Wandering Gecko

EquinePsycho

2012-01-19T17:15:00.001Z

In the last year, I've made a very special friend and in a short space of time we've had some excellent adventures together and really enjoyed feeding off each other's knowledge and passion for the great outdoors, animals generally and horses in particular.

Danni (Elle) Metcalf is an equine psychologist who is about to open her own riding centre at Bowkerstead, Grizedale, where Chris and I had our wedding reception last year. Elle has been travelling around finding horses for her riding school. Being without a bottomless pit of money to purchase her trusty herd of steeds, Elle has been rather canny in her methods of selecting horses and has had to draw on her experience, knowledge and ability to pick out a diamond in the rough and turn it into a safe and reliable trekking horse.

I wanted to share with you Tizzy's story because the transformation in this animal has been so rapid and it makes me so proud and happy to see Elle's talent so evident.

Tizzy's background is little known to us; there are a lot of previous owners on her passport. She is a 20 yr old Hanovarian x TB. Her shape suggests that she has had a few foals and she has had a big injury in the past. Elle was asked to take her on because the young man who had her could no longer afford to look after her.

She did not look great when we went to visit her but we put her in the horse box along with her pal Teeto, a little unbroken Section A Welsh.

The first time I rode her she was quiet and felt like a bag of bones. We didn't go far but we wanted to bring her back into work to pick her up, get her muscles developing and give her some interest in life.

After just a week she was beginning to look better, but Elle there was still a lot to do.

Three months on and Tizzy is a different horse. She is far more positive in her outlook (despite being a very stroppy mare in the stable) and is really becoming quite forward.

When I rode her a couple of days ago for Elle's new website photo shoot, she was really quite strong and excitable and at times I struggled to settle her down! Ignore the dropped rein please, I'd just ducked under a low branch when she shot off!

She is clearly feeling good and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better as we build up her stamina and give her some more experience of longer trails. Well done Elle!
http://www.cumbriahorseridingadventures.co.uk/

Something old, something new...

2011-12-29T19:47:00.000Z

I should imagine that anyone who has pondered over my lack of blogging will have come up with three options: either I am too lazy to blog, I have nothing happening in my life, or life is so busy that I don't have a lot of time to blog. I'm blaming mobile technology mostly. My old phone used to send posts direct to my blog. I liked this and bought a Blackberry thinking that this would be an even more slick way to blog on the move. However, it has not worked like that. My Blackberry and my Blog are not good friends, not in the way that Blackberry, Fackbook and Twitter are at least!

Now that the days are dark I seem to get up, do the animals, do some work, do the animals, have some food and go to sleep! I haven't even wished you all many Yuletide Greetings! But I hope that you all know that they were beaming out all over the world to you all wherever you are.

The good news is that Cuthbert, my wayward tup, has turned up again. Goodness knows where he was but he was gone for almost a month!

He is hat-rack thin, had an abscess on his jaw, has a lesion around his foot as though he has had wire wrapped around it and bald patches (intriguingly as though he has been wearing a raddle!) but he is alive and bright and improving slowly.

The fields on the other hand are doing the opposite of improving. The mud is horrendous! We have had nothing but mild weather and rain for weeks. It's horrible! If you look at the photo of the new fence in the previous post, you will see grass. No longer!! That area is now all deep sloppy mud where sheep and horses have been puddling up and down to the stables.

The horses managed to break into the haylage bales twice so that they are now ae big tubs that I was initially using to stop the girls from trampling their hay into the mud!

As well as the usual suspects, we have some new arrivals to keep us busy, but at least they pay their way! We're getting three or four eggs per day!This seems to be working better than the big tubs that I was initially using to stop the girls from trampling their hay into the mud!

As well as the usual suspects, we have some new arrivals to keep us busy, but at least they pay their way! We're getting three or four eggs per day!

George and his five girls arrived a few weeks ago and are lovely to watch, and listen to, as they forage around the field. George likes to stand on top of the muck heap and crow loudly in the morning. He competes with the neighbour's cockerel... boy are we going to be popular in the summer!!

They're not sheep...

2011-11-21T18:03:00.001Z

They are Mountain Goats!!!

I have been thoroughly given the run-around by my flock in the last week.
First the boys, who I thought were secure and safely out of the way down on a nature reserve, found a gap in a fence after our neighbouring farmer moved his flock of commercial ewes in next door. So they were returned to me by the (thankfully laid back) farmer in a quad bike trailer.

I couldn't put them back on the nature reserve without doing some fencing there, so I took them to my new fields where the girls are... and they created havoc by finding a way around any fence put in their way. Shetlands don't see boundaries; they merely see obstacles to be overcome!

At last Chris and I, with some help from my friend Elle, got the little bleaters contained... for a while...

In the meantime, Rivendell Cuthbert, my new tup, decided that he'd covered all of his new girls and that he would move on to pastures new. Previously he was working a much bigger flock and clearly he thought himself short-changed with his 13 ewes at my spot and gone off on the pull in neighbouring fields.We're now been looking for him for three days, following tufts of ginger wool along the hedgerows, but as yet we have not located him. The neighbouring farmers and the police are all on the look-out.

Today, after another fruitless Cuthbert search, we got back to sorting out the unruly younger tups, who were blocked into one of our horse paddocks which unfortunately had very little graze.

Chris and Elle set to work building a new fence (I had to take my Mam to the doctor's) and when I joined them it was looking very smart! They had fenced so that there was an overhang at the riverside that couldn't possibly be sneaked round, and everything was looking tight and sheep proof. We released the boys into their new pasture only to find ourselves under attack from all angles: Balthazar and Brian took flying leaps across the river while Blitzen and Biff climbed up the muck heap, dropped down behind the stable and trotted out into the girl's paddock!

It was dark before we left the field and we'll have to be back first thing again to see whether we have won the battle... or not!

Belated Update

2011-11-10T20:31:00.001Z

I am a slack blogger. Sorry folks, there is no excuse for it. However, things have been moving apace in the Holden-Wilde household.

Chris and I have our business off the ground and our website can be found HERE. This is a temporary site while the main one is being built by Chris's wonderful cousin Karen. Thanks Karen, you're a star xx

Chris's photography is coming on in leaps and bounds and very soon there will be a gallery to admire on the website.

My horse Danny and the sheep have moved house again and are now in a village I know very well from my childhood: a little place called Gleaston on the Furness Peninsula.

The girls have a new boyfriend called Rivendell Cuthbert! He's a handsome moorit lad originally from David and Joy Trotter's flock.

Down the road, the boys are chilling out down at Ireleth on the the salt marsh still. With no girls close by they are a proper lazy bachelor group, not a scrappy bunch as they were last year with the girls the other side of the fence!

Since the summer shows we have had an awful lot of calls about the flock and could have easily sold all of the girls three times over. Smali Archie, Smali Buttons and Smali Arrow have all gone off to new homes to work as flock sires and Galtress Ptolemy has a new home too with my friend Philip. Philip and his brother run the Wadley flock in Northumberland where Arrow, Tolly and ten of our girls are now living. Seven of the girls are out on loan and will come back to us probably next year once they have added some new members to the Wadley flock.

Smali Arran is growing into a very handsome lad. I took him along to a Shetland Sheep Society Ram Inspection day last weekend and I am proud to say that he has passed his assessment and is now an Approved Ram! I was so chuffed to get such positive feedback about him and his fleece in particular. I'll be very interested to see how his first lambs turn out next year!

Trotting Along Nicely

2011-09-15T10:11:00.002+01:00

It's great being self-employed (even if the winter is seeming a little scary and uncertain at the moment!). I can organise my own time and do the boring desk stuff when it's raining or in the evening leaving the daylight and sunny weather for doing the surveying and doing the things that I enjoy, like going out with the dogs, spending time with the flock and riding Danny.

Luckily I have friends who are also self-employed or work funny hours and can usually squeeze in a ride.

My friend Danni (very confusing having a horse and a horsey friend with the same name!!) has moved her horse Blade into the same field as Danny for a little while and we ride out together most days. Danny and Blade are great pals and very evenly paced which makes hacking out easy and fun.

Our boys are a constant source of amusement to us as we explore, often at speed, the forest tracks. Both are sure footed and fit enough to enjoy the challenging tracks and love to leap ridiculously high over small fallen logs! However, they are also both thoroughbred crossed and a bit highly strung and spooky. They find all kinds of things to be terrified of.

When excited Danny tends to turn into a giraffe with his ears pricked right forward and nostrils flared, while Blade arches his neck low, takes hold of the bit and prances along pretending to be very grand but refusing to accept the bit and work properly. They perfectly demonstrate "above" and "below" the bit! Danni and I are working on improving their outlines!

I've bought Danny a convertible head collar/bridle for hacking out in. It's great to be able to give him a proper break on a day ride by un-clipping the bit and letting him graze while I eat a snack. I don't worry about it getting damaged if we get a drenching either. He looks rather smart in it too!

Westmorland Show Success!

2011-09-14T09:31:00.000+01:00

What a busy time we've been having. There's so much that I ought to be blogging about, but I had to post about how proud I am of Arran.

My little fawn krunet brandet sokket katmoget tup lamb got more and more handsome as he got older.

Boy did he grow? His mother Sheilhope Gletness looked after him extremely well and he was king of the castle in the boys field last winter.

Unlike hi father, Arran has never shown signs of agression. He is a nice lad.

His first show outing was the local North Lonsdale a few weeks ago where he was placed second in Primitive Breed Ram (see post below).

Last week I took him to the Westmorland County Show which was a whole different ball game because it is a much bigger show with specialist Shetland Classes and plenty of respected breeders attending.

These show photos are from Dominic McEwen-King's Web Album. Dom has been taking great photos of their super Galtress flock at the shows.

Smali Arran was placed first in Shearling Ram!!

He went on to take the Reserve Champion Shetland!!

I'm so proud of him. Champion Shetland went to Robin and Margaret McEwen-King's lovely white ewe.

Arran's dad is Galtress Ptolomy, so Robin and Margaret (who are Tolly's breeders) were very happy to see their bloodlines passed down and doing well.

Todhill Robina and Smali Bryony both took fourth in their classes and my group of three (one tup and two ewes: Arran, Robin and Bryony) were placed first. In the group of three the judge looks for uniformity of a group of good Shetlands. I think it was brought in to allow breeders to show that good type and health is consistent in their flock.

What a good day for the Smali Flock!

Surprise!

2011-08-04T13:08:00.001+01:00

Now who could this be?

A new arrival? In July? Smali Amber must have been cavorting with the tups in February! A very pretty, strong and healthy ewe lamb... but I shan't register her as I'm not in to line breeding! Amber is a very proud Mum though and won't let anyone near this little lady; including me!

North Lonsdale Show

2011-07-28T11:18:00.000+01:00

It has been a while since I've done any showing with my Shetland Sheep, but I couldn't resist taking them along to our local agricultural show yesterday.

There was only one other Shetland breeder, Mr and Mrs Watson from Ravenglass, but they had very good animals and it was a pleasure chatting sheep with them. Because this is a small show, there were no separate breed classes for the rarer types and so in the classes I entered there were also North Ronaldsay, Manx Loughton, Wiltshire Horn and Wensleydale.

I took four sheep along this time; one for each class. I made things easy for myself by taking Smali Arran, who is reasonably quiet to handle; Todhill Robina and her twins Smali Byron and Bryony, so no separating ewes and lambs or having to take lots of extras!

First up was Arran in the Primitive Minority Breed Ram. The judge put Arran and Mr and Mrs Watson's Shetland ram side by side and deliberated for ages going through their fleeces right down their bodies. In the end he plumped for the Watson's animal, placing Arran second, but he said that it was a difficult decision and that there was not a lot in it. I'm not usually a fan of white Shetlands, but this was a nice little chap; very typical of the sheep you would find on the Shetland Islands, so I can't argue with that!

Robina was up next and horror or horrors, I realised as she walked into the ring her back foot looked over grown because she had split a hoof in the trailer. She wasn't lame (or I'd have noticed straight away) but there was a flake hanging off and I ought to have trimmed it off. The judge noticed of course and placed her third, telling me that she ought to have been first placed! Doh!! Well you live and learn: always give your stock a thorough going over BEFORE going into the show ring!

