Rolling fleeces picking blackcurrants

A huge fleece held up by Farmer in the doorway to the cattle shed.

The shearers finished off the last few ewes on Friday, so that is a big part of the summer sheep work done. The lambs were given a treatment against fly strike and they are all now reunited and back to the hill. Some years the shearers have come with someone prepared to roll the fleeces as they are dropped from the shearing trailer by the shearers. This year, at short notice, they were left in a heap, on a tarpaulin (to keep them clean) to be rolled at a later date. A job to add to Farmer's list.

The rolling trailer.

But this morning Farmer decided he needed to get it over and done with - so he reversed the tractor and trailer into the cattle shed, and used the trailer as a rolling table. With the wind up radio blaring and sheep dogs at his feet, he began to roll. Some time later he was joined by a willing young assistant who picked up the loose fleeces off the floor and handed them over to Farmer to roll, until the pile was gone. Each bundle was then stuffed into a huge wool bag, and sewn up with a huge needle.

Fleece number 301 - the last one of the day.

The shorn sheep are let back into the field where their lambs are noisely bleating and mothering up commences. Several hours later, when the field quietens down, you know the mothering up is mostly done and that it is safe to open the hill park gate and left the hill sheep drift slowly out on the hill again. Open that gate too soon, and they will mis-mother which you don't want.

Meanwhile a race is on in the garden to pick the heavily laden blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes before the cheeky blackbirds and sparrows get them all. The berries are perfectly ripe and very sweet. And for the first time in our life with this garden we have a rabbit or two - I think they are living under the old caravan, which incidentally is very good for starting seeds off in, in a cold spring - no slugs or snails, and lots of gathered sun warmth.

Time does not stand still on a farm, and living on an island means you have to think ahead, so even though it is only days since Fly died, we had to start looking for a replacement, as being the only sheepdog on the farm was too unfair a responsibility for Cap. At the end of the gathering for shearing he was totally whacked. Adverts in the Scottish Farmer have never been successful for us, as it arrives here late on a Friday, and by the time you have rung up about a dog, it has just been driven out of their yard.

So the obvious place to look is the internet, and that is what we did. In fact, we went back to the person we bought Fly from in the first place. A very long day trip took us there and back, it was one of those totally clear sunny bright days when the landscape shines in the strong positive light of sun, blue sky and white puffy clouds. Scotland looking absolutely Sunday best. Even waiting for the ferry at 6.15am was a joy. We had several bitches to choose from, and came home on the last boat with a lovely natured one called Jan. So a new chapter begins.

And here are the pet lambs, rushing in for their evening handful of nuts.

We have been seeing good numbers of basking sharks in the bay, sightings we never tire of.

Shearing time again

It has been a while since the last blog. Farmer and family took a holiday. Calmac excelled themselves on our journey to Barra. The usual boat was in dock being repaired, and the replacement boat was not very big and did not ride a stormy Minch at all well. The crossing which usually arrives about 8.30pm finally arrived at half past midnight and an estimated 90% of the passengers were sick. So it was not a pleasant trip in any way - to say the least.

This photo is of the sea the next day, when it was slightly calmer. A Barra lady who had been on the ferry with us, commented when we met in Castlebay a few days later that it was like childbirth - you soon forget, and certainly it was great to be on Barra again! The weather this time was not that good but we managed to dodge the rain and find a beach out of the wind everyday. Farmer donned wetsuit and jumped off Eoligarry jetty as often as he could into those sandy turquoise waters.

Interestingly and not surprisingly, given the ferry situation, the island seemed a lot quieter this year than last. But also, last year there were alot of touring campervans, with pitches ringing the machair on the airport beach Traigh Mhor. The machair has been fenced off this year here, because it is obviously a delicate eco system and was being damaged.

Round the island we saw several crofts where, over the winter, crofters have created a simple camp area for campers and caravanners, and it would be great if caravanners/campervanners could embrace the idea of still coming to the island despite the machair being fenced off. In using these on-croft facilities instead of seeking the free camping dream site, they will contribute to the local economy and enjoy more contact with their friendly hosts!

We heard tales of campervanners allegedly boasting how little money they had spent whilst in the Outer Isles, and if true, this is a great shame. Any visitors to the islands, whether on bicycles (plenty of those hardy folk cycling up the island chain in the wind and rain), staying in holiday cottages or in campervans, can benefit the island in more ways than one, by supporting the great facilities on offer and the friendly local shops, craft shops, pubs and cafes.

Okay gentle rant over now and back to the matters at hand. Shearing time. We get home and check the phone...Messages from the shearers saying can they come tomorrow..... What? *!*.....talk about short notice, and the holiday bags not even unpacked. But totally our fault for taking the holiday notion so seriously we didn't leave him a mobile number. So there ensued lots of phone calls to see if we could get organised in time. We couldn't and so alternative day would be arranged. Weather mixed and showery. Happily though as I write, sheep are in the cattle shed, keeping dry and waiting for the shearers to arrive at lunchtime - a result of neighbourly help for which we are very grateful, exhausted sheepdogs and good weather at the right time.

