult for a farmer to be in every corner of the farm all of the time at lambing time, so walkers' eyes are useful extra pairs of eyes at this time of year.

Farmer went off to bury the ewe and try and catch the lamb. It was quite clear when he got there that this ewe had not died from any illness but that she had fallen off the cliff. I won't go in to detail on the blog, but poor thing. The lambs had joined up with other ewes and lambs and he would have endangered them all if he had tried to catch them - high risk of mis-mothering at that time of day, and high risk of cliff-falls too. So not a good day in that aspect, but he will go back tomorrow and try again.

Charlie the pet lamb is still not a very good feeder. He is about to move into the Shelter so he can have access to fresh grass.

Farmhouse is busy with preparations for Farmer leaving on his annual walkabout. Have a look at the ForArgyll website for details. The Contractor came over this afternoon to talk to him and see where the cows and in bye sheep are, and to get last minute instructions. We are very lucky to have folk relatively close by who can come and look after everything and it is much appreciated.

I will write again soon.

Sunshine and no showers - yet

2011-05-01T12:44:00.016+01:00

Marsh Marigolds down by the boathouse.

The 60 Cheviot Gimmers, lambing for the first time, are nearly finished lambing. Early evening sees teams of 'little angels' playing together, jumping down rock faces and kicking up their hind legs.

Rockpools reflections in evening light, looking back into Calgary Bay and towards the Beach.

We are getting to grips with the new management programme for Conservation. It is quite complicated having done things for 15 years in a certain way, to suddenly have different dates and grazing rhythms with complicated stocking densities to remember. When we walked round the farm last summer with Dr Tom Prescott from Butterfly Conservation Scotland, he was keen to help us get the right system in place to continue to improve the quality of the bio-diversity on our fields. And it all seemed quite flexible whilst we walked through fields knee deep in flowers. But as soon as you sign on the dotted line it becomes inflexible and we have to hope, at this stage, that we have got it right! Time will tell, and a review is built into the 5 year scheme anyway.

Water Avens, by the old boathouse.

Beltane is the day each year when the bull goes out. This means that the separation is ended and he runs with the cows for the next few months. On Tuesday our older cows go to Market in Oban. We are selling 4 cows, 2 of them with this year's calves. One of the cows is one of our first home bred cows - No 7. The others are Highland Shorthorn crosses we bought from one of our neighbours. It will be sad to see them go, and the dynamic of the herd will change without them. It will take a while for the new order to establish.

Loading the cows into the lorry Tuesday morning.

In March, in Berlin, at the inaugural VESTAs European Sustainable Tourism Awards, we were chosen as one of 6 'Outstanding Examples' of European Sustainable Tourism in the Accommodation Category! We are chuffed to bits with this recognition - we were nominated by Visit Scotland after the Thistle Awards last year, but never thought a small business such as ours would have a chance on a European level - still can't quite believe we have! We did not travel to the Reception in Berlin - too far to go for just one evening we felt.

I have just bought sleeper tickets for our trip to London Green Tourism Week in June though! We were told in February that we had been shortlisted for the GTBS Gold Star Awards, and a couple of weeks ago, we were told that we are now one of the Finalists! The email informing us of this great bit of news said that we are "now officially one of the top 2% of Green Tourism Businesses in UK and Ireland" - so that feels pretty good too. No pressure then... The winners are announced at a Reception at the Royal Thames Yacht Club, and we decided this time to go - as we can do the whole journey effortlessly by train. Quite excited about being in London for a day.

Tractor in garden - again. Thank Goodness it is dry.

Work continues apace on the office extension. The bulk of the woodfibre insulation arrived before Easter, and the roof pitches were fully insulated and covered in 2 very long days. The second of which our builder was on his own, so ably assisted later in the day by Farmer.

