warts an' all

Shep has been having quite a nature feast over recent weeks, first bats then warty things - Toads.

It's hard to believe that I've never been able to study toads spawning before now. Has to be said I was taken aback to find them doing it on 23rd May, I'd presumed they would spawn at the same time as frogs which would be earlier in the season, or mebbes they just thought they'd better have another go - I don't really know but I did appreciate the opportunity to spy on them.

 

Has to be said they seemed very big, but apparently the females are, or so I was told by a knowledgeable friend who had pointed me in the right direction, that being her garden pond.

 

Fortunately the water was clear enabling this shot of Mrs Toad and her strings of spawn under the surface.

 

They have an almost prehistoric look about them when viewed close up, the sort of creature which you wouldn't immediately class as being beautiful; fascinating may be a kind way to describe Mrs Toad.

They seemed quite chilled and unconcerned that a camera was being poked in their face, has to be said though that the Koi Carp living in the pond seemed to be swimming around with a smile on their faces......

Batty encounters.

Shortly after arriving home from the lambing Shep found it necessary to hide from the madding crowds. Work had been somewhat manic upon my return to civilisation and it was a number of days before the opportunity to head off and chill came around. Eventually dogs and I sidled off for a quite walk away from people, or so we thought.

 

Slowly losing myself to the peace and quiet of nature and her therapeutic ways I couldn't help but take photos.

 

 

Sheer bliss to leave the cares of the world behind, dogs at heel, camera in hand and saunter around appreciating everything which is free in life with no one to bother you.

The bird song was ringing in my ears as I lost myself in my own little world. Then there was a 'song' I was unfamiliar with, a high pitched call. It was definitely resonating through the air and from above as though from something on the wing but what it was I did not know, I was unaware of having ever heard such a sound before. Then my heart dropped as I noticed people, were they going to shatter my peace and solitude?

Anything but. They did indeed make my solitary walk a sociable affair and educated me in the process. Researchers they were, researchers with a ladder no less and 'things' tied up in little cotton bags. My curiosity or ought that be nosiness got the better of me. I soon learnt that the unfamiliar call I had been hearing was that of a noctule bat, which is a brown furry mousy character with big wings, well okay, not golden eagle sized big wings but for a bat it has big wings. It also seemed to have quite an array of very sharp teeth.

 

Apparently there are lots of these bats, the biggest in Britain, in our area. They have been recorded to fly 50km in one night and are the only bat which catches all it's prey on the wing. Wow! All stuff I didn't know. Also, just incase any of you out there didn't know, they are like badgers, in that the females don't fertilize their eggs until they deem the conditions are right for breeding. They carry the sperm inside themselves and delay fertilization until they think it is a sensible time to reproduce - fascinating! Of the three which I saw handled and recorded they were all females, all had reared young in the past but showing no signs of being pregnant at the moment. Well!

Apparently the area we were in was home to five different species of bat, I was really beginning to wish I'd had a pen and notebook coz everything I was learning was quite fascinating and with a memory like a goldfish I was well aware I was going to forget most of it. I eventually left the researchers in peace, not liking to overstay my welcome but wishing they would fetch something else out of one of those little cotton bags, I continued my solitary musings with a spring in my step and mind racing. Nature and all the freebies she has to offer had once again lifted my spirits as had two people, even though my intention had been to escape from madding crowds (in Tarset more than one person can well be described as madding crowds!). You just never know what you'll come across in this world of ours!

T shirt weather

Wow! It's not often in March you find yourself stripped down to a T shirt, this year spring truly is early and if the wind dies down the heat of the sun can really be felt. Has to be said though that it pays not to leave the discarded layers too far away as should the sun go behind a cloud or the wind speed lift the temperature soon begins to chill a lightly clad body.

 

These sheep are waiting for their morning feed, except they weren't exactly waiting. Due to the kinder weather sheep are happy to rake away from troughs. They aren't just hanging around waiting to be fed, there is a bite of grass and they'd often sooner have that than hang around waiting for some cake to arrive. Having said that though they definitely don't say no when cake is offered.