The Waton's ewe who was placed first was a lovely animal with a beautiful consistent fleece and looking in great condition. She went on to get Best of Breed.

The lambs were not keen on being shown at all. "Standing still while some stranger prods and pokes us? Are you kidding us?" However, despite my joke to the judge about points being knocked off for bad behaviour, Byron was placed first in Minority Ram Lamb and Bryony first in Minority Ewe Lamb. What clever little bleaters!

It was a very hot and sunny but happily successful day for the flock. Can't wait for the next show now, I must be getting the bug again.

Mullein on the Railway Line

2011-07-15T10:58:00.000+01:00

Usually in hot weather we like to take the dogs to the beach, or along a river, or to a lake for their daily strolls. They love nothing better than splashing about and swimming. The other day however, I reapplied their Spot On after finding a few ticks attached to them, so swimming was out, much to their annoyance.

Instead we took them through the fields and along the disused railway close to Roudsea Wood, opposite Greenodd, just a few miles away from where we live in Ulverston.
It was a scorching day and, in the absence of water to play in, the dogs found long grass to cool them off.

It didn't stop either of them from dashing about after a ball and playing at rounding each other up:

actually it is Whisper who is really into the stalking game!

Along what I think is an old disused railway track we found some fabulous big Mullein plants.

Their impressive spikes of yellow flowers are at their best at this time of year and the old stems from last year are still standing tall and are well dried out.

My good friend Hugh Woods tells me that the plant was known as "Poor Man's Torch" or "Candle-Wick" due to the fact that a dried stems of the flower spike burn extremely well. It has thick hairy leaves and apparently is known as "Cowboy's Toilet Paper" in the Western United States!

I know that Mullein has been an extremely useful plant in the past in medicine and also that the flowers can be used to make yellow and green dyes. I didn't know that the seeds have been used to produce a poison for fishing!

The Wikipedia entry says...
Great Mullein has been used since ancient times as a remedy for skin, throat and breathing ailments. It has long had a medicinal reputation, especially as an astringent and emollient, as it contains mucilage, several saponins, coumarin and glycosides. Dioscorides recommended it for diseases of the lung and it is now widely available in health and herbal stores. Non-medical uses have included dyeing and making torches.

So now we know where to go next time we have a cough! Hugh has given us one of these plants as a gift and we're hoping to harvest plenty of seeds from it. They only grow where the seeds can germinate on bare ground and so an old railway track suits them very well.

When we'd had enough of the baking heat of the open country, we retreated to the cooling depths of the woodland and enjoyed a little peace in the company of trees.

Clicking Day for the Flock

2011-07-11T17:25:00.000+01:00

The sheep were not impressed today.

They did not want to go into a pen on such a hot day,

They were far too happy grazing out on the salt marsh.

But it is now fly strike season and for their own protection they need to be treated against this.

So, after a fashion, we got (most) of them in and treated.

All apart from the boys who are due to go (because of the meat withdrawal period) and those who are still needing their fleeces off (I had dropped my sharpening stone at home, doh!). I only treat during the high risk period and after the fleeces have been removed so that there is almost a full year for it to wear out of the fleece. Arran, above, will be staying with me :o)

This year I used Click which protects for 16 weeks and will give me much needed peace of mind. The sheep do not seem to have been picking up any ticks so at least that it one worry less than in Argyll.

Another job done, the next thing will be to load up the boys. I can't imagine that they will cooperate...

but I don't really blame them!

Trekking around Grizedale

2011-07-05T09:07:00.000+01:00

Today was glorious sunshine and Chris's cousin Jane and her son Cameron brought their horse Harley up to visit Danny and have a long ride out around Grizedale.

Harley is only a youngster and hasn't yet done a lot of longer distance treks where he has to cope with lots of stony tracks, hills, streams and bogs, but you wouldn't know it as he coped admirably. Because we only had two horses between three of us, we took it in turns to use a mountain bike as a third mount! It was a very hot day and occasionally little lizards scuttled off the track in front of us.

We stopped for lunch overlooking Coniston Water where there was a breeze to keep some of the pesky flies at bay. A few sailing boats glided across the surface and I imagined what a blissful day it would be on the sparkling water. One thing missing from this ride was a cooling dip for both horses and riders; perhaps I could find a way to build this in next time!

The horses had a good munch on the lovely wild grasses and a drink from a stream while we enjoyed the view and some butties.

Then it was time to mount up again and follow the dusty tracks through the forest. The extremely dry weather this year means that the tracks are very hard and we had to limit ourselves to walking most of the time.

It was so hot that none of us felt overly speedy anyway and the horses stepped out smartly, covering the ground with ease despite our thinking that they might lack a bit of fitness, so that there was no need to push them on.

We were very pleasantly surprised at how fit Danny and Harley are. In the end we were out for five hours and they both looked fresh as little daisies on arriving back at the farm. Things are looking good for some more adventures this summer!

Our Fairytale Handfasting Ceremony

2011-06-24T11:19:00.000+01:00

We had a beautiful day for our wedding with wonderful friends. Thank you everyone for making it so special. Enjoy the photos, they are full of happiness :-)

Shearing Time

2011-06-17T09:42:00.000+01:00

I had an aim...

The aim was to get all of the sheep sheared before the wedding...

But May was horrendous. Cold and wet and no one around here dared shear early. However, this week it has warmed up again and I decided to jump in and get those lovely fleeces off.

I make no secret about it, I am no great professional shearer. I hand shear my own animals every year and every year I get a little bit better (after initially seeming a little bit worse having had no experience since the previous season).

I like to roo the sheep where possible. Shetlands are an ancient breed and many of them will still naturally shed their fleeces: this is called rooing and their fleeces can often just be plucked off. People bred out this tendency to shed wool to stop this valuable fiber being lost in the fields and hedgerows. However, it takes ages and often seems rather uncomfortable for the animal if the fleece is still too well attached to just lift off. Even though I'm slow, hand shearing is still quicker.

Because the Shetland fleeces are valuable and are privately sold to hand spinners and felters, I try to be careful about the way I shear them. The fleece grows a certain amount each year, the length of this growth is called the "staple".

At the end of each growing season, there is usually a natural weak point in the fleece where it would break off. This weak point is called the "rise".

Here on Rosie's fleece, the rise can be seen clearly as a line where the fibres are thinner. I try to shear along this line in order to preserve the full natural staple length of the fleece.

Machine clipping is far more practical when there are many sheep to be sheared but it does scalp the sheep rather and goes under the rise so removing some of the next year's growth and leaving the tips of the wool fibres blunt ended. When wool that has been cut beneath the rise is carded, little lengths break off at that natural weak point and there can be rather a lot of wastage. The blunt ended fibres can end up looking slightly felted and may not form the natural points that are characteristic of Shetland fleeces and help them to shed water.

Shearing is a bit of an art. You get better at it as you become more confident that you know the shape of the sheep and are not going to snip anything but wool!

My shears are quite big and extremely sharp. Blunt shears are more likely to cause nicks because they do not cut the fleece cleanly and can slip. By keeping the blade parallel to the sheep's body you get a neat even job and are unlikely to injure the animal. The weight of the fleece falling away from the body opens up the next line of fleece to cut.

When shearing you must never pull the fleece up yourself even though at times it is tempting, because it causes wrinkles in the skin which then almost inevitably get nicked or sliced. Pulling the skin taught flat across the body (as you would when waxing your legs!) can be useful when doing the belly though.

For the most part I really enjoy shearing, but it is really physical work. Because Chris's headaches mean that he can't do a lot of bending down (it brings on an attack and causes him to go blind in one eye... not very helpful for shearing!) I'm pretty much on my own, although he is useful at handing stuff over and helping to catch the next animal.

Some of the girls were lovely to shear, but when I came to do my 8 shearling tups it was a different matter. They have been turned out on a nature reserve for months and virtually untouched. They are BIG, well muscled from climbing over walls and escaping, curly horned and very woolly. Although a few rooed, most were a nightmare to shear because it is their lamb fleece (very long and thick) and having had no trauma (such as raising a lamb) most had no natural break in their fleeces.

I was very sore and bruised after doing five of them!

It is now just a few days before my wedding and it is raining. No shearing today. The first guests will be arriving tomorrow and there is no way I'll get any more done now.

However, I've pretty much done it. All 14 girls done, five of the boys and Tolly. Just three boys left and they won't take any harm for another week. Tomorrow afternoon I will get the girls and lambs treated with blow fly preventative and moved to their new nature reserve pasture.

They look a little bald, but I'm sure Rosie and pals are happy with their new styles really!

Handfasting Cord

2011-06-09T19:49:00.000+01:00

I was in a real quandary over what to do about the cord for our handfasting. I looked on-line and found some lovely ones to buy, but they were quite expensive and somehow it didn't seem personal enough. So I sat down this evening with my felting, spinning and beading kit and just played about until an idea emerged.

Fleece from Tolly and Robina (both very pale grey) to represent our flock and love of animals; green for our way of life, finances, fertility, luck, success energy, charity, growth, rejuvenation, prosperity, nurturing, beauty, health, ambition, and to counteract greed and jealousy; red for Chris's beloved Liverpool FC but also will, passion, strength, fertility, courage, health and vigour. The little charms are glass leaves and little paper rosebuds. Leaves for life and vitality, pink rosebuds for perfect happiness, and white for worthiness.

I'm really happy with it :o)

Wooden Wedding Rings

2011-06-05T20:51:00.000+01:00

So what tokens do conservationists exchange at their handfasting ceremony? We thought that wooden rings would be gorgeous and managed to find these. They are handmade in Scotland by The Wood Hut, from windfall trees.

Mine will be made from Yew, Maple and Walnut.

while Chris's will be fashioned from Oak and Yew.

All of the trees that provided these woods have ancient symbolism associated with them.

The mystical Yew is a tree of transformation and new beginnings.

Maple tree meanings include balance, promise and practicality.

Oak is a tree representing strength and stability.

Walnut is a tree of passion, broad-horizons and spontanaety.

Let's hope that they bring these characteristics to our marriage!

The Besom Broom

2011-05-29T21:06:00.000+01:00

As part of our handfasting ceremony, Chris and I will be leaping over a broomstick!

Many people will recognise this custom as being part of old wedding ceremonies performed by Gypsies and early American slaves, when couples “Jumped the Broom” to cross the threshold of their new homes ensuring fertility, domestic harmony and longevity.
Jumping the broom continues today in modern hand-fasting rituals, when as part of the ceremony, the bridal couple will jump across a decorated besom as conformation of their commitment to each other.

The couple jump the besom together, hand in hand to show that they are two parts of a whole, working together towards a bright new future and all it holds. This jumping of the besom becomes a leap of faith so to speak that they take together. Faith in each other to face what life has ahead for them both good and bad. The besom broom is taken home by the couple and hung over the bed or over the front door - bringing fertility and blessings to the relationship and their home.

For Chris and I, jumping the broom will be the last stage in our ceremony before the popping of corks and general merriment commences.

Jim Fowler

2011-05-16T10:18:00.004+01:00

Saturday was a very sad day. On Saturday I learned that I, and many others, had lost a very dear friend: Dr J. A. Fowler.

I received a phone call at midday from my friend Pete asking whether I had heard from Jim and telling me that the police had found his car, an empty kayak and fishing gear. They had also found a body which they were trying to identify.

I called his mobile in desperation but knew the truth. Pete showed the police where to find a photo and soon the unthinkable became reality.

How could this have happened so suddenly? My last contact with him had been a message gleefully telling me that he was taking his kayak out in search of perch.

The cause of the accident is not fully understood. I like to think that it was an epic adventure involving an enormous pike. That would be a great new tale for Jim to tell!

Jim was a well known Ornithologist who has left his mark on hundreds of budding ecologists. His text books, Statistics for Field Ecologists and Statistics for Ornithologists are well thumbed volumes on my bookshelves. Having used these books to help me through my degree it was funny that I should meet and become friends with the man himself the year that I graduated.

