Friday 9 December 2011

Full moon?

Shep's had a fortunate week. Not my turn to head out bye and herd the tups meant I missed the inches of snow lying out there on Monday and Tuesday and took refuge from the horizontal rain and driving winds on Thursday. Today (Friday 9th Dec) dawned bright and dry and I resumed my duties away out bye - nowt like picking your days!
 
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It's almost hard to believe what the weather threw at us this week, she's been and gone and left little to show for herself. We have indeed been lucky. Tarset was far enough south not to suffer as neighbours in Scotland have and far enough east to miss the brunt of the weather which hit our neighbours in the west. What we experienced wasn't pleasant but it has to be said we were indeed very fortunate.

Tups were very busy today. Now a straight fortnight since they were put out. It is always possible some ewes may have missed their chance yesterday, the sheep were all left well alone, burns were rising and weather was atrocious, sheep were left to seek their own shelter, not a day to disturb them. If any did miss their chance of a tup they'll get a chance again in 17 days time, it's not the end of the world.

It was whilst driving home late in the afternoon that the moon caught my eye, the diary says the new moon is due tomorrow, but this looked very much like a new moon to me.
 
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Tomorrow night it'll hopefully be bigger and brighter, may take some doing though as here she is shining like a sun in the late afternoon sky.
 
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Not the easiest to photograph with a little pocket camera but if you look closely you'll see the 'seas' are clear to see. I looked out tonight and there is a fair rind of frost at the moment, tawny owls t -wit, t- wooing away and the odd cloud scudding by the bright moon. Photography failed, the results looked more like modern art than a photograph of the moon! So I'll leave you with this one last snap shot of the moon earlier this evening
 
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2 comments:

Dafad said...

Luck you, what a lovely moon.
I've got a pocket compact too but was too busy to try and capture it last night, thinking tonight would be clear skies too. Nope!
Sure don't envy you all that complicated paperwork Shep.
I know the DEFRA reg's cause all sort of extra hassle here too.
"Department of Eradication of Farming and Ruination of Agriculture!"
Best you get back out in the open.
Stay warm all.

Tarset Shepherd said...

Dafad - love you're fresh take on DEFRA, will be using that in the future. Nope we didn't get a chance to see the moon last night either, supposed to be some sort of an eclipse but rain and cloud ensured it was all left to the imagination, just as well I possess a vivid imagination!