The definition of 'hen-pecked'

Lomond Brown hen, Aracona cockerel.
This afternoon.

Getting ready for tupping

Farmer is beginning to get ready for the start of the new sheep farming year.   The tups will go out in 10 days time but before then, he needs to get all the sheep gathered off the hill.  Yesterday he went off to do the 'back gather'.  I don't know if this is his phrase or whether all hill farmers use it too, but it means he takes the dogs and goes out towards the old schoolhouse at Reudle and brings in the ewes that live on that part of the hill.  This makes for a much easier 'main gather' the following day.  He was slightly disappointed, today, then, to see 4 ewes still out on the bit of hill he had back gathered yesterday.  This means he will need to go and see if he can get them in tomorrow.   As we 'tup in' (as opposed to out on the hill), if he doesn't bring those ewes in they won't get in lamb!

Visitors in Shian and Duill this week are certainly enjoying the weather - whatever it is like, from the shelter of their sunrooms.  Leena and I went round the cottages last week to see what work we needed to do over the winter.  It was lovely sitting in Shian sunroom in a gale watching the storm.

Amazing to think this little birch tree was almost dead a few years ago.  Its central trunk and branches were bare, browsed heavily by sheep and deer.  Since we fenced this little area off, it has started regenerating again from the bottom.

I went to Tobermory on Sunday afternoon to the launch of Carla Lamont's book 'Ninth Wave: love and food on the Isle of Mull'.

It was a glorious day and whilst I was sad not to be out walking on Treshnish, it was quite a treat to drive to Tobermory in the lovely November light.

Tobermory bay was still and creamy.  Hardly any movement anywhere. By the time I started to go home the mist was rising over the Mishnish lochs in a beautifully moody way.  Swans dipped their bodies in the water like upturned boats at the far side of the loch, and ravens croaked on the silence.

A walk in the dark, a walk in the light.

A walk in the dark. Faint Northern Lights and a strong moon.  Suffice to say I was in heaven. Everyone else was in bed.

Sunrise over Ben More.  For 7 years we drove Daughter over this hill to get the school car to Ulva primary. For 7 years I have framed the sign, the cairn and the top of Ben More in my minds eye. This sunrise is a start!

Coco and 16 year old Thimphu the farm cat. (and we need to paint our house..)

The corner of Haunn, Scoma and Black Park fields looking north.

Stonechats aplenty in the Haunn wetlands.

The buzzard territory dispute.  So disappointed I couldn't hold the lens steady.

Some of the strange almost mystical fungi around just now.

It was so very calm.  The sun was warm.  A gale is forecast for tomorrow.

Usually the cow pats are picked over by the birds.  It is unusual that this one hasn't been, and that grasses are beginning to grow.

This tell tale bit of fur tells the tale of the dismise of a young rabbit.  I thought I would photograph the top of the post, which the bird of prey had been using as a dining table, but it was too gruesome.

More fungi..

Behind the man...

One of many Thrushes we saw today.

And this just has to be deadly poisonous.  I am deeply suspicious of them all.

The colour

Yesterday I wrote about why we are supporting the Ulva Ferry Buy a Brick campaign. It is an incredible story.  

I looked out of the office window this morning and this buzzard was sitting in the tree, beautifully lit by the sun.  I grabbed the camera, didn't check the settings and clicked.  Realised the settings were ALL wrong, but by the time I looked again, he had flown off.  I then digitally lightened the image by 5 stops! I was amazed anything was on it at all!

Dog walking below the house... heaven.  I cannot believe the colour in the light, with the lengthening shadows.

The last 3 calves are weaned.  Their mothers are hanging around the cattle shed, calling to them.   They will stop in a day or so.

Farmer collected the 3 new tups.  There is quite a menagerie in the cattle building now.

And what can I say about the sunset...