Today has been one of those incredible days, when I feel more than lucky to live here. We sat having a mug of tea in the sunshine outside the back door this afternoon, looking at the bluest of blue skies, clear air, fresh luminous green leaves on young trees we planted a few years ago, birds singing, swallows diving, breeze blowing. The weather today so very different from one of those dark winter days when the sky barely lights up at all, with wind howling, and rain pouring. So very different as to feel like a parallel world. Perhaps we wouldn't appreciate days like today so much if we didn't have the wild wet wintery days to remember.

The number of lambs is increasing and we are slowly finding homes for the puppies. Daughter, Friend and I delivered one to Lochgilphead on Friday, thinking we would avoid the traffic, but forgetting about the Mull Music Festival and ending up having to drive a very long way as the Oban boats were all full for the way back! Stopped at Kilmartin House Museum which is a great little museum and the girls enjoyed re-visiting the museum and we had lunch. Daughter has made a very mature decision (with no arm twisting) not to keep a puppy so we still have that one (girl) and one other (boy) to find homes for... do get in touch via the website if you can give either a home. A working home would be preferred but a good family home will also do!

Thrift, below the Treshnish Cottages.

No miracle pulled out of hat for rural schools in Argyll.

2011-04-24T09:27:00.008+01:00

Clachan School take a good look inside the Council Chamber.

On Tuesday Argyll and Bute Council met to decide on whether to send any, each or all the 12 threatened schools to Public Consultation. For these schools it will have been a charged, tense and harrowing day but outside the Council Offices at Kilmory (Lochgilphead) the sun was shining and the atmosphere was strong and defiant. A&B MSP candidate Mike Russell (SNP) was there as was Jamie McGrigor (Con). Jackie Baillie (Lab) and Mike Russell sat in on proceedings in the Chamber, as did some school children from North Bute. There was some inventive demonstrating and some great chanting, singing and even members of a pipe band. Ashfield School, similar in many ways to Ulva School, was given a reprieve but the 11 others were voted to go to Consultation. And if nothing is done to stop the process they will have to endure a further 6 months of tension, stress and uncertainty before they know whether the schools will stay open or not. This will mean the school children, teachers, parents and local communities will experienced a rotten, uncertain and extremely stressful 12 months.

Easter Saturday. Glorious sunshine. Bright blue sky reflected on bright blue sea. Hazy horizon views from Toechtamhor windows disappearing into faint clouds over Rum, Skye, Muck and Eigg. Lambing continues, perhaps a third of the way through. Farmer out at any time during daylight hours, checking the two flocks. Alice, Agatha (in photo below with her first lamb) and the gimmer Cheviots are in Scoma (the field with Medieval ruined settlements near the Point). This is a good field for lambing with plenty of grass and good shelter should we get those drying cold north winds. Luckily too, there is a route round it suitable for the quad bike.

For the first time (appallingly) since lambing began I accompanied Farmer and Jan (who is gently returning from nursing mother to working dog role) on an evening patrol of the field. Agatha came jogging up to the buggy thinking she was going to be fed - she has a fine young lamb now of her own. Alice is yet to lamb and Daughter is anxiously waiting for that event. Everything seemed fine, ewes and lambs mothering up, and those waiting to lamb grazing normally. One sitting on her own over a slight hillock, cause for concern. Binoculars out. Can't see anything untoward but move in closer to double check. She doesn't get up when we approach. Farmer gets down from buggy, and walks steadily towards her. Tail raised, you can see a head poking out. Farmer leaps as she begins to run. Farmer grabs her hind quarters and hangs on, slides over turf dyke on his belly, she can't get away. These Cheviots are alot bigger than Blackies, and more difficult to catch. In a trice Farmer has safely lambed her (in photo below). The head is larger than normal from the pressure of being a hung lamb, but it will return to normal in a few days. Heaving the mother into the back of the buggy, and placing the lamb in the recycled mineral bucket for safety on the journey back to the farm. Good job done. Back to the farm. Penned off so they can mother up.

Missing lambs in the inbye fields. Twice in the last few days Farmer has seen a ewe with twins in the evening and gone back the next morning to find there is a lamb missing.

