June 23rd 2018 #30DaysWild

It was a boggy wild day today.  I went to photograph the Marsh cinquefoil in the wetland next to the Coronation Meadow.  I could hear a Corncrake calling, from near Toechtamhor cottage.

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.

An eventful week

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.

Fledglings, the corncrake, orchids, pignut and lambs

I saw it!! Down at Haunn, by the gate into the gardens, near East. I haven't been walking in that direction with the dogs because I hadn't wanted to disturb the corncrakes and other ground nesting birds, but it was such a beautiful morning and I wanted to photograph the burnet rose in Black Park.

So I walked one of the dogs (on a lead!) this morning, approaching the cottages, skylarks soaring and singing above my head, I heard a very loud crek-crek coming from the bank just outside the garden fence. Sat down beside the track, in the sun, waited 5 minutes before it called again and popped its head out of the long grasses and irises. My first corncrake!

We seem to have it pretty well organised now - a sociable corncrake at Haunn and a noisy one at Treshnish, so guests in either location have a good chance of seeing or hearing them!

The sparrow fledglings have been learning about fast food on the bird table in the farm house garden. Their fluffy chests puffed out make them look twice the size of the exhausted parents. We are getting through huge amounts of bird food and fat balls, trying to keep up with demand.

Farmer got all the lambs marked and was pleased with the results - more lambs from less ewes than in the last couple of years, so that is as good as it can be at this stage! The next hurdle is the price, of which we have little control if we end up going to market again. Good prices seem to depend on whether or not the dealers turn up in good moods! With transportation to Oban being a major additional cost to island farmers, we are not likely to bring them home again if we don't like the price we are offered. One of the advantages of being organic (we no longer are) was that we did the deal with the organic finisher before the lambs left home. We will try and do the same with a non organic finisher this year and avoid the uncertainty of the market ring altogether.

The herbs and salad leaves are flourishing in the polytunnel.

And outside, on the side of the track towards Haunn, there is a bank, now fenced off from stock, with an abundance of common orchid, pignut and bluebell. On the other side of the fence there is a marked difference!

Sunsets and rainbows

This week we have been bathed in glorious June sunshine, it has been warm and bright, the sky so blue. As for the sunsets....there have been some wonderful ones, and one with rainbow - when Farmer's Daughter discovered that we don't have a 'pot' at the end of the rainbow we have a curlew.

A team of engineers from Scottish and Southern Energy (who everyone still calls 'the Hydro') have been on Mull for years replacing all the old overhead electricity wires with new copper wires. They have reached our area now and so the turbine had to be turned off and padlocks put on it whilst we are on generators while they deal with the lines. Luckily it isn't that windy and we are re-connected to the copper wires next week.

Tragically the beautifully made House Martins nest fell off the wall 3 days ago, and Prasad has done some emergency cementing to the wall surface in the hope that they will try again - as they are still ignoring the new build option Terrace that Farmer put up earlier in the year. We keep our fingers crossed.

Gathering took place yesterday. Farmer, Crofter from Dervaig and Contractor walked the hill with their dogs, bringing in the ewes and lambs along the coast and across the hill ground. It is always a slow gather, with young lambs. This is when we count the lambs and give any medicine required at the time. They get a nick in the ear to show they are ours - this is an old tradition and each farm or croft has its own individual lug mark, so that locally you know whose lambs are whose. Up in the north of Scotland, around Durness, we saw branding on the lambs, a letter or a number on the fleece to show which crofter each lamb belonged to. When they all graze the same common grazing this is important to be able to easily identify your own lambs.

Farmer always does a bit of gathering on his own before the 'big gather' up onto the Sitheans to bring in the ewes hefted to that part of the hill. He came across a sight he had not seen before - a red deer fawn suckling from its mother. There are lots of fawn stories going round at the moment - the children at Ulva School observed a fawn which momentarily had its head caught in the rylock fence on the edge of the playground. Apparently it made a strange noise when it cried out for its mother.

The Treshnish corncrake is still calls from below the farmhouse, and the Haunn ones from the garden of East, Middle and West.

A guddle of hens, Bob and Breeze

I am not even sure how you spell guddle, but if there ever was one, this was one.  It has been hot and muggy today, overcast but still bright, air very still and silent but for swallows calling as they swoop into the yard and out again, distant call of lambs in the field below the house, and the chitter chatter of sparrows and finches on the bird table.   The clumps of montbretia against the farmhouse wall provide perfect dusting baths for the hens but I have never seen them in such a tight ball of everyone's feathers before.  All together, in a hot heap, sunning themselves, dust-bathing, pecking at the lush grasses, rolling and turning over in the soil underneath the montbretia foliage.

