All in a day

I had not realised how fast sand martins were. When Daughter and I went to join in the beach clean yesterday at Calgary I was watching a man with a huge camera and lens photographing the sand martins as they flew into their nests to feed their young.

This morning on my way to Dervaig, I thought I would have a go myself.  Armed with 300mm lens and x 2 converter, I sat on the picnic bench across the burn.  I didnt have to wait long, but I could quickly see there was a knack to this.  The second image, in flight, had a shutter speed of 1/1600th but it was still blurred!  

Farmer and J from Dervaig sorted the ewes and marked the lambs which the other J and Farmer had gathered yesterday afternoon from the Sitheans and above Toechtamhor.     

At lunchtime, after they had finished the task at hand and returned lambs to their mothers, amidst great baaing in all directions, the other J arrived and they went off to gather the rest of the hill and all along the shore.  They finished and were having a drink in the kitchen when I got home from Tobermory, and the rain hadn't quite started. An hour later though, it pelted down.  

Guests in Duill had noticed a cow on her own in the Haunn field this afternoon and told Farmer. The rest of the herd were in the field beyond Haunn.  After supper, Farmer and I dressed in head to toe waterproofs went to try and move her back in with the others.  It was raining SO hard as we followed guests down the track. (taken through the windscreen on my phone!)

Luckily she did go in easily, just involved a little running in the rain!  I did notice as we walked through the field that there are lots of Northern Marsh Orchids! We had to be quite careful where we stepped in one area.

By the time we had driven back to the farm, the sky had cleared and the sun was coming out again.  As if a different day altogether!

Back in the winter, a meeting was held on the farm to look at nutrient monitoring.  Treshnish had been chosen as one of 7 farms across Scotland to have our nutrients monitored with a view to helping us and other farmers look at the soil and its fertility in a more efficient way.  As part of the process, we had the soil tested in different fields and some measures were recommended to us.  Given the importance to us of looking at the soil from an almost organic viewpoint, in that we haven't used artificial fertiliser since 1997, it was going to be interesting for us to see how our fields compared to others on the island.  We agreed to put rock phosphate on one field (we chose one which had the least biodiversity) and nitrogen on a small paddock.  We will be able to compare previous yields with this summer and see if the applications have made any difference.  

A neighbour had come over yesterday morning with his fertiliser spreader and applied it for us.  Farmer then lent him our tractor so he had a way of loading for himself when he was doing his own fields.  Tonight we went over the hill to collect it.  The light was wonderful on Ben More.  I hadnt got a long lens on so couldn't get any closer, but there was an extraordinary cast of light and shadow coming from somewhere and hitting the mountain and the cloud with the same beam. 

A bit of recycling to make a postbox.

And on the way home the light got better and better!

The forecast for tomorrow is not good so they will re-convene to finish the sheep work on Wednesday all being well.

The cows and the king cups.

A lovely evening on Calgary beach on Friday night for Daughter and myself. Farmer was on his way back from Oban, and I saw him drive past as we enjoyed the evening sun.  He went straight home to move the cows who had been roaming around in small groups on the hill, while he was away (cat away, mice will play sort of thing) - they clearly could smell the grass on the in bye!

The other night, we walked up to the lochan so that Farmer could put some magic blue mastic round the pipe in the repaired dam.  It is slowly, slowly filling up. (Water went over Farmer's wellies!)  There was a mist rising off the water and secrets revealed when the levels were low are gradually being hidden again. You can see the spits of soil between the old peat cuttings.  In a day or so they will have covered over completely.

The cows are in the field between Haunn and the Point.  They have plenty of area to roam, and roughage to find.  Farmer was hoping to stop feeding them, but still the grass is slow to come. Usually by this time the fields would be ankle deep in grass, but not this year.  So tomorrow we are ordering more cattle food from Fort William.  Never before have we needed to buy feed in so late in the spring.

The calves all congregate in a 'nursery'.  There was one cow with them, and the others were spread out across the field.