In the 1970's there was a scheme called the Hebridean Bulb Venture which was set up to encourage farmers and crofters on islands like the Isle of Mull to try other crops. These daffodils in the Kilmaluag field are all that remains here of a failed attempt at early 'diversification' - in order to get a good show of blooms we have to keep the sheep out of this field!

Before going back out to check the sheep on the hill Farmer put 2 bat boxes up on the north wall of the Recycling Shed today.

Huge amounts of wood-fibre insulation arrived this week for our roof. It is being stored in every available shed. (thank goodness the cows are out on the hill now). I am shocked by the quantities of building materials this project is using, however you try to minimise the impact on the environment. We have become big time consumers, and I don't like it! Even if it will make the farmhouse far more energy efficient in the longer term.

All kinds of things going on, and puppies growing on..

2011-04-10T08:06:00.018+01:00

The farmhouse repairs are not finished but we have moved back in as Studio is now booked through the summer until September. Living in Studio for 2 months was a useful way of making sure it worked as a living space - and resulted in a little furniture moving (my favourite) means the sitting room feels refreshed and the kitchen enjoying a change as well. In addition, buying a small (low energy) TV for the main bedroom so parents can watch TV in bed, if they want to, once children have gone to sleep in the cosy boxbeds!

The farmhouse now has running hot and cold water again, with a working bath and loo (what a relief) and one day soon (I hope) we will have zoned central heating which will enable us to heat different areas of the house at different times. The ancient heating system we had before was all or nothing - I am appalled to admit there were not even thermostats on the radiators, so we will save energy with the ability to control!

As there is residual damp in the thick stone walls we are using breathable (woodfibre) insulation and Earthborn Claypaint which we haven't used before - these paints have no plastics or vinyls in them and will breathe with any moisture present in the walls, rather than blister or peel. It is lovely paint to use - a limited palette of colours which is quite a relief compared to the excessive choice of Dulux world. We have used LED lights in the kitchen and 2 of the darker rooms in the house, and what a different the spread of light makes. LEDs are low energy to run but expensive to buy initially. They pay for themselves in 2 - 3 years apparently and last for 10. (we'll see)

Where floors had to be replaced (rotten joists and the like) we have used reclaimed Junckers from the same source as used for the cottages - this time the batch we were sent (having not gone to look at it first) is covered in sports pitch lines so the floors look like jumbled up linear abstract paintings. (nice winter occupation with a blow torch to remove the lines? or careful siting of rugs?) And the leaky draughty north facing windows have been replaced by aluminium clad wooden windows giving these rooms a noticeable silence in a gale compared to before. The adhoc 'team' of local people working on the house have been fantastic, working hard and consistently - hopefully we will be finished soon!

What have we learned from renovating the house? It will never be as energy efficient as a modern house in terms of consumption, but it will be much better than it was before - using 'airtightness spec' round the windows, some additional insulation in walls, and controllable heating.

In a parallel world, the farm has been moving towards spring. New grass is slowly beginning to grow in the in bye fields; primroses are flowering in sheltered corners away from browsing sheep. Lambing is due to start any day, so Farmer is busy keeping a look out for any earlies. He is particularly anxious about the Cheviot Gimmers (Alice and her pals) who are lambing for the first time. Daughter's focus, I have to admit, has been transferred onto the seven growing pups, who consume alot of her attention. This is perhaps a good thing as previous to their appearance she was planning a private maternity bay for Alice in the stack yard, with 24 hour nursing care. Perhaps Farmer will be able to leave Alice to do as nature intended after all and just keep the usual watchful eye at an appropriate distance!

The cows are out on the hill with their calves, and fending for themselves much more. In the few days of heavy rain earlier in the week Farmer was tempted to bring them all back into the shed for some shelter but decided it was better not to interfere. The pre-lambing gather and treatment was done a couple of weeks ago, with the old team helping out.