I had taken up bird-ringing at university, and, on graduating in 2002, contacted the BTO to find a trainer back at home in Cumbria. They put me in touch with Jim. A few days later I found myself in a woodland in the very small hours being instructed in the art of putting up a mist net. Bird ringing trainers are extremely pedantic about the way in which their nets are erected, where each person stands, which knots are used... and Jim was no different... even though I had been putting up nets almost every weekend for two years! My first impressions of Jim were of a very earnest and slightly bonkers academic; he tried to do everything too quickly, frequently dropping items, losing them and tripping over branches. However, when handling the birds he was a master showing me how to confidently manipulate these tiny animals in order to take them safely from the mist nets. He was an excellent trainer, strict but fair and honest.

Soon I had a job with the World Owl Trust at Muncaster, and Jim was delighted to be able to train me in ringing Barn, Little, Tawny Owls and Kestrels. He also took great delight in stepping to one side while I crawled into gaps between hay bales or up rickety ladders in order to retrieve owlets.

Since my stint working in Scotland, I have done very little birding. But Jim has stayed a close friend and, with his love of blogging and communication, we were in almost daily contact one way or another. His friendly jibes have been an almost constant presence and I can't believe that every time I mention my lambs on Facebook there will be no quip about mint sauce from Jim. In the words of his close friends, Jim was a truly Runcible Character!

One of our last times out together was when I was in the depths of the worst time of my life some months ago now. The comforting familiarity of Jim's company and conversation (and scolding as a wriggling wren managed to escape me before its ring was fixed on) was a great help and a break from everything that was going on outside the woods.

He was a most excellent and intelligent man; friend and mentor. I miss his daily mickey-taking and am deeply saddened that he will not be at my wedding next month: he was so enthusiastic about the opportunity to attend a pagan ceremony. Readers of his blog will know how he celebrated the pagan festivals. He wished to have some druid robes made up by "a little woman in Barrow market that does things for desperate gentlemen."

Farewell on your new travels Jim. Another "well earned break."

Bram Lamb in the garden

2011-05-09T21:13:00.000+01:00

Goodness me! Look at all that exciting stuff to explore!

That smells interesting...

I'll bet those taste good...

and this looks as though it might be a good rolling toy...

But what on earth is that?

It's big...

it's pink...

and if I head-butt it, it moves!

Not a good idea to chase it into that big puddle though!

It's enough to make a lamb very tired!

Time for a snooze I think.

Bed-lamb in the Smali Flock!

2011-04-15T21:46:00.001+01:00

Lambing is done! 17 lambs, 9 tups (rams), 8 ewes, 4 singles, 7 sets of twins. 1 still born (big handsome black, non-ag HST tup lamb :o( ) an one very healthy and noisy pet called Bram. More of the story coming up... in the meantime enjoy the photos! That's my little brother Joe asleep with Bramble the pet lamb.

Hope all of you with livestock are having a good spring and that everyone is getting out and enjoying the new life that is budding and blossoming all around.

Lambing Live

2011-04-05T20:19:00.000+01:00

Unlike the program of the same name on the BBC at present, lambing for us is a rather quieter, if still rather all consuming affair. Lambing is such a funny time when you have a small flock of sheep. It tends to be a bit on the dragged out side and the majority of the time there is nothing going on... but you feel that you have to be there just in case! Sometimes it seems a bit daft considering that (touch wood!) I have never yet had to help a Shetland to give birth, but I just couldn't risk anything happening to one of my lovely ewes or their little ones and we drag ourselves out of bed in the small hours to check them, spend a fortune in fuel and sometimes have to camp in the stable.

So as a result, I have plenty of time to sit and write, at least for as long as my laptop battery lasts, and after this time for...

getting to know Danny better...

catching up with Rosie and hearing all about what being mother of twins again is like...

and for swooning over her fleece!

Chris enjoys watching the lambs as they become braver and their characters develop...

and he is always impressed with how good the girls are at caring for the lambs, and how tolerant many of them are. Blitzen is NOT Girlsta's lamb!

The texels next door are just SO different from our dainty little Shetlands that they always make us laugh and Chris couldn't resist getting a photo for the blog.

His photography is really coming along now and the resident tree sparrows make excellent and obliging subjects.

Tolly doesn't understand why the little springy things are getting all of the attention when HE is clearly still top of the flock!

Why Handfasting?

2011-04-03T18:35:00.000+01:00

I have spent a good chunk of today, between lambing checks, writing our wedding ceremony. It is quite a difficult thing for me in some ways because my beliefs and spirituality have always been very private, and because I want the ceremony to be understood and enjoyed by everyone, without anyone feeling uncomfortable. I would never try to persuade another person to take on my beliefs because it doesn't matter what rules each person privately lives by so long as they are happy and good: define these as you see fit!

I suppose that my understanding of the world fits most closely with that of Druids. My soul has been deeply touched by the natural world that I spend so much time exploring and trying to understand; to me the stars speak their graceful silent poetry, the grasses and the deep woods are as cathedrals. I love to meditate and feel the energy that flows through all living things. For me there are no idols to worship so there are no mentions of gods or goddesses in the ceremony, just the ancient mysteries of nature itself. A church wedding would therefore have been inappropriate, even though I do find churches beautiful and peaceful places, and a registry office or hotel too impersonal.

We have chosen to have our ceremony at one of my favourite nature reserves, in a meadow beside an ancient hazel wood. This place has been special to me ever since I was a child and Chris has grown to love it too.

Handfasting is often described as being an agreement between two people for a year and a day. However, for us this will be as permanent as any other ceremony and the year and a day idea appears to have come from one reference: Sir Walter Scott's The Monastery. It is an ancient celtic tradition and the origin of the phrase "tying the knot".

During the ceremony our hands will be bound together with ribbon as we travel the circle to each compass point. Each point represents an element and has associated objects or qualities. North is Earth and stability, fertility, experience and inner wisdom; South is Fire and passion, power, change and energy; East is Air and communication, travel, new beginnings and music; West is Water and emotion, imagination, compassion and intuition.

After visiting each of the compass points, the ribbon will be removed with the knot intact ready to be put in some special place and kept safe.

Lambing at last!

2011-03-30T11:42:00.000+01:00

After spending my annual couple of weeks staring at the ewes and scrutinizing belly and udder size and shape, they have finally tired of my fence-side presence and decided to put me out of my misery.

First to go was Geherda, which was funny because Chris and I had been so convinced that Rosy or Girlsta must pop at any moment that we hadn't really given anyone else a second look until the night before when I pointed out Geherda and said, "I'll bet she's about to lamb and has been laughing at us staring at the backsides of those two!"

Geherda had a stunning little tup lamb whom (who, whom?) we have named Biff in honour of of friend's Spence an Lottie's new baby of the same name. He is a gorgeous little chap and always looks as though he's smiling.

No sooner had we got Geherda food and water and made sure that Biff was feeding happily, then Kate proceeded to lamb in the middle of the field. I had nipped out and so Chris had to come to the rescue as the other expectant mothers in the field gathered around and tried to steal the twins.

These little beauties are Blitzen and Belingi! Blitzen is the little dark grey lamb with the lightening mark down his shoulder.

Belingi is the grey katmoget, at least I think he will be grey katmoget as the eye stripes etc are black but he has a lot of the brown pigment.

Belingi is so named because when Chris and I are driving about and I point out all of the different sheep breeds in the fields, he tells me that I am making up the names and merrily points at a sheep saying "oh look, there's a belingi!" Belingi the lamb (not the breed!) is a very bold little chap who loves Chris and comes running for cuddles in the field. Probably not a good thing for a tup!

After a 24 hour break, Rosie went into labour and we prepared ourselves for possible triplets since she was so huge. Labour went on and on into the night, but there was no distress and the water bag hadn't appeared. At last at 3am, when I was asleep in the stable and Chris was on watch, Rosie had two enormous ewe lambs.

They are little stunners with really fine fleeces. Bernadette is the dark grey katmoget and Beatrix is the grey ilget katmoget.

Just in time for Chris to be able to watch the football match last night, Gletness had a set of tiny but healthy twins right in the middle of a rain storm. These two aren't even named yet but the little tup is the grey krunet katmoget and the ewe is the flashy little lady.

Only 5 more to lamb now :o)

A Wilde Wedding

2011-03-19T20:49:00.000Z

In between staring at sheep who appear to have no interest in producing lambs, Chris and I are now busily planning our wedding... or rather I am busily planning our wedding while he makes agreeable murmurings whenever I ask what he thinks of something.

Being true to ourselves has been foremost in our consideration of how, what, where and who. Therefore it is, no doubt unsurprisingly, a Summer Solstice handfasting ceremony which will take place on one of my favourite nature reserves, followed by a party at a woodland campsite with a big hog roast and roaring fire for our friends and family to sit around.

The dress is ordered, the invites almost all written and we are working with our celebrant on the format of the ceremony.

Handfasting is a most ancient tradition and the origin of the phrase "tying the knot". In Celtic tradition the couple would first be joined for a year and a day before deciding whether or not to make the arrangement permanent, but since Chris and I have been together rather longer than this, we're willing to skip this stage!

Of course, you'll have to wait until the wedding to see "the dress" but I'll post some bits about the preparations as we go along. Don't worry, there is no danger of this becoming a wedding blog!!

The Same Old Waiting Game

2011-03-17T21:39:00.000Z

The ewes are lying in the field looking fatter and more uncomfortable than ever. The first due date is past and their udders are swelling, but they are still hanging on to their lambs.

This morning was the first of the early checks and the girls all looked faintly surprised to see us in their field at such an inhuman hour. What on earth could the people be doing up at that hour?!

I'm so looking forward to my second crop of Galtress Ptolemy lambs. Last year (see the archive of posts starting in April 2010 for photos) there was a wonderful array of spots and colours. That for me is one of the wonderful things about Shetland Sheep, if you're breeding for patterns you never know just what you are going to get!

Time to Blog!

2011-02-14T20:38:00.000Z

Hello Bloggers!

Let me begin with an apology, there is no excuse for the tardiness of this blog post, I simply have not been feeling quite myself and blogging is one of the things that has suffered, even though I suppose I have plenty to blog about and it might even have made me feel a little better; particularly when I read the lovely comments that some of you leave.

2011 is going well so far, even if the rest of it is a little off in the clouds at the moment. Chris and I are planning our wedding for June 21st (the Solstice of course!) and are also setting up in business together. Because he is so ill with his Chronic Cluster Headaches, and because we do really want to base ourselves in Cumbria for the foreseeable, we think that going self employed will be the answer. So if anyone needs any wildlife surveys or advice, or wants some wildlife training delivering (anywhere in the UK... or indeed further afield!), look no further!

The sheep are looking well and we have finally found a place to move the girls so that they have good new graze for lambing time. We have visited a few plots that are for sale but are reluctant to commit ourselves before we know where our income will be coming from!

I have been spinning some of the wool that Michelle over at Boulderneigh very kindly sent me a while ago now. It is lovely roving and really forgiving to work with so thanks very much. I have even joined a knitting group so that I might be able to make something from it. Must take better photos of woolly things!

Danny is doing well and we try to get out together every other day or so: although weather stopped play last week as it was gale force winds and torrential rain for much of the time. I think he'd like a bit more exercise judging by his antics in the field, the ruddy grazing is all chewed up! But he does look great.

Fox and Whisper seem to be enjoying life home in Cumbria, particularly the space: no more constant dodging of spruce trees! They get a good sprint down the beach, through the lovely ancient woodland, or over the local common every day and have also been enjoying exploring the pieces of land that we've been viewing.

When it is all written down like this life appears to be pretty good. Now that does make me feel a little better :o)

Rounding up 2010

2010-12-31T11:57:00.000Z

It is finally the end of 2010. Looking positively has been a big year for lessons about myself, the world I live in and the way other people behave. It has been a year of huge changes and challenges and, to be frank, I'm glad to see the back of it!

The support that my family and friends have given me these last twelve months has been just incredible. You really learn who you can rely on at times like this.

