Leaves, hoggs, sands and turbines

Some sunshine and lovely autumn colours - lengthen the days and shorten the winter feeling.

The track verges are closing in with the growth from the regeneration. Stuart from FC came to survey for ash die back, thankfully he didnt find any.   The only saplings we have bought in the last 10 years have been from a nursery near Oban who collect and grown their own seed from Argyll, and hopefully that means we have a lower chance of getting it, though as each day goes by it seems that it is more widespread than originally thought.   

Feeders filled and rainbows, but the waxwings Prasad saw over the wood didn't grace our garden.  

The 2 new tups from Knock.  No need to paint these guys.

The hoggs are in the cattle shed learning how to feed.  One old ewe (head down) is their teacher.

And 4 lovely new heifers arrived from the east coast of Mull.  They are pure Aberdeen Angus.

This is No 63 - she was one of the first AA heifers we bought back in 1996.  A favourite.

So enjoying the walks on Calgary beach. These geese have been here every morning this week.

The moon one morning.

The weather today got worse and worse. It was almost dark at 4pm when I collected Daughter from Calgary! So not the best weather to put up a wind turbine.  Border Hydro arrived at midday - see above.  

Back in October 2009 when we put up the first turbine, we were blessed with dry weather and hard ground underfoot and under wheel.  This site is boggy  hill ground rather than grassy field, and with the rain we have had over the last few weeks it looks like a battle ground.  It will heal but it looks horrendous just now.

Photographs of the Luss Finish Line Party

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

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!)

Thrills and spills.

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.

A rare visitor to the garden

The larger bird to the left of the one of the Treshnish hanging feeder is a female Hawfinch.   We noticed her whilst enjoying a sunny lunchtime yesterday.  They are quite unusual here - according to Prasad (see his blog), only 14 records in Argyll since 1953.  But there was one seen last year at Calgary so perhaps it is the same bird.  There have been a pair of Goldfinches on the table as well and they are so pretty.

Lambing continues. Luckily no more orphans to date.  Little Bill and his new mother are still indoors. She is a gimmer and takes fright whenever Farmer goes near, so it is difficult to see how they are really bonding but he doesn't bleat as he might have, had he been hungry - so fingers crossed all is well there.   Cold weather is forecast for the weekend, which will be a bit of a shock for the newborn lambs after yesterdays warm day.