For a long time Neighbour and His Cousin from Dervaig helped with gathering the sheep in off the hill, and at fank work over here, and Farmer would repay the favour helping out next door - a process known as Neighbouring, and a lovely tradition it was. But more recently the system has changed, and whilst Farmer and Neighbour still help each other out in other ways and at other things, Contractors have taken over the role of 'Neighbour' (whichever side of the boundary fence you are on). So the usual team is now Contractor and Neighbours Cousin from Dervaig, but Contractor had something more important to do (getting married!)(for which we all send Congratulations!!!) when we need to gather for the 'pre-lambing Gather' so the old team of Neighbour and Cousin came in to help instead. The ewes were given a treatment against worms and fly. This is very similar to the treatment they would have had when we were farming organically, they were allowed one prophylactic worm treatment a year and this is the time of year it is recommended to do it, prior to lambing so that they pass protection onto the lambs through the milk.

In late autumn Visit Scotland asked if they could nominate us for the first ever VESTAs European Sustainable Tourism Awards. Great, flattering, but not a chance of winning we thought! In February I realised that I had been ignoring an important email from the organisers of the Awards, thinking it was junk mail. It was only the words 'EXTENDED DEADLINE' which finally caught my eye. Oops. This was an extended deadline for nominees to complete a Profile Form so that our business could be profiled at the Awards Ceremony in Berlin. The questions were interesting (clumsily translated from German into English) and seemed geared towards far bigger businesses than ours, but I persevered and sent some photographs.

We decided early on that we were not going to accept the invitation to go to the Awards Reception in Berlin on March 11th. (As we try not to fly, it would have involved days and days by train - for a 2 hour Reception....I don't think so.) Imagine our surprise and delight though, when we heard that we did 'win'. We have been selected as one of 12 'Outstanding Examples' of Sustainable Tourism in the whole of Europe!! A small enterprise from a remote corner of the Isle of Mull.....it hasn't quite sunk in yet.

Tweets... the first Swallow. Garden full of daffodils. Goldfinches at the bird feeder. Wheatears. Wagtails. Frogspawn. Larches greening up. Strange cars on the road. Signs of Spring. Of Summer. Yesterday was windy but with balmy air out of the wind, and warm milky sun. Lovely to see familiar faces as regular guests return and to meet those experiencing Treshnish or Mull for the first time.

Treshnish is now on Twitter. I haven't quite got the hang of it yet, but finding some interesting Tweeters out there - like Guardian Eco, Lucy Brown and Scots Renewables.

At last some photographs of the puppies dotted through this posting. We still have a few boy pups to find homes for. Their father Cap is an incredibly good natured dog with a huge out-run, born and bred as he was on the high hills of Glen Lyon. He is good at going the distance when gathering along the headland, running up and down the cliffs. Jan their mother is happier in fields but useful on the hill too. She also has a keen eye and would work until she dropped given the chance. Please email via the website if you are interested in giving one of these pups a home.

Pre-season busy-ness

2011-04-06T07:51:00.002+01:00

Puppies photographs and news of what has been happening on the farm in the regrettably long interval between posts will appear soon....

Puppies, sunshine and showers (of snow)

2011-03-13T09:45:00.004Z

We are amazingly busy just now and so I thought I would show you some photos and will write more words another day.

Seven puppies born last Sunday. Mother and Pups doing well. If anyone can give a puppy a good home, or a rewarding working life, please get in touch. Five boys and two girls. And a power battle between Farmer and Daughter versus Me as to whether we keep one or not.

The neat job done in the Ensay Burn woodland. Cutting back the invasive rhododendron ponticum.

Sun in between showers.

Turbine Services came to service the turbine. Luckily they chose the day after the storm - if it had been too windy they could not have safely lowered the turbine for servicing.