Entering 2011, I'm very happy to be home with my lovely family, my Chris and of course Fox and Whisper.

I have managed to hold onto the flock despite the moves and logistical difficulties and I must say that they are looking fab!

The latest addition to our herd is Danny of course who is settling well into life with us and is beginning to show his wonderful sense of humour; no doubt we will have plenty of tales to tell as the year progresses.

To all of you who are kind enough to stop by and read this little blog and leave such lovely comments, I'd like to thank you all too: many of you have come to feel like true friends and I hope that you'll forgive the lack of posts in the recent past. I shall seek to be a better Blogger in the new year.

All the best,
Jenny xxx

Dog Panniers

2010-11-02T18:05:00.000Z

Fox is such a big strong dog that I've decided that I ought to be able to put all of that muscle to good use.

So from now on he can carry his own water, ball and food on camping trips. Our first trials with an empty pack don't seem to have bothered him one bit. He stood still to have it put on and didn't pay any attention to it at all as he ran about as usual.

I'm told that once a dog gets used to carrying a load, they can take up to 15% of their bodyweight, which means that Fox can carry up to 4.3 kilos of gear! That's quite a lot and will be a big help on multi day walks.

So far Whisper has escaped having to carry anything,

This is mostly because she is a total minger who spends half her life wallowing in mud and the other half rolling in puddles!

Introducing Danny

2010-10-28T18:11:00.000+01:00

It has been a while coming, (or should that be threatening?) but it looks as though I've gone and gotten myself a horse! What am I thinking?

So this is Danny, a 15.2hh thoroughbred cross.

He's a 16 year old ex-showjumper. He has arthritis in one of his fetlocks so can't compete any more but is supremely fit and able to do what I have planned for him.

We've done a couple of long afternoon rides out together and he's a really comfy ride; lovely paces, plenty of go but also a reliable stop and lots of character.

I can't wait to get him home and start going out having adventures together. Welcome to the family Danny x

North Pennines Wool Event

2010-10-15T18:17:00.000+01:00

Chris and I took a trip into the wild lands of the North Pennines this Tuesday to join fellow wool enthusiasts, including our esteemed Chairman of the Shetland Sheep Society, in celebrating all things woolly.

North Pennines Wool ran an event featuring many different types of fibre craft including weaving, spinning and felting, as well as showing different types of fleece and demonstrating how to sort them.

I was very happy to catch up with some old friends and update them on how the flock was getting on. It was particularly good to see Jean who sold me five of my original flock members.

The real highlight however was when Chris, being eagle eyed, spotted a bargain.

A beautiful second hand spinning wheel.

So now there's no excuse. I've been spinning away in the evenings and have signed up for a knitting course so that soon I might really be able to go all the way from sheep to jumper... or perhaps just to scarf for starters! I've got an awful lot of lovely fleece just waiting to be turned into something exciting.

Coming soon on this blog...

A very important horse!

Bare feet and mobile bones

2010-10-07T10:42:00.000+01:00

Life can't be bad when you can walk three miles barefoot along a beautiful sandy beach...

in CUMBRIA in SEPTEMBER!!

But that's exactly what Chris and I did with my parents a week or so ago when we took a long stroll around North Walney Nature Reserve and beaches.

It was a simply beautiful day as we strolled through the yellow sand dunes, across the salt marsh with it's fascinating flora, and out to the end of the island where turnstone foraged along the shingle and where we found the perfect place for a sit down and a brew.

Chris is getting used to the fact that my family are impulsive foragers. I was brought up to know many sources of free food and uses and appreciation for things that you find lying around.

September is prime time for finding one of my very favourite mushrooms, the Parasol. These are big and we only needed to take a couple for Chris to make into a fabulous soup when we got home.
Mam and I found a very useful length of rope littering the beach which we tidied off the sand to use in the garden and I found this amazing bone...

I think that it must be a dolphin or whale bone, but am happy to be corrected. It looks like the bone at the base of a flipper; so perhaps it is a large seal.

The concerning thing about it is that it has clearly been neatly cut through by some implement. I wonder what the poor animal's fate was.

When I insisted that it was coming home with me Chris nicknamed it my "mobile bone".

With these and various other useful things and bits of fishing gear that ought not to be left on the beach, where they are a hazard to birds and other wildlife, we had rather a lot to carry. Luckily, the beach provided the answer in the form of an old fish box washed up on the shore.

It's good to see that Fox appreciates the gravity of such a find!

My bonkers family and I carried that box for over three miles across the sands of Walney Island.

But it was a wonderful stretch out and the dogs were delighted.

Not to mention absolutely knackered and just a tad sandy!

Settling in nicely

2010-09-24T09:36:00.000+01:00

The sheep don't seem to know what to do with themselves in their new pasture.

There is SO much to eat

They don't have to scale cliffs to find their dinner as they did in the good old days of Scotland...

Nor march for miles.

In fact Tolly seems concerned that the poor shepherdess will be getting fat now that his flock are not providing her with exercise every day! Maybe if he tickles her she'll giggle the calories off...

Just stand there Tolly and look pretty. I'll be getting plenty of exercise on Mondays...

The Big Update

2010-09-14T10:25:00.000+01:00

Hello Bloggers! It has been a while, but I've been going through a lot of changes in life and these have taken a great deal of sorting out. However, here I sit at my computer in my new job in my new office in my old town!

I'm back in sometimes sunny Ulverston, Cumbria which is where I went to school and where my parents have now lived for around ten years (we lived in a village near by when I was younger). Still working on Beavers, still for the Scottish Wildlife Trust, but now investigating how reintroductions have worked in other European countries and producing reports and articles about the ecological, social and economic aspects.

I'm looking forward to visiting some of the sites and meeting the scientists in charge of the projects.

Chris and I have moved in with my parents for a while so that we can get some money together (conservation is not the best field if you ever plan on living in anything bigger than a tin can!) and, as much as we're going to miss folk in Argyll, we're happy to be back amongst our family and friends.

Fox and Whisper are overjoyed to have huge long sandy beaches and dunes to explore as well as the Lakeland Fells and will soon be back to working sheep again so the move is better for them.

The sheep think that they have gone to sheep heaven. They are on fabulous grazing sharing with a friend's pony. Hopefully before too long we'll have fields of our own for them.

So it's all change for us but I think that it will be for the best in the long run. There will be lots of things to tell you all but bear with me while I find my feet again and get sorted. Then I'll have all of your blogs to catch up with too!!
Thanks for following my little tales,
Jenny xx

Purple Fingers Again!

2010-08-09T21:04:00.000+01:00

I popped home briefly the other day and spent some quality time with my parents.

We did what the Holden family do best...

got out on one of the local fells, stretched our legs, had a good laugh and collected ingredients for our dinner.

The bilberries on Kirkby Moor were rather bigger than those here in Argyll, on fact they were more like blueberries!

Whisper did a good job of ensuring that we didn't stray too far from each other while distracted by delicious fruit.

Oh there's no place like home no matter how beautiful the places we visit are.

Exploring

2010-08-09T09:27:00.000+01:00

Chris and I like exploring. As soon as we knew that we were moving to Knapdale we bought the OS Maps and would spend hours with them laid out across the floor examining the terrain and picking out interesting looking habitats, walks and camping spots.

We've covered a fair amount of ground with our faithful canine friends since moving here 19 months ago.

I was therefore quite surprised when Chris told me that he had found a previously unconquered gully just ten minutes walk from our door.

To be fair, this magical little fairy land has been closed off to visitors since we moved up here as the Forestry Commission were putting in a new path and bridges to allow folk who prefer to walk on safe ground access to its beauty.

They've done a lovely job of it with platforms to allow lovely views of the waterfalls,

places to sit and listen to the birds and the wind in the trees,

and taking in interesting natural features like this gnarled old tree. It does make one think that a lifetime is never enough to properly explore what it on ones own doorstep, let alone wider world!

Little Woollies

2010-08-07T10:21:00.000+01:00

Those lambs are getting big now. Their poor mums are getting lifted off the ground when they suckle.

It will very soon be time for them to go it alone so that the ewes have time to recover.

Tolly will be coming out with the tup lambs and keeping them in order while the girls get some quality time (and feed) to themselves. He has done a great job leading the flock and putting a few dogs in their place (the hazards of having your sheep neighbouring a footpath. Grrr!

But in the middle of all this will be a bit of a change. More about that over the next few weeks...

"What do you think she can mean?"

Until then admire the sheep and the view (in that order!).

An Icey day in July!

2010-07-28T14:05:00.000+01:00

On Saturday and Sunday, Anastasia and I travelled to Tebay for her Icelandic Horse at Midfield Farm near Tebay. Midfield Farm is the home of the Siamber Wen Icelandic Horse Stud where Janice and Tim Hutchinson breed and train their amazing and beautiful Icelandic Horses.

Their herd numbers as many as forty Icelandics and they look fabulous high on the moorland above the farm.
Anastasia and her Icelandic Siamber Wen Trausti (born and bred at Midfield Farm) had a fairly successful competition and came fourth in the TREC obstacle test on the first day. They would have come higher had they not been penalised for being too fast!

The highlight for me was seeing Trausti in his first Pace Race. Icelandics are 5 gaited horses, the fastest gait being the flying pace, and boy is it fast, not to mention impressive to watch!

Unfortunately Trausti decided not to go right into pace on the day (I've seen him do it back up at Brenfield) but instead demonstrated a lovely canter.

One of the other horses present was setting a fine example however complete with the characteristic impressive exaggerated leg action. Her poor rider lost her stirrups!

We'll have to see how Trausti does once he has had further training in Pace!

My lines for this week are... I cannot afford an Icelandic Horse... I cannot afford an Icelandic Horse... I cannot afford... ...!

South of the border

2010-07-24T07:18:00.001+01:00

Whisper and I are on a little adventure this weekend. We are helping our friend Anastasia at an Icelandic horse show. But right now we are doing some early morning exploring of the fields behind her house in North Yorkshire. The landscape here is so typically rural England!

Wild pudding

2010-07-17T19:38:00.000+01:00

These light evenings with their glorious sunsets often tempt Chris and I to give the dogs late night strolls.

If you walk to the top of the hill behind our house you can see right over to the Isle of Jura to the west; across the Moine Mhor National Nature Reserve to the mountains and the Isle of Mull beyond to the north;

down the Crinan Canal towards Loch Fyne to the east

and to the shimmering lochs deep in Knapdale Forest to the south.

It is simply beautiful; and to make the place even more tempting to visit, the bilberry bushes are laden with fruit at the moment.

Bilberries are just like blueberries. They are also called blaeberries in other parts of the country. They may be small but they have a delicious sweet flavour and the effort that has to go into collecting them is well worth it for the prize.

From a very young age, all of us Holden kids were brought up to spot a bilberry at fifty paces and not to give up our picking patch until we've found every last one. Don't worry we're not being mean to the birds and beasts, there are more than enough to go around!

I'm not sure how chuffed dad would be at Fox's keen interest in bilberry picking!

Whisper doesn't get what the fuss is about at all.

She is far more interested in rolling in nameless muck and racing round like a loony!

We managed to pick a pretty good tub full of bilberries, despite the number that got eaten before reaching the pot!

Chris put them to very yummy use :o)

WOW! What a bug!!!

2010-07-15T12:22:00.000+01:00

I just had to share my photos of this amazing insect with you all.

It's an Ichneumon also known as a Sabre Wasp: to be specific this is Rhyssa persuasoria which translated from Latin means persuasive burglar!

Despite its fearsome appearance, this is a harmless beast to humans. That long appendage is an ovipositor (egg-laying tube) which is used to bore into wood and deposit an egg onto a horntail larvae. the horntail is another scary-looking but harmless insect that is found in pine forests around Knapdale.

The female ichneumon looks for hosts, which live within fallen timber. It isn't fully understood how she finds them: she may detect them through the smell of their droppings, or by sensing their vibrations within the wood. However she does it, the accuracy with which she locates them is remarkable. When she finds the right spot, she drives her slender ovipositor into the wood (which can be inches thick) by rotating the two halves backwards and forwards very rapidly. She lays one egg next to or on the host larvae.