 

These photos were taken a week ago, just prior to 8am, what a glorious morning, it was a real pleasure to be out there viewing the valley on such a clear morning.

The morning chorus is almost reaching a crescendo, curlew and skylark singing their hearts out, garden birds chirping away merrily, woodpeckers tapping with gusto, oystercatchers calling down by the waters edge..... a true cacophony of sound, an absolute pleasure to hear.

There has been so much to see over the past week, almost too much to take in. Ravens tumbling in the sky, red squirrels scooting and chattering in the trees, curlews flying and emitting their plaintive call.

There are goosanders, mallards, mandarin ducks on the water, dippers and wagtails also. Robins, Blackbirds and Thrushes singing their hearts out around the house.

There is one bird however which is proving elusive, a bird I saw much earlier in the winter, made acquaintance with it on a number of occasions but to date it is eluding me, the peewit (lapwing). Maybe I just haven't been concentrating sufficiently - have overlooked the poor souls, but I have to say, they don't seem to be hitting me in the face just at this moment. Their numbers have been dwindling over the years, maybe they're finding the competition from ravens and carrion crows is too much for them or there again, as already said, mebbes I've just had too much to take in and 'missed' them.

Adders have already been sighted, although not by Shep. It will be perfect conditions for them coming out of their hibernation, there is no doubt they will be basking somewhere in a sheltered spot warming their bodies with the heat of the sun.

 

Bumble bees are buzzing, even a tortoiseshell butterfly the other day flittering around the sheep pens.

 

Other things are flying around our skies, many of them. Helicopters, thankfully not the air ambulance type but the armed forces type. With two army bases near at hand there is often action in the skies, at present we are experiencing a lull from the low flying jet aircraft, rather than the scream and roar of jet engines we are getting the buzz and hum of helicopters.

 

I got my eye on this wild honeysuckle coming into leaf yesterday, a sparkly green ness in what would otherwise have appeared a 'dead' woodland. It really seems like the world is coming alive! I've even cut our garden grass, unheard of to cut it as early as this. There was not masses of growth, especially with three dogs having traipsed over it throughout the winter but once it was cut it looks so much tidier which just shows how it must have grown.

Further down the valley lambs are beginning to spring into spring. I called on a friend today and was greeted with "Have you come for a lamb?" When I replied that I hadn't they then enquired whether I would like one anyhow! Too many multiple births had found just days into their lambing that there were a number of pet lambs looking for surrogate mothers. Well I wasn't gonna be one of them, that's for sure! I don't think there are many shepherds out there who would say they like pet lambs, noisy time consuming things they are - having said that though I couldn't help but be curious and go have a peek

 

A noise not heard since last spring, one which easily gets on your wick - lambs blaaring, a choir of them in fact, all with slightly different voices, all saying the same thing - "food"!

Moor burning

At the time of writing burning has not commenced in Tarset, but it will and most probably has by the time this post is published. The forecast for the coming week is a dry one. With ground drying rapidly over the past week there will be many considering trying a burn. A moor burn.

There are many factors to bear in mind. Dry weather being one of them, but not too dry. Wind - the strength of and direction of, is another important factor to consider.

The moor burning season runs from mid October through to mid April, there are specific dates which off the top of my head I would say were the 16th but then I am probably wrong so don't quote me on that. The idea of burning being between October and April is so as not to wreak havoc with the nests and young of ground nesting birds such as Curlew, peewit, skylark and many others. The dates also prevent burning in what could be classed as the driest months of the year, or ought I say the summer months are expected to be the driest months.

There is a fair amount of heather in this area as well as course hill grass, all which benefits from being burnt. Both species regenerate, allowing fresh shoots to be enjoyed by livestock. Coarse and woody heather is of little use to many although it does offer cover for grouse as well as other wildlife.

Of course, when you burn you don't wish to burn everything in sight, that would be to the detriment of both the stock and the wildlife. Controlled burning is what is aimed for. Very important in Tarset that the burning is controlled as which ever direction you look we seem to be surrounded by forestry trees and no one would wish to see them go up in flames.