Zoning in the farmhouse. (These gleaming copper pipes will soon be hidden behind a wall - I hope)

An eventful week

2011-03-04T19:20:00.007Z

After so many months of waiting, the HWE plumber finally came to sort the weeping joints on the wood chip boiler pipework. I think it was more than he had bargained for. Not only did he nearly have to return to Fort William on day one for more fittings (luckily a rummage in Farmer's steading loft uncovered some bits he could use instead), but the boiler house had more leaks than a colander, and at 9.45pm in the evening of day 2 (he was still working) he heard a strange noise in the boiler flue, and when he lifted the air vent flap was mightily surprised to find the piercing eyes of a sooty tawny owl staring at him. Farmer and Daughter were home, and Farmer rescued the poor alarmed bird unharmed. Thankfully the flue pipe was cold as the boiler house pipework was in bits at the time. All credit to the owl saving plumber from HWEnergy for not only did he work until 10pm that night, but he was back the next morning at 9am (day 3), and by the time he left he had replaced every joint in the container. That is nearly the end of the 'snagging'! We only had one night without heating, and the job was timed to happen when the Treshnish cottages were empty.

On Thursday, Farmer had a day trip to Oban. He was there for all of 20 minutes, having left home at 7am, he arrived back at 3.30pm! The old Massey tractor took its last Mull road trip as far as the ferry at Craignure, and was loaded onto a lorry on Oban pier. A quick turn around - as Farmer jumped into the replacement orange one and got on the next ferry home. There will be no problem seeing which field he is working in this summer, as the orange is very bright. After a meeting at the school, we rushed home to see the new (to us) tractor for ourselves, expecting to find Farmer beaming from ear to ear with pleasure now that he finally had a tractor with a radio that works and an air seat to boot. 'Bracken bashing' will be undertaken with renewed vigour this summer I suspect as a result.

Anyway, imagine our dismay when we found Farmer in the yard, emerging from underneath the tractor with no memory of a beaming smile to be found on his face. This long awaited tractor would not start, would not move. Several phone calls and a futile search for the instruction book later, after a calming cup of tea Farmer and assistant mechanic Daughter went up to have another look. Half an hour, peace restored to the farmyard as Farmer found what the problem was and after replacing the missing pin, which had dropped into the mud below the tractor (luckily not onto the 30 miles of road between Treshnish and the ferry), the orange tractor was ready to go again.

Part of the irritation about the tractor not working once he got it home, was tied in with the fact that the new wee digger (also orange) was taken off on a trailer the other day to Salen to be mended..."all that glitters (or is orange) is not gold"....

Builders continue to re-construct the farmhouse, wires dangle from replaced ceilings, plasterboard goes up, more building materials arrive, clocks ticking. We were waiting for the Pavatherm in order to start replacing the old windows on the north side of the house. (a complicated detailing using carefully selected tapes and seals, to cut draughts, aiming to minimise heat loss) The bales of wood fibre insulation arrived on the island just as we discovered that the cill extensions we needed had not arrived with the windows themselves. Oops. A three week delay whilst we wait for them. Exactly the amount of time we have before we move back in. Plenty of time to admire the insulation while we wait. Made from waste wood, easy on the human using it, and easy on the environment. It will stop condensation forming from warmly heated rooms meeting thick stone walls with their historic dampness.

We received a load of hay and straw today, which the new tractor was able to unload with ease. (The reach of the loader means we would be able, in an emergency, finally to lift bags of wood chip high enough to drop into the hopper). The cattle shed is brimming. Enough straw to build a house.

Brownie and one of his mates (Brian?) wait for their feed in the morning. The weather has been mainly glorious. Birdsong with optimism around the bird feeders in the garden, and Jan's belly is filling out as the day for the pups to appear looms ever closer. We are all quite excited but totally unprepared! We are about to first time canine parents. Luckily Jan has had puppies before and clearly enjoys being pregnant. If it is possible for a dog to look happy...

We have had a steady trickle of cottage guests since Christmas, having short breaks and longer stays,enjoying the spring like feel to the weather, and the longer days, whilst the island is still quiet. We were wondering yesterday if the corncrakes born at Haunn last summer will come back and nest here this year. Time will tell.