She's what I call one cool bug!!

Herding Cats

2010-07-13T11:00:00.000+01:00

My Shetland lambs are an unruly bunch.

They are not interested in eating hard feed with their mothers at this stage, the grass is too good and they are still suckling.

And so when it comes to getting them in the pen, they turn into wild little things resembling gazelles or mountain goats.

For some reason the boys are easier to catch than the girls...

but not all of them!
BTW Michelle: that's a polled ram lamb on the right in the photo below!

The lambs on the outside peer in with expressions of "what are you doing in there?" on their little woolly faces.

I give in, new pen set up needed!

At least I the girls behaved themselves and I got half sheared before the heavens opened and the rain poured yet again.

Home on the range

2010-07-09T21:42:00.000+01:00

Alfie is becoming quite a pro at helping out with the sheep.

He doesn't spook when the lambs run between his legs,

and is great at carrying the feed up to the field for me.

Tolly however, is not so keen. He's going to great lengths to combat his "little man" syndrome and stay at the top of his flock!

Don't worry Tolly, you're still top sheep here, even when you're on the ground!

Midsummer Arrival

2010-07-09T10:49:00.000+01:00

Meet Solfari!

He's a pure bred Icelandic Horse born to my friend Anastasia's mare Reice on the solstice.

His name means "day light" in Icelandic.

What a cheeky little character he is. Very independent, very brave, and rather too inquisitive for his own good!

Here he is having a man to man chat with Anastasia's husband Dave.

Anastasia plans to keep this little chap and I'm looking forward to seeing how he grows up. He;s a proper little colt already though and will take some handling!

Invalid

2010-06-29T16:17:00.001+01:00

Chris is out of theatre and in recovery after his sinus operation. The op took longer than expected but went well, although he feels terrible now and has an uncomfortable metal plate up his nose! I'm guessing that it will be a while before he can help me with the sheep! Get well soon Honey xxx

Big Boys!

2010-06-27T09:25:00.001+01:00

Last year's tup lambs Basil and Carlin are certainly big lads now! I got them in to shear this morning but of course it had rained in the night and they are soaking. Ah well boys peace for you a little longer!

A big weekend of riding.

2010-06-17T13:19:00.001+01:00

Sorry for the delay folks, I'm a touch on the busy side at the moment (for the last 6 months actually) and my blog, I realise, has been woefully neglected. Sheepy photo updates to com very soon. For now here are the photos from my TREK attempts.

My kind friends at Brenfield Farm and Argyll Trail Riding allowed me to ride their horse Brenfield Alfie in a national TREK Qualifier competition held on their estate last weekend. Alfie and I have been getting to know eachother for some time now and I ride him a few times a week. He's an old chap at 22, but still looking in superb condition. He's a school master who is the perfect confidence builder since he takes such care of whoever is on board. However he knows all the tricks of the trade when it comes to getting his own way and is just a tad lazy!

Alfie and I tried our hands, and hooves, at the Level 2 test which comprises an orienteering course on the first day of up to 20km followed by a Control of Paces test and a "PTV" course on the second day.

It was rather a hot day for a very long and dusty ride and I was worried to push Alfie hard for fear of him becoming dehydrated. Of course this was just me being overcautious since when I had Alfie looked over at a check point he was of course absolutely fine. Apart from our lack of pace we did very well. My map reading skills are not too rusty at all and we got around the course easily.

Control of Paces is basically the desage section of the test. A corridor 2m wide and up to 150m long is ridden first in the slowest canter that the horse and rider and then a again in the fastest walk that they can muster. A break to a different gait or a foot outside the corridor results in all points being lost for that section of the test. Alfie and I did not do a good job of this despite the fact that he can have a beautiful slow collected canter! Enough said, much more practice needed!

The PTV is an obstacle course which must be completed within a set time. Some of these photos are of my friends attempts at the obstacles :o)

It comprises decending a staircase

Obedience when led including standing still without being restrained when asked, and correct mounting.

Negotiating a narrow corridor, low branches

Bending

Stepping up...

and down.

jumping ditches and crossing bridges

wading through water

jumping fences

opening gates

And joyfully cantering for home!

Did I say joyful? Alfie did not make life easy for me and was not keen at all in speeding around on such a hot day. I think that my expression says it all, I was knackered andf he looks fresh as a daisy!

I was very pleased with the scores that Alfie and I acheived for individual obstacles and they demonstrate how much my riding has come on. Unfortunately I made a silly mistake and Alfie and I completed one of the higher level obstacles instead of the easier one we were supposed to do. Despite the fact that we completed it perfectly this resulted in our losing all of our points for the PTV course. Ah well, that's just the way it goes sometimes! I was pleased to see that some of my friends made a rather better job of it than me!

We and the horses were all very relieved to be able to relax in the field at the end of the day.

What a fabulous time we all had and what a fabulous bunch of people to enjoy it with.

Rocking in Cumbria

2010-06-11T10:33:00.001+01:00

I do have a report from my weekend of riding to post but as it happens I have popped down to Cumbria and this morning find myself accompanying my little brother to a job interview! Joe has recently qualified as a climbing instructor. Here he is limbering up and deciding what improvements he might make to Barrow wall.

Lull before the storm

2010-06-04T10:47:00.001+01:00

Alfie and I are competing in the national TREC Qualifier tomorrow. It's the first time I've ever ridden in a competition! This morning we enjoyed a quiet moment together before the madness of preparing for the visiting riders began. Wish us luck!

Pub Ride

2010-06-02T14:33:00.001+01:00

Today Paddy and I have joined a pub ride to help my friend Debbie. The only trouble is that as helpers neither of us actually get to go in the Pub. Admittedly Paddy might not fit through the doors anyway! At least we get a sea view and beautiful sunshine while we wait :-)

Escaping Sheep Again!

2010-05-30T09:47:00.001+01:00

This morning as I began to groom the horses I looked up to a familiar sound. My entire flock were trotting along the track to the stable yard looking very pleased with themselves! Needless to say that I have been doing a spot of fence patching this morning. Here are most of the lambs on their return home.

Last Lamb!

2010-05-22T10:20:00.001+01:00

It has been a bit of a drawn out process but this morning the last Lamb was finally born. A lovely spotted katmoget ewe lamb to Smali Lunde. So the count is 17 gorgeous lambs from 12 ewes. More photos to come :-)

Krunet sokket brandet fawn katmoget tup!

2010-05-05T22:11:00.000+01:00

Also known as a little patchy job!

At least Gletness has her own lamb at long last.

Sheilhope Gruna's little girl

2010-04-30T10:37:00.001+01:00

Born just this morning :-)

More spots!

2010-04-28T20:59:00.001+01:00

Ruby lambed a stunning little tup today. Life is good sometimes!

Lambs at last and a colour puzzle!!

2010-04-25T20:51:00.000+01:00

I'm so tired that this is mostly just going to be a post filled with gratuitous lamb photos, but I hope that you all enjoy. The current lamb count is 1 single and 3 sets of twins. 2 tups and 5 ewes!! Galtress Ptolemy fathered all of these lambs.

I really need help from all you Shetland Sheep experts in identifying the colour of this little girl. She is one of Bartiestown Rosy's twins and is the same colour as a blue border collie!

This is her sister

The little blue girl was very yellow at birth.

Sheilhope Gula had a lovely katmoget tup lamb. He has been named Brenfield after the Estate that he was born on.

Todhill Robina had a super pair of spotted lambs. The grey krunet is a ewe and the Ilget (?) yuglet is a tup.

Sheilhope Geherda had a beautifully marked pair of fawn katmoget ewe lambs.

I do have tales to tell of ewes stealing lambs and as a result I have a little pet to introduce you to. Right now though I need bath, beer, food and sleep in that order!

Passing the time...

2010-04-17T20:57:00.000+01:00

The sun has been shining and providing perfect weather for lambs to be born...

And yet we are still waiting...

And waiting...

And waiting!

So what have I been doing while I've been waiting?

A bit of this...

a bit of that...

A bit of admiring my coming fleece "crop"...

And a spot of sight seeing around Oban with my Mam and sister Kate when they came to visit...

Bizzarely, since I did pretty much nothing but work last year and rarely had a whole day to myself, I still hadn't looked around our closest big town.

It's actually lovely, at least on a sunny day, and we had a really nice time together exploring.

And now the rain has blown in so you can guarantee that lambs will begin appearing!

Silent Sunday Morning

2010-04-11T08:07:00.001+01:00

Early morning horse catching.

A Mad March day at Brenfield

2010-03-30T12:38:00.001+01:00

What better way to spend a Sunday than with friends, dogs, sheep, horses and the Great Outdoors?

(Click to enlarge)

Following my rule of keeping my mind positively engaged and my body fit and healthy (and hopefully so physically tired at the end of the day so that I sleep soundly) I was more than happy to help out with Brenfield's final Le TREK competition of the Season (part of the Kelly Marks Winter League for those who are interested) on Sunday.

My day began at sunrise with checking the sheep and walking Fox and Whisper, before I got to work setting up the obstacle course (PTV) and helping set up the Orienteering.

I was then posted out to a certain spot hidden away in the forest at my checkpoint, which was nick-named the "Sheepish Beaver"... less said the better!

My job was to record the time that each rider reached me, check with them that they and their horses were sound to continue and then send them on the second leg of their orienteering route after a 5 minute rest.

I don't think anyone has ever been so pleased to see me as some of those riders when they emerged from the trees, some of them looking more tired and sweaty than others!

Everyone got home safely, by various routes, and the horses enjoyed a break and some hay while the humans grabbed a mug of soup and went to walk the PTV course.

The idea of these courses is to present rider and horse with problems that they might have to overcome when out on the trail. The obstacles include things like ditches, low branches and narrow bridges. The riders get points for completing each obstacle correctly and within a time limit. There is more information on the British Horse Society website.

I was really impressed by some of the riding demonstrated and am keen to have a go at the obstacles myself soon.

When everyone was finished, shattered and starving, we had a lovely prize giving in the farmhouse kitchen followed by a BBQ and beer. A wonderful time was had by all. Well done to the winners!

The waiting game...

2010-03-27T09:52:00.000Z

The bad weather this week has actually made me quite grateful that no lambs have shown their woolly little heads yet. This morning however is beautiful and would be a good time to come into the world.

The girls however were more interested in standing around looking pretty than getting down to the serious business of producing lambs.

After we had checked the flock, Fox, Whisper and I had a good stretch out and a play.

I think that the dogs are missing their swims in the lochs since even Fox relished a wallow in this muddy pool, and he usually hates getting muddy if he can avoid it!

Home for breakfast now and then back over to Brenfield. The folk there are trying to talk me into competing in a Kelly Marks competition tomorrow so perhaps I'd better take Alfie into the school for a bit!

Cuddly Sheep

2010-03-23T12:41:00.001Z

Kate is such a little sweetie. Every time I go in the field she trots over and isn't happy until she has been petted. She even nudges under my arm like a dog. She's my PAT (Pets As Therapy) sheep :-)

Happy Birthday

2010-03-22T09:54:00.001Z

It was my birthday on Saturday, which means that I have now entered my 30th year of life. Does this mean that I am now really am an adult? As of next March I will be "in my 30s" and no longer "only in my 20s". It's not that I find it scary particularly, but it does make me think about everything I have achieved, or otherwise, during this long growing up phase.

That's quite enough serious thinking for one morning, much more important is showing off the photos of what was a really rather lovely day marred only by Chris' being too ill to enjoy it with me. It was a day to put my current state of stress to one side as far as possible and try to enjoy just being.

The day was beautiful, a perfect picture of everything that is good about spring: the long awaited warming sunshine, the signs of new life peeping out everywhere, the near frantic singing of the birds battling for their breeding territories, the colours, the zingy scent of pine in the forests and gorse flowers in the hedge banks... no matter what else is going on in life, this combination can not help but make you smile.

The flock were keen to greet me first thing in the morning, although no one produced a birthday lamb for me, and Seamus the Highland bull in the field next door ambled over to say hello.