Slowly the cows came up and had a look at us as well.

Looking past us for signs of the food.

Calling for her calf.

Here he is, at last. Our new bull.  You can see his heart shaped tattoo. Daughter wants to call him Cupid. Farmer refers to him as Hearty.

This cow is no 63. She is our oldest, born before January 1996.

The woodland area to the west of the Black Park is always of interest.  The willow is flowering now, and there are masses of king cup, as well as primrose and clumps of birds foot trefoil and the pale cuckoo flower.

The sea was flat calm this morning.

Wild garlic is beginning to flower.

The elm is looking so pretty.

Puffed ball in Scoma field.

Rum was looking beautiful this morning.

I am having trouble with broodies insisting on sharing a nesting box.

 The new mystery breed - those are certainly not Maran - are getting braver.

The lambs have their first try of the lamb bucket! It took a few days before they latched onto the idea of the milk coming from there and not from Farmer with a bottle.

Plans are afoot to get the in bye lambs in and through the fank.  It is too early to gather the hill, it is too far for the smaller lambs at their age to walk, but the in bye ewes are now in the hill park and Farmer will do them this week.  This is called the Marking.  It is when you know for certain how good or bad a lambing it has been.   We suspect that it will confirm it was not our best this year.

This young rowan was bird-seeded.  (electricity wires overhead!)

At this time of year it is so easy to see the new crop of natural regeneration - the freshness of the leaves on their tiny spindly shapes almost glow.

The islands this morning with some of the calves and the 'nanny' cow in the foreground.

And along Loch na Keal, the bluebells are vividly blue.

It is the Bank Holiday weekend.  There is a different atmosphere here this week, more families with children in the cottages, and a more summery feel suddenly.

Sand, sun, seaweed and counting lambs

The weather this week has continued to get hotter and hotter. Planned farm work has been done in accordance with the thermometer which at times has reached 29.6 degrees (in the shade).

With a flock of in-bye sheep like our Cheviots and the dozen Zwarbtle crosses, who live all year round on the fields and do not have the open extensive hill to graze, it is really important to ensure that they are protected against the infections that are present in the in-bye grassland. So despite the heat, the ewes and lambs needed to come up to the park, and be put through the fank. Avoiding the heat in the middle of the day, the lambs were vaccinated and ewes and lambs were protected against fly and tick. This is when the Farmer is able to really tell how lambing has been - as he counts the lambs that go through the fank. Last year was the first year that the cheviots lambed as gimmers, when they are more likely to have single lambs. This year our lambing percentage has noticeably increased on last year, so Farmer was quietly and modestly very pleased (indeed). The hill lambs won't be gathered for another couple of weeks, so we won't have a final figure until they have been put through.

And after the working day, in this weather, the beach at Calgary has called us down a few times.

The sea has been calm, calm and seriously blue. Farmer did swim and said it was very very cold despite the temperature on the car reading 29.6 degrees at 6.30pm!!

Buttercups glistening in the sun on the machair.

Even when the beach is busy, there is a feeling of space.

And the water so clear, although there is a lot of fresh seaweed, washing up along the tideline, and I wondered if it has anything to do with the boats which have been dredging the seabed recently out at the end of the bay.

The tups will be sheared soon along with the hoggs, and any eild ewes (who haven't had a lamb).

Lots of interesting wildlife has been seen too this week. Prasad spotted a Red Kite yesterday, and also a Red-backed Shrike. This morning a Short Eared Owl hunted in front of the farmhouse, and up above the steading later on, the sun catching its wings in its distinctive faltering flight. We are seeing them so much this year - and each sighting as special as the first.

Enjoying the sun while we can. Al fresco meal outdoors.

Post sunset skies are so magical. The views from Shian and Duill particularly this time of year looking straight out on this. Light enough to walk down and back up from the boathouse beach without even thinking about taking a torch.

The baby rabbits are growing fast.