Gooseberry bushes and sunsets

I found this gooseberry bush, self seeded behind the Recycling Shed - in the concrete base which was part of the old fank.

We managed to get Duill finished with an hour to spare before our first guests arrived.  It looks really good.  The sunroom gets the thumbs up from all of us, it catches the sun most of the day and is a great vantage point for watching birds on the lochan.  The sunroom is unheated (as the recycled windows are not current U value standard) but the cottage itself is warm and cosy now with all the additional wall insulation.

This willow is growing behind the Recycling Shed too.

Overcast but bright hazy days have given us muted sunsets. 

It was sad to find a dead sparrow hawk this morning.  It felt so light when I picked it up, hardly weighed a thing, very thin.  It was a juvenile male, its markings were so beautiful.

Farmer is planning to gather the hill ewes this week in preparation for lambing which starts in 3 weeks time. 

Larches flowering along the road near Langamull. Our larches are a little slower. 

An epic 24 hours.

 

 

The equinox is past

It has been a while since I blogged last.  I have been updating the website with news a little more regularly. So here is a bit of a catch up..

Farmer is beginning to prepare for the next gather.  He will bring all the sheep in to check them over before lambing starts, and the in-bye ewes will get vaccinated.  We still have 5 cows to calve.  It has been a slow calving this year. They will have to go out soon onto the hill, as we are about to run out of straw.   The feeding routine takes a fair bit of his time every day, and whenever he approaches the building sites he is called to fetch and carry things, find the odd bit of old worktop or some more stone for a bit of landscaping. 

I was out at Haunn getting Middle ready for guests arriving this afternoon, it was lovely to walk up on the hill and look at the views from a slightly different perspective.  At this time of year you can really see all the old walls so well and I thought a lot about the families who had lived here before. Their rhubarb plants are still the sweetest, just beginning to come up in the old garden area. 

There has been snow overnight on higher ground, I could just make out a dusting on Rum.

The showers coming across from Tiree and Coll missed us and kept on going.

It is past the equinox and the days really do seem to be lengthening nicely now.  Daffodils are out and the flowering currant is looking lovely in the shelter of the woodland.   

NP has been busy fixing and mending and restoring, for the season opening next weekend.  These two tables are destined for sunrooms - the purple one came from Castaways, the fantastic charity shop at Craignure run by MESS. 

The skies have been a little too wet and cloudy for a lot of Aurora sightings, so I was very pleased to look out and catch a weak one the other night, and lots of stars. 

This one was my first attempt at star trails.

We finally got the water tank moved over the deer fence, before JMP left with his digger, having finished the landscaping around the cottages. 

We managed to check sheep and walk the dogs one afternoon in the sunshine, it was utterly blissful.  The roundels are showing signs of regeneration.

Greylags have been feeding on the wigwam field.  Farmer has been seeing a male hen harrier hunting at Haunn a lot - always a good start to the day!

We have had a cancellation in one of the Haunn cottages for Easter.  Please get in touch if you are thinking of a last minute getaway.