In the afternoon a lovely surprise awaited me: my wonderful friends at Brenfield took me out for a beautiful long ride. I was on Alfie who I have now ridden a few times and is becoming a good pal. He's helping me to regain my confidence and become a better rider. He's a real sweetie and has lovely manners although on Saturday all of the horses were rather full of the joys of spring!

The day was rounded off with a party tea. I even had to blow out the candles on the cake... although there wasn't space for 29 of them!

Caption Competition!

2010-03-16T20:47:00.000Z

I took this today of the sheep having some relaxing time after their feed. But what is Girlsta saying to Gruna? And what does Lunde make of it all?

Answers by Saturday night please; I'll pick a winner on Sunday :-)

Long time no blog!

2010-03-15T14:14:00.000Z

Hello Folks,

First off let me say sorry that I disappeared off the face of the planet for some time. I've got rather a lot going on at the moment but I shan't bore you all with it here. Sadly for me I have been missing reading all of your blogs and there's no way that I'll ever be able to catch up with all of them. Hopefully I'll be resuming normal blogging behaviour soon and wont miss all of those precious lambing photos!

Chris's Chronic Cluster Headaches continue to cause him a great deal of pain and prevent him from sleeping. The doctors have now decided that he needs an operation on his sinuses to realign the tubes, so that will be a two night stay in Glasgow hospital in the near future.

Fox and Whisper have been very accepting of their reduced walking time and my extended time away from them. They are both fast asleep at my feet as I type.

The Smali Flock are enjoying a new field with the best grazing they have seen since arriving in Argyll.

Lambs ought to be a few weeks away yet, but it looks as though Smali Braeface managed to get his way with Gula and Geherda when he escaped as they are bagging up already! No harm done there since I considered using him before deciding to buy Galtress Ptolemy anyway. I am very much looking forward to Tolly lambs however.

I take great joy and peace from my time with the flock, and this time is all the more precious at the moment. Here are some photos so that you might enjoy some of this special time too; so take a moment for yourself and relax. Life is good.

Now all we need is for Geherda to stop pretending that she is about to pop and actually lamb!

"Who me?!"

Less than perfect yarn!

2010-02-08T19:31:00.000Z

I've borrowed a spinning wheel from our group this week. This evening I enthusiastically washed, dried and carded some of Sheilhope Gruna's lovely wool and then attempted to spin it into yarn. Gruna has a decent staple length and the fibres are very fine. Next time I might give Sheilhope Gula's a try however as it is longer and looks as though it might be a bit more forgiving!

It was my first time going it completely alone and, to be honest, a bit of a disaster! After many false starts where I let it get too thin so that it broke and whizzed around the bobbin, I managed to keep going and use up all of the wool that I had prepared.

I think that my main problem was in the preparation of the wool. Not all of the little bits had come out of it (not enough washing and carding I suppose) and there were odd little bobbly bits too. Do I have to sit and pick out all of these? Or am I doing something wrong in the carding process?

Practice, practice, practice!

Lobos del Rio: a meeting with the river wolves

2010-02-05T22:20:00.002Z

Fellow Purple Cooer Tattie Weasel has tagged me. Mychallenge? To reveal a memory.

This required some thought since, though having only 28years behind me (nearly 29!) I have many memories of wonderful and exciting,and not so wonderful let alone exciting, things that have happened.

But one of my favourite memories? It has to be of myencounter with the "Wolves of the River" in the Amazon Basin, Peruwhile I was working as an expedition journalist for The Times in 2001. Notethat my own photos are mostly slides and I don't have a slide scanner so theseare "borrowed"!

I had joined the Biosphere Expeditions ResearchTeam during the summer following my second year of University. At that timeI was getting more seriously into writing and was Science Editor for theUniversity Magazine; a position which earned me an award from the Principal forOutstanding Service to the Student Body. Ah the days of being reallyappreciated!

I was desperate to join one of these amazing trips into thewilderness collecting data and was sure that other folk were bound to beinterested in hearing about it: who knew, I might even get paid to go! I wasright. One phonecall to the editor of The Times later and I had myself acommission and even some cash in advance

Before long I found myself stepping off a plane with myfriend Leigh, who had decided to make the trip too, into an unknown world oftemple-like trees, bizarre bugs and painted parrots.

On a rare day off from collecting behavioural data onparrots or recording species along forest transects, a group of us took a tripdown river to visit Sandoval Lake, an Oxbow off the Madre de Dios. We walked through a local village and, for a few Sol, wereallowed to borrow one of the locally made canoes.

Soon we were gliding across the mirror calm muddy waters,gawping at the gaudy macaws in the towering trees, smiling at a basking turtlecomplete with a butterfly on his nose, waving excitedly at long-nose batsroosting openly on the trunks of the palms and laughing at the ungainlymovements of hoatzin as they lumbered noisily in the bushes.

This place had a profound effect on me, it immediately gotunder my skin and into my soul, I felt a deep connection with the place thoughwhy I cannot fully understand. I've been to many incredible places, but I willnever forget the feeling of deep calm that I felt out on that lake.

We paddled towards a dark little creek leading off from themain body of water; it looked like a set for Anaconda or Congo with itsdark waters and overhanging vines.

As we slipped along day-dreaming we weresuddenly brought back to earth by splashing and high whistles. We glanced ateach other, "otters" we whispered excitedly. James, our friend andguide for the day, skilfully paddled our canoe silently toward the sound. Sureenough, there appeared the eight heads of a family of giant river otters. Theyregarded us calmly for a moment and the adult male periscoped high out of thewater, his large liquid chocolate eyes showing no sign of fear.

The giant river otter, locally known as Lobo de Rio [wolf ofthe river], like so many rainforest species, is now extinct from much of itsformer range. Fur hunting from the 1940s until 1970, decimated the population.Add to this overfishing; mercury contamination of the water by gold miners;irresponsible tourism; and the fact that 12.5 million hectares of rain forestare felled every year to provide us with plywood for our DIY projects andgrazing space for our fast food, and you have a problem which isn't going awaysoon.

Finding us of little consequence, he turned tail and led hisfamily casually off into the swamp forest, squabbling and whistling as theywent. We turned so as not to disturb them further and paddled back to the lake,each with an indelible grin on our faces. Let's hope that I'm not among thelast to experience such an amazing encounter.

So who shall I tag? Hmmm
Denise over at Being a Smallholder
Maalie
Garrett at Ramsay Farm
Rayna of North Star Shetlands
Corinne at Crosswinds Farm

Memories, light or dark, please folks!

Ancient Land

2010-01-26T23:43:00.000Z

It was so lovely to have my family to stay last weekend. We ate and laughed and explored mine and Chris's new home together: it was a real treat.

I've done lots of exploring the wildlife of Knapdale, but not so much of the cultural history which is amazingly rich and ancient in this part of the world.

After the compulsary visit to the beaver dam visit, we carried on around to the other side of the loch to look at the deserted settlement of Kilmory Oib. Back in the 1700s people living in this ancient hamlet, hidden in the forest, would have worked in the old water powered corn mill.
This is my Dad by the now abandonned mill by the side of the loch.

The people are long gone and the buildings crumbled, but there remains a sign of their faith beside the "Holy Well".

Not satisfied with looking hundreds of years into our past, we then headed for a hill behind our local pub to take a look at some rock art from around 5000 years ago.

The cup and ring marks chipped into this rock by early Scottish settlers using stone hammers are still a puzzle to archaeologists: some think that there may be a spiritual or religious meaning behind the marks, others think of them as pure art and others that it may signify a meeting place or have a link with the making of stone axes.

They are certainly fascinating and beautiful. I like to think that it was some kind of spiritual meeting place. Its high position overlooking the fabulous scenery of Knapdale and to the mountains beyond certainly lends itself well to this purpose. Here you can truely feel at peace with the world... unless your daft family have you in hysterics of course!

My sister, we learned today, has just been awarded a first class MA in Game Design, so look out for the name Katherine Elanor Felicity Holden on the computer game credits of the future!

I'd better keep this sketch of a beaver that she left on my visitor centre whiteboard; it might be worth a fortune!

Aim High!

2010-01-16T21:43:00.001Z

Our little world has changed dramatically over the last week. From the sparkling ice box of the last month to a far more familiar collage of glorious winter colours from russet to grape, slate to khaki and stormy blue to gold.

Chris and I joined our friend Charlie for a little stroll out with our pack of dogs. Charlie and his wife Celia have two lurchers: Rocket and Shanty.

The shaggy coats of these elegant dogs looked wonderfully windswept in the stiff fridgid wind that bit at our noses and fingers as we stomped over the hill top. Very Wuthering Heights.

Charlie took us to a favourite little spot where we could sit comfortably out of the wind while we admired our surroundings. Fox decided that he ought to always be the subject of any photos!

After enjoying a little sit, we headed off again toward home, but our guide first wanted to show us a local landmark... which Chris decided needed closer inverstigation.

There are many standing stones around this area...

And there's a great view from the top of this one! But it was rather too windy to risk standing on the top.

Growing up with my Dad it was difficult not to have some kind of innateneed to climb rocks. Lucily Chris understands this strange urge andshares it too. Before Chris began to suffer from Chronic Cluster Headaches we climbed a lot at the local indoor wall, getting outdoors whenever we got the chance.

We don't climb much at the moment, there are very few places where wecan around here, but Chris isn't one to pass up an oportunity. Perhaps we'll manage to go back to my home in the Lake District this year and get some routes in. Fingers crossed that the accupuncture we're investigating helps Chris with the pain of his condition.

Spinning!

2010-01-10T21:40:00.000Z

Some of the readers of this blog might be thinking "and about time too!" I've finally started learning to process my own wool and a New Year's Resolution is to start making proper use of my fleeces.

Today, I dragged my friend Diane along to the local Spinning Group to begin learning to turn my lovely fleeces into yarn.

There were plenty of spinners there with a range of experience and some different types of wheel and spindle to try.

We chatted about different types of fleece and had a go with blue faced leicester, alpaca, hebridean and shetland blended with BFL.

I was interested that the general concencous within the group of more experienced spinners was that the staple length of shetland was rather too short and that, although beautiful, required a more experienced hand to use! Food for thought if these are the folk that I would like to buy my rovings in the future.

I took a range of fleeces, with varying staple lengths, along for people to look at.

The great thing is that the group has a wheel and other equipment available for group members to borrow. So I've booked a week of having the wheel at home and can't wait to get practicing. Looking at this rather sorry first attempt; boy do I need the practice!

In a couple of weeks time I have my first felting group meeting so I'll be looking forward to that :o)

Sheepish Improvisation...

2010-01-06T19:51:00.000Z

It's still icy here. Really icy. It's too icy to walk to the spot where I normally feed the sheep, in fact, after picking and slipping my way up with the feed and using the bale of hay I was carrying like a zimmer frame, I resorted to sliding back down on a feedbag the other day because it is so treacherous... and I can't slide up there!

I've been a bit worried at Rosie and Tolly speed skating down the slope to greet me too! They couldn't stop and crashed into the gate a couple of days ago.

So I've moved the feeding area so that I can stomp across the snowy field instead of up the icy track; but this means that there are no feed racks set up. I found some spare feed bowls that were easy to carry up to them...

And was wondering how to build a new hay rack when I spotted this...

It's a cross country jump!

And the perfect height for filling with hay for Shetlands.

It actually works better than the real hay rack!

Robina says: "It's about time she came up with something useful. It's a tough life being a sheep up here!"

The more it snows (tiddly pom)!

2010-01-05T11:47:00.000Z

The UK seems to be locked in an ice box. The councils are running out of grit, breakdown services are getting 4 times the usual number of calls, water pipes are bursting and demand for gas is up 30% due to everyone turning heating up.

So how are we weathering the weather?

For the most part we're great! The sheep are costing me a fair bit extra to feed but they all seem healthy and are keeping condition. We'll be getting some lambs late on though I think as Tolly was chatting Rosie up yesterday! I couldn't move him right now even if I wanted to as the tup field is some distance and at the top of a hill whose track is currently impassable!