It is now necessary to inform the fire brigade (and the forestry commission if you are near the forest edge) that you intend to burn, this puts them on alert ought anything go wrong and also prevents them from scrambling when 'phone calls from motorists alert them of "moors alight". The fire brigade will not rush to douse the fire unless you call them back and request assistance. When you are content that the fires are out and you are finished for the day you notify the fire brigade that all is well, job done. Then should they get a call from a passing motorist they may well act upon it.

I was talking to a farmer tonight who informed me that the fire brigade wish to come and practice on his hill - what a lucky fella! Apparently they have an argo cat and misting device for putting out hill fires. I'm intrigued and would love to find the time to go along when they're busy, mebbes I'll be able to find time.

I have had to hunt in the archives for these photos, the above was taken in March 2010, the snow lying would act as a natural break, something to halt or slow down the face of the fire. The face of a fire is a horrendously hot place, the only way to control the fire is to beat the sides down (put them out) and head towards the face, beating it down from the outside edges as you go.

Natural breaks are used such as rivers, wide streams, very wet mossy areas. Many now use toppers behind 4wd tractors or smaller brush cutters behind quad bikes to cut the growth of grasses and heather and hopefully make a break in that manner, it has to be cut fairly fresh however or the fire may well find dry matter to run across and continue it's inferno on the other side.

A frightening place to be if you think the fire is getting out of control. Burning heather can see flames higher than yourself, if the wind picks up in strength or changes direction it can cause a great deal of trouble. The heat is unbelievable. It pays not to wear modern day fleecy clothing as that easily melts from sparks hitting it, sparks which can be blown in the wind and start another fire yards from where you are.

Many of us who have been involved with moor burning will recognise the smell of burning hair, it is not unusual to lose the hairs off the backs of your hands, although there are now very good gloves and face masks available to use which take a lot of the discomfort away from the job.

The conditions are becoming nigh on perfect for moor burning at the moment, the deciding factor will be the wind, how strong it is and from what direction it is coming for some. We will wait and see how much smoke rises this coming week.

A week in February

We're into the middle of February already................ Eek! Where is the time going? Shep hasn't been idling, at least not this past week. Here follows a photographic diary of the past week.

It started by gathering some sheep ready for scanning the following day. They were gathered a day early and held close to the sheep pens as the weather forecast was threatening snow, as indeed it was doing as Moss turned these sheep and headed them closer to home. That was last Saturday.

Sunday saw Shep assisting at a couple of scannings.

The first scanning of the day was helping a friend out,someone who has just taken the step up from shepherd to farmer. The first time for them to scan their own sheep and good results were the order of the day. The scan man hid in his tent, couldn't blame him, a covering of snow and -8 recorded first thing had us all wishing we could climb in there with him.

The weather conditions found Moss and I jumping in with the scan man, hitching a lift to the second job, the sheep I'd brought closer to home the day previous. The farmer later reunited me with my motor when scanning and dosing had been completed, by which time the treacherous road conditions had given and car and I had an uneventful journey home.

There was little snow of mention but frost held out all week. Night temperatures varied from -10 to as warm as -2 over the duration of the week, far more fortunate than those further south whom experienced -16, Brrr... bet that was cold!

I had a few days in the company of these Galloway cows earlier in the week, I see quite a bit of them at the moment, they have been receiving a bite of cake (hard feed) and are keen to follow the bike around, as I was patching some fences in the vicinity where they live they seemed forever hopeful that they would receive more than one feed in the day. Intrigued every time the bike was moved to a different stretch of fence, was this a sign of more food??

Going by the circumference of this one it doesn't look like they need any more food, in all fairness to her these cattle are only a few weeks off calving so they probably have an excuse to look portly.

Then there was the moon, blimey! It wasn't half bright, t'was like driving into the sun in the dark. I was away out bye when I took this, a late finish with the fencing then a desire to find out what a police car had been up to saw me arriving home very late, and I may add none the wiser.

