Nearly the end of March

March has been a cold and dry month, but without snow.  The east wind is a drying wind, so the fields look very brown.  At this time of year we need the grass to be growing so that there is adequate nutrition for the ewes.  

Lambing starts soon.  The 9 Herdwicks were tupped early in the hope that their lambs would start appearing to coincide with the school holidays so that Teenager would be at home to be there as needed.   So that is next weekend.  The main flock should start in mid April.  

We are in the middle of applying for a grant from the Government to support 5 years of environmental management.  This scheme is called AECS - Agri-Environment Climate Scheme.  

The first scheme we were involved in was the ESA - Environmentally Sensitive Area Scheme.  We entered in 1995/6.  It showed us the importance of late cut silage for protecting ground nesting birds as well as allowing flowers to set seed.   We were in this scheme for 10 years, then in the RSS - Rural Stewardship Scheme and the last one which finished 2 years ago was the Rural Priorities.  

Each scheme has its target species, and we manage the fields in the hope that the grazing breaks and late cutting of silage will improve the habitats for those target species.  This time round the species include Marsh Fritillary butterflies (same as last scheme), Curlew (I am excited about this as we have had them nesting here for the last few years, saw first one two days ago..), other Waders and Hen Harrier.  We quite often see Hen Harriers over the Haunn fields so it would be wonderful to see them breed here. 

There have been some clear skies at night which is always fun.  One night guests in all four Treshnish Cottages either saw the glow with their naked eye or caught the colour on camera.  One man, a frequent visitor to Mull, said it had made his holiday!   

Not only did we have the aurora but we had a Steve too. 

Oh no, not another aurora

Any aurora activity after the end of March is, in my amateur book, a complete bonus, as the days start to get longer, and so the window of opportunity (i.e fully dark sky) gets shorter with every day that passes.   So it is pretty wonderful to be in the middle of April and still enjoying the surprises the Aurora can bring. 

I could post hundreds of photographs of last night's very best Aurora Borealis, but I won't! If you would like to see some of them, please look at the website blog.  I have posted more there.

If you would like to see the time lapse, please have a look at our Facebook page.

Day time activity on the farm is in Lambing mode.  We have 2 pet lambs in the stock shelter, who have healthy appetites and loud voices, bleating at every opportunity.  Daughter, on school holiday routine, is chief lamb feeder.

These are the twin pet lambs.  Fae and Feya.

This week feels as if spring is here. The swallows are back.  People have been hearing a cuckoo - not here though..

The last cows to calve are in the field by the house.  This dun cow is a very protective mother, whose dun colour must be a very strong gene, as each calf she has had, is always a wonderful light dun colour.  This calf, born a day or so ago, is a bull calf.

Yesterday evening, Farmer watched a gimmer (first time mum) who had just given birth before he arrived, along the coast.  She sniffed at the lamb tentatively but when the wobbly young lamb tried to get up and go to her, she walked away.  Sometimes this happens with gimmers, their instinct takes time to kick in, and all you know is that you find a lamb on its own.  So it was great timing that Farmer was there, and he could catch her and bring her and the lamb back for a bit of close bonding in one of the pens in the lambing ward.

You can never have too many sunsets, and tonights was another cracker.

I have been enjoying the finches on the bird feeders.  I hadn't realised how aggressive they can be!

Greylag geese are enjoying the lochan beside Duill.  We had a visit from the RSPB Farmland Bird expert earlier this week too, I wasn't around but Farmer spent an interesting morning walking round with him.  He had been involved in the Nature of Farming Awards and was interested to see the farm for himself.. I can't believe it is nearly 4 years now since we won that award.  (how time flies!)

These new calves are so sweet!

And the evening light is so warm.