Bob has now got the message about the bottle feeding and baas whenever we appear.  He cannot drink fast enough.  Breeze is a little slower to learn, but she was more poorly when they came in, so it is not surprising I suppose.  She is taking some milk but she tends to chew the teat rather than sook!   Both are penned off in a corner of the field shelter, with hay, nuts and water.  We need to keep them indoors until we are sure they will both come running for the bottle once we let them out!  You can usually tell a bottle fed lamb as they baa as soon as they hear human voices.

Last afternoon as guests arrived for Shian we noticed a lamb baa-ing in a field where it shouldn't have been, with its mother steadfastly ignoring the call in a neighbouring field. Intervention was called for, and we managed to re-unite them fairly easily without a dog.  On our way back we stopped to see how the tadpoles were getting on in the lochan beside Duill.  We found none, and the level of water in the lochan was quite low - there has been so little rain.  In the process of looking about at the water margin, we disturbed a female mallard which clumsily flew across to the other side of the lochan, leaving behind her a fluffy raft of ducklings.  We made a hasty retreat so she could get back to them.

Late afternoon sunlight in the wood walking the dogs, with almost monochrome glinting silvery light on the sea towards the Headland.

Lots of sightings of the corncrake near Toechtamhor at Haunn which is exciting.  We hope that dog owners will be extra careful when they are either staying here or walking through the farm, keeping their dogs under control when they are out walking so they don't disturb them, and the other ground nesting birds benefiting from the species rich grassland at Haunn.  We have put an Outdoor Access Code sign up in the yard notifying path users that there are ground nesting birds, and hope that everyone will take heed.  It would be wonderful if they managed to safely breed.

Tourism matters, corncrakes and a day out on Morvern

This glowing roundel of spring green beech is on the side of the Sound of Mull, on the way down from Drimnin to Lochaline.

It has been a week of excitement on the wildlife front.   Those who follow Prasad's birdlog will know there have been a few sightings of the elusive corncrake this last few days and we are hoping they stay put and breed - this would be a perfect conclusion for our last summer of the Rural Stewardship scheme.  

During one of our first summers here we had our initial experience of corncrakes.  We didn't see them but we enjoyed being kept awake at night by their calling in the field below the farmhouse.  

During the time those corncrakes were here, way back then, we earned some extra money by having two scenes for an Ikea advert filmed here.  Money for old rope we thought, but by the end of the day of filming, we felt as if we had earned every penny, as the crew completely invaded our home and our lives, asking for this, demanding that.  

One scene was filmed outside the Treshnish Old Schoolhouse (which had been transformed into a northern European cottage, with plastic roses round a plastic porch tiled in red plastic tiles).  A postman was to be filmed being bitten by a dog and defending himself using an Ikea chair.  In the event the actor-dog would not attack the postman as commanded!   

The second scene was of a boy cycling through the field below the house, through long grass, and something happened with another Ikea chair but all I can remember of this scene was that the corncrake was calling every now and then in the background, quite loudly, which disturbed the filming much to the irritation of the Director and to the amusement of all of us.  We didn't ever see the Ikea advert as it was made for the northern European market, but we certainly felt the corncrake had the last laugh!

We have 2 new orphan lambs today.  Think they are to be named Bob and Breeze - though this may change.  Brownie and Brian had moved into the deluxe Stack yard hotel next to the veg garden and they seemed very content.  Today they have been joined by the newcomers.   When we left them after the evening feed tonight, the two pairs of lambs were eyeing each other up across the Stack yard, a real sheep us and them scenario.

Apple blossom - usually towards the end of May we have some string winds which comes through especially to strip the blossom from our precious, wind-gnarled apple trees. And tonight it is suddenly very windy.

We had the Green Tourism Business Scheme inspection yesterday.  There is a daunting amount of paperwork and monitoring involved in this nowadays, but I am reluctantly realising that monitoring is a really good thing for focusing the mind, giving us a baseline from which to move, encouraging change and improvement.  In addition to the monitoring we already do, now we have the new Recycling Shed, I am going to attempt to start monitoring how much we send to landfill and how much goes to be recycled.   After nearly 2 hours of pen pushing and discussion, we went out for a look around, I showed him the Laundry, the wood-chip boiler and a cottage or two.  Hopefully we will have kept our Gold Award.

And today I went to a Sustainable Tourism event in Oban held by Visit Scotland.  The idea behind these events is to encourage tourism businesses to become more sustainable - but not just through things like energy savings or adopting renewables, but through 'community engagement' and 'waste awareness'.   I had agreed to giving a short presentation (my first, probably my last, and in all a very amateurish presentation) about what we do as a sustainable tourism business.  Afterwards I walked back along the sunny Oban sea front muttering to myself about what I should have said but hadn't. (which was quite alot)!