A dead end farm road in the middle of nowhere sees a police car on it, now my attempt to leave my job of fencing and hit the road before the police car returned failed and said car sailed past. Which I thought was a tad ill mannered. After all, out in the middle of no where on private property isn't the usual place to see the police, they are meant to be observant so surely ought to have seen me and quad, 2 dogs with 20 cattle following us heading towards the road. Well I thought they would have noticed but obviously they saw no reason to stop and have a crack and let me know what they were playing at.

Not to worry, thanks to the police car I had time to appreciate the beauty of the moon that night.

As the week went on this was a common sight.

There was ice everywhere.

Even the wettest of bike tracks appeared to be well frozen, this may look like puddles of water but in fact it is frozen solid, which made me decide to do a job I never relish. I had a list of possible jobs, the fencing was done for the time being, another on the list was to head out to the neighbours hill, that unfenced march between one farm and another meant sheep will have wandered over onto ground which they do not belong, as it was hard and frosty I decided to be a good bairn (child) and head out to send them back onto their own ground. I've often mentioned on these postings that I do not enjoy this particular task but it needs to be done. The neighbours ground is ungrazed heather, very rough, steep, undulating and just scary at times. However, I concluded that due to the hardness of the frost at least I wouldn't be able to bog the quad bike, I might get stuck by some other means but I couldn't possibly bog it. Could I?

How many swear words do you possess in your vocabulary?? Chances are I tried them all and added a few new ones to the list. How could I possibly bog the b****y bike??? What a prat!!

Bikes work by means of a thumb throttle, which means one hand has to be able to reach and use the throttle leaving only one arm to do the lifting and pushing. Well I lifted and pushed 'til I had no energy left to swear and still the b****y bike was stuck. I wasn't carrying the gizmo, that satellite tracking thingy, not that it would have helped as the batteries are done in it, and anyhow, it is for an emergency, not for a prattish act like this. Fortunately I had had sense to carry my mobile 'phone and eventually walked into an area which had reception.

Mobile 'phone reception is not a strong point in Tarset, you're more likely not to have reception than have it but there are odd pockets, one of which I walked upon. A weak signal tho' which cut me off twice. My first call went like this "Hi! just me here, are you busy? just wondered coz need help..."
Oh! that didn't go to well!
Second call went along the lines of " Will cut to the chase, am away out bye am stuck and need......"
Oh dear! I was starting to worry that the recipient of the calls might be beginning to worry.
Finally all was sorted and a quad was heading my way from away down the valley to pull me out of my predicament and as to "where will we find you" I replied that I would be walked away in by the time they arrived - but only just I may add, they either drove like a madman or else I dawdled.

My 'phone a friend did the job and bike was extricated, although not as easily as I had imagined, there was still a fair bit of lifting and grunting necessitated - now you would think I would learn wouldn't you?? We had a crack and I found out what the police had been up to, a new bobby on the beat had looked at a map and decided to acquaint himself with ground he didn't know, 'tis good to know but I still think he could have stopped and let me know that he was just being nosey, but there you go, who am I to question the manners of the police?

I never did succeed in heading out to that ground I never relish visiting, the day had flown by after all the excitement of rendering the bike immobile for a duration. The following day saw freezing rain, an unpleasant phenomena which saw Shep decide to baton the hatches down and knuckle down to some book work, the years accounts are at least now up to date, thanks to freezing rain.

The week was rounded off with a warm job, a job which will hopefully see us warm next winter too. The tail end of some hurricane in the summer kindly toppled this tree over, it won't be enough to keep the home fires burning all next winter, especially as it has two households to feed but it will be a help.

My job is that of mad axe woman, unfortunately the chainsaw had had a couple of days head start on me so for all my best endeavours I felt like I wasn't really getting anywhere fast. I ought to have been out gathering but due to the temperature lifting the weather was giving us hill fog making visibility too poor for gathering the hill sheep in, so mad axe woman it was.

A week in February, another week gone by. A week in which I saw many foxes, an ermine stoat, a very cold looking kestrel, many buzzards, ravens, and other birdy things including a pair of crossbills, a cropped and long distance shot of one which I will end this posting with.