On a sad note, we lost Fly this week. She had to be put to sleep. She came to Treshnish in 2002, so she leaves a big gap. Here she is, last summer, pictured second from the right with her head down looking as shy as she often did. She was a loyal 'colleague'.

Farmer got a ride in a helicopter this week as he showed the pilot which areas of bracken needed treatment. This is the south side of the headland looking towards Rum in the cloud. And the second one of Calgary beach as he flew over from Bennan, peaty brown water coming into the turquoise bay.

Sunshine, Sawfly and Sharks

Sunday morning on Calgary Beach - as you can see it was mobbed. The Friends of Calgary Bay were doing some beach cleaning, and strimming/cutting thistles and we went down to help for a while before Farmer came home to watch the football. (As it turned out he should have stayed on the beach).

The machair at Calgary is flowering beautifully this summer - there have been less sheep grazing here and consequently everything has had a chance to get ahead. The Lady's Bedstraw and Wild Thyme are flourishing, in purple and pale yellow drifts. On the hill behind you can see the fence line - left of which is grazed by sheep and right of which is not.

People say we have only had 8 days rain in 6 months. We don't have a rain gauge so can only try and think back, but it certainly has been dry and calm for most of the time. Alot of the burns have run dry on the hill and we have to be careful to make sure the burns are still running in the fields where the animals are. Our cottage water supplies are holding up well, and our guests are being mindful, so we haven't been in the unfortunate situation some places have found themselves in, of having to cancel bookings as they have run out completely.

Farmer is using some of his time for routine maintenance. The wooden rails in the new fank (has it really been there for 10 years?) need treating, and he has been painting them with a mixture of used tractor oil and creosote - a pungent mixture which turns the silvered wood dark brown. It will have weathered in nicely before the next time we need to use the fank.

We are still seeing lots of Basking Sharks in between Treshnish headland and Calgary Bay, which is always a privilege. And almost every day too!

A Small White Orchid in the Haunn field. There are lots this year.

And in the veg garden, a naked gooseberry bush - victim to attack from gooseberry sawfly, which thrives in our garden. It seems to make little difference to the yield, but this leaf-less look does make it alot easier for our garden resident birds to see where the fruits are. So we battle to pick them before the birds get them!

I won't be posting for a while as it is time for a little break. Back in a couple of weeks....

Happy Cows, Basking Sharks and a fire on Coll

Farmer went to check his cows in the field below the Treshnish Cottages this afternoon. Contentedly sitting in the species rich grassland, in the bright sunlight. Just out from the boathouse rocks was a huge Basking Shark.

There have been lots of sightings over the last 10 days or so, just off shore, and easy to spot.

We could also see a fire burning on Coll. Muirburn stops mid April, so we assumed this was an accidental fire - clouds of smoke billowing above the low lying land. It looked fairly menacing.

Midsummer flowers and chicks hiding under the container

Clover is the built in nitrogen in our grassland, as we don't use artificial fertilisers.

Middle Cottage, with beachcomber treasure in front of the kitchen window. It is very peaceful and quiet down at Haunn. The corncrake has not been heard for a few days, which hopefully means they are just privately getting on with breeding.

We had important visitors today - and they were great! The Man from Butterfly Conservation Scotland and the local Recorder (moths and butterflies) came to look at our 'in bye', joined by Prasad. B C S advise on applications to the SRDP for conservation management, and we are hoping to get their support for what we do here with grazing, cutting late silage and stock numbers to encourage biodiversity particularly in relation to British Action Plan species such as Marsh Fritillaries and Burnet Moths and. It was so interesting walking round with people who really know their stuff, and great to hear that we have suitable areas for both the Marsh Frits and the rarer burnet moths.

We spent most of the day wandering through the grassland looking at different habitats, and abundant wild flowers, talking grazing regimes and stocking densities. (bliss).

I saw my first cinnabar moth - see Prasad's photograph as it is much better than mine.

Ragged Robin is popping up all over the species rich grassland we call the 'in bye'.

And below the Treshnish Cottages, near the Ensay Burn, bladder campion is flowering and also beginning to go to seed. Prasad showed us the Thyme Broomrape in the same place. Many thanks again to TP., AS., and Prasad for their input today.

Tucking in at the trough, before bed, at the end of another day, the four pet lambs are much more independent now. Brownie (Zwartble) has grown the most, followed by Bob (Cheviot cross), followed by Breeze (same) with the smallest one being Brian (Blackface).

And last but not least. The hens have won. And we were so determined not to have dozens of chicks this summer after the many broods we had last year! Probably our oldest hen (a Scots Dumpy bantam) managed to hide her eggs for 21 days, in a place there is no way we could see let alone get to. Finally we heard the cheeping of the fluffy little chicks on Midsummers Day! Now all we have to do is catch her so we can feed the chicks properly.

Orchids, roses, bacon and eggs in the sunshine at Haunn

The view from Haunn field to Calgary's turquoise waters.

Black Park - a species rich delight at the moment, looking north across clusters of vivid birds foot trefoil and pignut. There were lots of creamy white burnet roses and just this one pink one.

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!