We've had a steady flow of guests over the Christmas period from near and very far away! They have all of course been keen to see what the beavers have been up to, and some have even walked on water!

Chris's cousin Karen came to stay with her partner Debbie between Christmas and New Year. I had never met them before and it was lovely to have them here. Karen promises to become a regular visitor to Knapdale and is hoping to get into the forest in order to practice her developing bushcraft skills.

On Saturday our friend and photographer Bill came to spend a day with us. He has a new blog called Rainy Cloud where you can find some of his fabulous photos.

Then, perhaps our biggest surprise as far as visitors go, my friend Helen and her boyfriend Tim landed on the doorstep on Saturday evening. Helen and I were at university together; she was doing her PhD while I was an undergrad, but she now lives in Perth, Australia and I haven't seen her for 8 years! It was so lovely to catch up and we had a great time showing Tim snow and ice (he'd never seen snow before this trip to the UK!) and exploring Knapdale a little.

I'm so pleased that Helen is enjoying her career as a marine biologist and hope that some day in the not too distant future, we'll be able to go out and visit them and see the wildlife that they work with every day. They both seemed suitably impressed with my charges and their activities.

Today it is just Chris and I, with Fox and Whisper for company of course. We're both full of cold and not feeling like running about, much to the dogs' dismay. The ruddy car wont start so I don't know how I'm getting to the sheep! I'll make it however even if I have to walk.

Farewell 2009!

2009-12-31T21:13:00.000Z

Here's goodbye to 2009. For the most part you were an exhausting and stressfull period of change littered with sad episodes. However, thank you for my beautiful lambs, and for our new home in Argyll. Thank you for our families and for the love that we all share. Thank you for mine and Chris's continued joy and support of eachother. Thank you for Fox and Whisper coming to love their new home and growing into such pleasant adult dogs. Thank you for all of our friends, old and new who have been such fun and such a comfort. Thank you for the quick recovery of my ankle (although I still can't wear heels!). And thank you of course for my amazing new job which, though the source of much stress and exhaustion, I am still so proud to be part of and still excites and motivates me. Roll on 2010!

Today I enjoyed Brendfield's annual New Year's Eve Clay Pigeon Shoot...

Followed by feeding the sheep and watching the sunset/moon-rise....

It's an amazing full moon to see out the year by!

Tonight Chris and I have decided not to go out! We popped to the pub, but now we are home, just us and the dogs. We could be out in town, or at various house parties, or at a big ball on a nearby estate... but you know what? We just want to be us and our dogs tonight. Hope you're all having fun wherever you are xxx

Shetland Sheep in Snowy Silence

2009-12-23T22:04:00.000Z

Ok So those aren't Shetland Sheep and now I'm not silent... bear with me!

Yuletide Greetings

2009-12-22T19:11:00.001Z

A very happy Yule to you all!

To celebrate the beginning of this ancient festival yesterday, we got together with our friends Charlie, Celia and Diane and their children Rufus and Hannah, to light a bonfire, toast the season, gaze at the stars and feast on foods from the garden and forest

We sang "In the Bleak Midwinter" "Here we go a Wassailing" and "The Holly and the Ivy" while standing around the fire with a glass of wine. It ought to have been mulled wine, but someone forgot the spice... oops!

Yule is a most ancient tradition: it begins with Winter Solstice, for it is the longest night of theyear, and much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited therebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmedthe frozen Earth and made her ready to bear forth new life from seeds protectedthrough the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit in thefields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spicedcider.

Christmas is a Pagan holiday that was around long beforeChristianity or Judaism but was adopted and re-named. As with other adopted Pagan festivals however, such as Easter, many of the traditions remain. If you have ever decorated a Christmas tree,hung mistletoe or decked the halls with boughs of holly, you have enjoyed traditional Yule celebrations.

The Norse in Scandinavia celebrated Yule from December 21st throughJanuary. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sonsbrought home large logs and would set on fire. A large single log waskept burning for 12 days and each day a different sacrifice was offeredto Jul in the fire. The people would also feast until the log burnedout on the 12th day. The Norse believed that each spark from the firerepresented a new pig or calf that would be born during the comingyear (I'll be hoping for lambs!). Yuletide is the period of those twelve days and is also where weget the 12 days of Christmas. "Yuletide Greetings" or "Yuletide Carols"is actually the tradition of sending greetings or song in the name ofthe Scandinavian fertility god and his festival.

But if Yule begins on the 21st, how come I still celebrate on the 25th? On December 22nd the sun makes it to the lowest point in the sky andstops traveling south. During the three darkest days of the year (22nd,23rd, 24th) the sun does not travel south or north and appears to standstill as if it had died for the three days. On December 25th the sunstarts moving north again foreshadowing longer days and the ‘comingback to life’ notion of spring. From this came many pagan legends ofsavior Sun gods being born and reborn on December 25th.

There are many variations described from different countries throughout history and of course many ideas and traditions have developed since. However and for whatever reason you celebrate at this time of year, I wish much joy to you and your kin. Jenny x

Snowy Dogs!

2009-12-20T18:41:00.000Z

We woke this morning to find the frost of the last week or so replaced with a sparkling white blanket of snow.
Chris and I are like kids when it snows and we wasted little time in getting out to enjoy it. We headed up the track that leads from our house up into the forest. A few folk had ventured out before us, but their tracks soon peetered out until the way ahead was completly clear: a perfect canvas for tracking wildlife.
We soon found however that not even the wild animals, save a lone fox probably heading home in the early hours of this morning, had beaten us to exploring the fresh and wintery world and so we simply enjoyed the views and the beauty of the icing sugar coated twigs.

Fox and Whisper looked so joyful as they bounded about and are now curled up fast asleep. Fox beside me on the sofa and Whisper in "her" armchair.

Here's what they got up to...
Fox led the way, but made sure that we were all keeping up!
He took time to survey his kingdom...
And allowed his princess to admire the view with him.
Chris attempted to make snowballs from the very powdery snow. It didn't work very well and the dogs were not terribly impressed!
What's that? We're going home already?

Frosty Dogs

2009-12-19T14:04:00.007Z

This week has been freezing! Thick frost has been coating every blade of grass, every withered leaf and every russet frond of bracken. The thin ice creeping across the surface of the lochs can be heard tinkling, cracking and creaking as, in her limited hours, the winter sun attempts to bring warmth back to the world.

The cold hasn't stopped our beavers being active however, and the dogs kept me company yesterday as I recorded the latest field signs around the lochs. Fox and Whisper didn't seem to mind at all as they chased and through the frosty undergrowth and splashed into the icy water.

Fox always seems to be in high spirits in wintery weather and gives up trying to be all grown up to play manic games with Whisper. Perhaps it's to keep warm!

Wanderer Returned

2009-12-16T21:18:00.001Z

I've had a very naughty tup lamb giving me the run around for the last week. After electric fencing failed to contain him and a gate was left open, Braeface disappeared into Knapdale forest. Despite hours and miles of searching and shouting and rattling a bucker, I was beginning to fear that we'd never get him back. Luckily there are some lovely new friends and neighbours around here who, when they saw a Shetland sheep grazing on the roadside, shut him in a field and called me right away. He had gone around 3 miles and returned to Braeface Farm where he was born. Some feat considering he was moved from there in July to another spot 6 miles on the other side of the forest!

Yesterday I was in Edinburgh so the task fell to Chris to fetch him back. This turned out to be an easy task since he is actually very tame. Chris said that he travelled fine behind the dog guard in the back of the car!

Chris took me some lovely photos of him back with the other two boys. He looks a bit sheepish here!

These three tup lambs are doing some conservation grazing for Scottish Natural Heritage.

The grass on this Marsh Fritillary site has been undergrazed and allowed to get rather long and rank, which means that the flowers on which these extremely rare butterflies lay their eggs will be choked out. Hopefully, Basil, Braeface and Carlin will help to impreve the condition of the site.

Baz is very fond of his new look out point. They can see all the way over the sea to Jura from up there!

Galtress Ptolemy

2009-12-12T16:02:00.001Z

It has been a very long week; thank goodness it's Saturday and for once I don't have to do anything beaver related!

Unfortunately, as is the way of things with my life this year, Chris and I had to spend half the day looking for a missing tup lamb because someone left the gate open. How is anyone stupid enough to leave a gate open when sheep are inside? We didn't find him so tomorrow will be more of the same. We had to abandon the search eventually because I also had to go and see the girls and Ptolomy while I had light left to do so.

Seeing the rest of the flock really cheered me up and I actually took the time to sit down in the field and enjoy watching them for once. I'm pretty exhaused from working 16 hour days (and nights until 3.30 am) catching beavers this week. I think that the sheep were pleased to see me too!

The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that the ewe lambs Kate and Lunde are in there. They were split off, but had other ideas and after they had broken in two days in a row, despite being two fields away, I decided to let them stay (Tolly was running round after them both when I arrived so chances are that they are tupped anyway!) In doing this I am of course going against everything I've always said about breeding from gimmers. Oh well, they are well grown and fit, and I know plenty of other folk who breed from gimmers. I'll see how we get on and monitor closely. If they don't hold this year then that's fine!

I'm very pleased with Tolly, he is ever such a friendly little chap and came over for a chin scratch. The girls seem to like him too.

On looking at him today, he most likely is a grey spotted katmoget, but a very patterned one. The thing that puts me off him being katmoget is his face. My other spotted kat, Robina, is yuglet but the pattern still shows. Margaret thoughtfully gave me a photo of him as a lamb which I'll have to scan in because it shows his amazing bersugget markings and they're beautiful. You can still find the various shades of grey if you part his fleece in different places.

He was far to busy to stand around for fleece shots today though!

Sheep scrum

2009-12-06T14:41:00.003Z

The sheep have plenty of grazing to go at and I'm not giving much in the way of extras, other than mineral licks. Last week the girls didn't all even bother coming when I took a bucket up to them. It's amazing what a bit of frost does!
Today feeding time could only be described as a scrum. I had to provide feed on the side for poor Gletness who I had to cut out of a briar patch when I arrived. It is awful to think that she could have been stuck on those brambles for hours. Thank goodness I decided to go and visit them early. She looked a bit sunk in when I found her but I made sure that she got a good ration or feed and she didn't seem to be ailing in any way. There were signs that several of them have been in the brambles, probably because the grass in the middle will be the most lush.
Gruna didn't see why Gletness ought to be getting special treatment and persisted on trying to stick her nose in!
I wish Ruby would put weight on like everyone else. She has always been the thinnest of the ewes and it doesn't seem to matter what I do. I'm getting the grass and soil testing results for the land soon so perhaps I'll discover some mineral deficiency that they're lacking.

Walney Island

2009-11-24T17:45:00.003Z

On my recent trip home to Cumbria, my Mam and I took some time out to have a nice mother-daughter stroll down the local beach much to the joy of Fox and Whisper. Despite the cobbles playing havoc with my recovering sprained ankle, it was lovely to be back down on Walney where I spent many happy days searching rock pools as a child (and as an adult for that matter).
Walney Island is a small sliver of land that lie's in the Irish Sea like a defensive barrier across the tip of the Furness Peninsula, protecting Barrow-in-Furness its docks and surrounding areas. Walney Island measures just 11 miles in length and just under 1 mile in width at its widest point, making it the eighth largest island off the coast of England. Walney is particularly well known for its wildlife and both the Northern and Southern ends are nature reserves and designated sites of Special Scientific Interest. The island even has its own endemic flower: the Walney Geranium.Sadly this had to be a short visit on this occasion, but we were still able to enjoy a rare gap in the clouds as the dogs happily raced in and out of the incoming tide.

Beaver Dogs

2009-11-19T20:08:00.005Z

OK, I know that this isn't my beaver blog, but here is a little snippet...
As any beaver tracker worth their salt knows, you can't be a good beaver tracker without a good beaver tracking dog... ok so I made that up, but Fox and Whisper are learning to be useful while accompanying me to work.
For Fox, this is nothing new. He started helping me to track water voles when he was very small and will also "mark" any otter spraints that he finds while we are walking waterways.
By lavishing praising them whenever they sniff at a beaver scent mark or feeding station, they are becoming quite enthusiastic about helping to spot where the beavers have been.
I need to dedicate more time to this than I've been able to recently, but hopefully they will be very useful one day!
Fox likes beavers because they leave sticks all over the place just for him to steal. See him sneaking into the corner of this beaver dam photo?

Livestock Import!

2009-11-14T18:28:00.004Z

A little while ago now, a very special parcel arrived on my doorstep. The photos ought to have gone up long ago, but I didn't think that these did the subjects justice. However I haven't got around to taking better ones, so I thought I'd just share them now...

Fellow Shetland Sheep Bloggers will probably already be familiar with Tammy's Kalwa Taure Shetlands Blog. Tammy lives over in Ontario, Canada and breeds beautiful Shetlands there, but also makes them!When Tammy posted photos of her hand-made pottery Shetlands I admired them so much that she parcelled them up and by ways and means, got them sent over to me!My globe trotting pottery sheep now have pride of place in my cabinet of "favourite things."
Thanks so much Tammy, I really enjoy looking at them. Keep on blogging and I'll keep on enjoying reading x

Home!

2009-11-08T18:19:00.002Z

I'm home in Cumbria at the moment and right now am enjoying a pint of local brew real ale with (left to right) my fiance Chris, Lauren my brother's girlfriend and Joe my brother. Oh it's nice to be home :-)

Play with the Hamster! Click to feed :o)

2009-11-04T20:35:00.002Z

Look who's all grown up!

2009-10-21T11:05:00.007+01:00

Some of you may remember a little chap called Oliver who entered the world in very sad circumstances last year.Oliver is now 17 months old and is clearly thriving. He is living with Kath's stepmother's horses and was caught on camera the other day strutting his stuff in the field.

Isn't he a stunner?! Kath is hoping to event him in the future and has sworn that he will never be sold; well who would want to part with this little guy? Should I call him little? Looks like he'll make 16+ hands!

Just what I need!

2009-10-17T20:21:00.002+01:00

My friends Di, Charlie, Simon and Bob came to pick me up for a cheer up and a beer by a fire. Nothing like sitting around a fire wrapped in a blanket to sooth the soul :-)

Back to Sheep

2009-10-16T11:04:00.005+01:00

It is now looking as though the funeral will take a couple of weeks to organise. In the meantime, I'm staying put at Knapdale with the dogs and sheep and lots of friends to help me out. It looks as though my brother, Joe, and his girlfriend Lauren, will come up to look after us all either today or tomorrow.
This morning I received an e-mail that cheered me up somewhat. I've been chatting with Robin McEwen-King about a ram lamb of his for a few weeks now. Well, this is him, Galtress Ptolemy. Thanks very much to Robin for the photos.

He's grey,

he's spotty,
he has a fine crimpy fleece,
super conformation and he's just what I wanted.
It's a shame that he damaged his horns as a lamb, but this isn't a genetic fault so it doesn't matter. His horns were like his twin's (shown below) until he knocked them.
Hopefully I'll get down to visit soon and all being well he'll go in with the girls mid November with an aim to have lambs mid to late April. Something to look forward to!

The storms just keep brewing

2009-10-14T11:36:00.003+01:00

You'd think that Chris and I would be front of the que right now for some good news but it isn't to be. Chris's dad, who has been disabled since he was 18 following a serious accident, is in intensive care. Chris has gone down to Liverpool to be with his family who are taking turns to sit by his bedside and I'll be attempting, one-leggedly, to get down to him tomorrow.

As I write this I've just had a phonecall to tell me that he has died. I don't know what else to say. Full stop.

Shetland Angel

2009-10-10T23:04:00.002+01:00

It's a good job I've made such lovely friends up here in Scotland. I don't know where I'd have been this last week without Karen to look after the flock! Today she took me with her as a treat and I managed to hop-along to the gate. Everyone is finally putting on weight and looking well. Thanks Karen x

Poor old leg!

2009-10-05T14:09:00.003+01:00

That's me out of action for a while!

Volunteer Beaver Ranger Mike MacIntyre and I were investigating some new tree felling activity on Sunday when I stepped on a slippery branch, that was cunningly hidden under some moss. Down I went to the tune of a sharp crack from my ankle.

Unfortunately we were on the opposite side of the Loch from the vehicle so I had to get myself back down through the forest on my bum, scramble into the canoe, paddle back to shore and then use the paddles as crutches back to the car! Luckily Mike could to drive me.

At the hospital they patched me up for the night and sent me home since they don't DO x-rays on a Sunday! As it turns out, the ankle doesn't seem to be broken but was almost dislocated and has severe tissue damage. It would be better if it were broken since breaks apparently take less time to mend!

It feels a bit odd sitting here issuing directions to the team of beaver trackers who are out in the field this week. Maybe I could get used to it! Though I doubt it :o(

I'm bored already :o(

Sheep School

2009-09-27T18:27:00.006+01:00

You see those little specks in the distance along the track?
That's Chris leading Rosie and Braeface back to their own field yesterday. Today I repeated this performance because folk keep leaving gates open!

Now all this stomping about wouldn't seem so silly were it not for the fact that I own 2 sheepdogs who really ought to be making my life easier!
Fox works pretty well and is a useful fell dog, but he is so pushy that light sheep dash off into the distance as soon as look at him.My Shetlands are not used to being worked by a dog and throw a hissy fit as soon as Fox comes out. He can run round and head them in the right direction, but they get rather upset and are a nightmare to get into the pen. They will all follow a bucket fairly well (some of them too well!) but when it comes to penning there are inevitably a few who simply do not want to go in (you hear me Rebecca and Lunde?!).

I also have Whisper who desperately deserves to be in training now, but have no quiet sheep to run her round...
The solution?

Make a concerted effort to "dog" my naughty sheep and make them workable!

Lesson 1
Put sheep in pen and allow dog to run around. Persuade small dog to go both ways around the pen of sheep in a wide circle. When dog is doing the required action, put a command to it.
Sheep learn that presence of sheepdog does not mean instant death.
Young dog learns "Away," "Come Bye," "Lie Down" and to come away from the sheep without a fuss. She can also be taught to keep out and to move to 12 o'clock and stop. We also started to do a couple of outruns.
Whisper is a little star. Soooo much easier to train than Fox! When I say stop, she believes that I mean it :o)
And to all you sheepdog nerds, don't worry, I won't let Whisper spend much time "working" penned sheep or going round and round. I'm just trying to settle her and the sheep a bit!

Beaver Experts Unite

2009-09-25T10:49:00.008+01:00

I've been in Lithuania since Sunday at the 5th International Beaver Symposium. These happen every three years and are a special opportunity for people working on this amazing species to get together and compare notes. I've met some of my idols and even managed to impress them enough to get some collaborative research opportunities so watch this space!
So what happened when 105 beaver experts from across Europe, Russia and North America got together?
There were a whole lot of presentations about research, reintroductions and beaver management...
Plenty of exciting discussions and ideas being floated around...
A fair bit of feasting on Lithuanian specialities (which ment a lot of cabbage, buck wheat and meat... and starving vegetarians!)...
A spot of dancing to a traditional Lithuanian Folk Band (that's me in the jeans being twirled about at speed by an enthusiastic Lithuanian bloke!)...
Outrageous consumption of alcohol until the small hours of the morning...
Fascinating field trips to see beaver sites (unfortunately putting 105 hungover/still drunk ecologists on a stuffy coach and driving them down lithuanian roads was not very wise!)...
And a bit of sight seeing in Vilnius to round off the trip.
We even visited the Geographical Centre of Europe!
And now I'm curled up on the sofa with the pooches :o)

Hop-along

2009-09-19T10:13:00.003+01:00

Whisper has done it again, and yet again I've patched her up. Every night when I spend some quality time with the dogs, I go over them for any ticks or injuries, and every night I find that Whisper has picked up yet another scrape. She simply doe not seem to have any sense of self preservation and while Fox always looks pristine and hardly ever hurts himself, Whisper I'm afraid is rather like me: frequently covered in mud, bruises and scabs!

This time she has somehow sliced her carpal pad. It is always a pain when we have to try and get her to rest and yesterday we gave in for a while, bandaged her up and took her for a little walk... we just kept her away from her beloved beaver ponds, lochs and streams!I tried to get some photos of Whiper sporting her smart bandage fashioned from one of Chris's old sealskin socks. The trouble is that, even when injured, Whisper is a rather speedy subject to attempt to photograph.
Eventually though, even she will stop for a moment!
I'm off to Lithuania today for the International Beaver Symposium, but here's a sneaky peek at someone you'll be hearing much more of on my return...
And of course, it will be about time for a sheepy update too... hopefully a happier one than last time.

Worst Week

2009-09-11T15:08:00.002+01:00

This last week has been my worst in the time I've been working with and keeping my own sheep.

First two went missing very mysteriously from their field. A ewe and her lamb. I walked the boundary - which of course I did before they went in there weeks earlier - and found that all of my repairs had held and that there was no clue as to where they might have got out. I've walked miles looking (and so have my friends!) but to no avail. So I've no idea where Russett and Kylie are, nor how they got out.
Then 8 weeks to the day since their last dose of Crovect, I got three cases of fly strike, all in tup lambs. I'm pretty gutted at having had to make holes in the beautiful fleeces, but I've treated everyone now. I've never had fly strike in a Shetland before and generally try to keep use of crovect to a minimum (ie. don't constantly reapply) but it seems essential in Argyll. Any alternatives anyone?
One of my favourite tup lambs, Sullivan my grey HST, started scouring and the vet found that he had a high temperature so he is on antibiotics. My sheep never scour.
After a couple of days, the remaining twin Tavish (whose brother Tomas died a couple of weeks ago) appeared to be clear of his flystrike (the skin had not been broken in his case) but would not stand up and looked thoroughly miserable. I took him to the vet and she found that he had a heart murmur. I decided to put him to sleep and cried in front of the vet, and then again in front of my friends, oh dear :o(

The vet told me that the other twin may well have had the same condition. So all this time I've been beating myself up over them not doing well, and the fact that I didn't give one of them to Robina, and wondering why the ewe wasn't particularly interested in them, and now I know the real reason for them being so small.

Thankfully everyone now seems to be on the mend, and only my pocket is still hurting! Worming and fluking all the sheep this weekend.

Any tales of joyful shepherding welcome!

Fungal Foray

2009-09-06T20:23:00.003+01:00

I must say that, while I lament the lack of a summer this year, I do love Autumn. I love the colours, I love the cold frosty mornings (no doubt soon to come) and I love the foraging!

Yesterday my friends Diane, Hannah and Philippa and I went along on a "Fungal Foray" to learn more about the fascinating world of mushrooms, toadstools and the like, of Taynish National Nature Reserve.
We were under the expert guidance of Liz Holden who is not only an expert mycologist but also proved to be an excellent and enthusiastic tutor.
Despite the rain, there was an excellent turn out and together we explored the woods and wild flower meadows in search of interesting specimens.
The array of colours, smells, textures and tastes (!) were amazing and I learned a great deal.
Such as using this "cobweb" of tissue, called a "cortina" to recognise a poisonous Cortinarius mushroom from the edible blewit.
Despite expert confirmation from both Liz and my SWT collegue Angela, Chris still does not seem to trust these beautiful chanterels that I collected. Ah well, someone will just have to eat them herself :o)

Adder at the office

2009-09-04T12:27:00.003+01:00

The sun has taken its chance to peep out from behind the thick blankets of rain clouds in the last few days and the wildlife must be enjoying the feeling of warmth. I found this adder soaking up a few rays outside my office.
The adder is the only venomous snake in the UK. We actually only have three species of snake in total and only the adder lives as far north as Scotland.Their venom isn't particularly powerful, although I do remember a sheep dieing of a bite on the farm I worked on as a child. It's not a pleasant experience however I'm sure and so these little guys are worth treating with respect. I used to earn a bit of pocket money every now and again in the village I grew up in, moving adders out of people's gardens!