Soggy Lambs

It has now been lashing down with rain for the last 72 hours. Not good for young lambs. This morning they tried to all fit under the stile for shelter.

Some of them were a bit cold and shivery this evening so I administered Kick-Start to those who I thought would benefit. Can't do any harm and it might help to give them a boost. Then I put extra straw down in the hut so that they can snuggle in and get warm and dry. I just hope that they all stay in there.

Interestingly it seems that those with the old fashioned longer and less crimpy fleeces are feeling the cold less than those with super fine tight crimps. Has anyone else any thoughts on this? It seems pretty obvious but it might well have a strong bearing of the type of Shetland I breed in future. I'd rather have warm healthy lambs than the very finest crimpiest fleeces; afterall, I am in Scotland now!

Fishing for sausages

Yesterday, unlike today, was on the sunny side and so Chris, Fox, Whisper and I set out to enjoy our local surroundings. We wandered up to one of the higher lochs and got off the paths to explore properly. It's pretty hard going pushing through conifers one moment (unless you're as small as the dogs and can run under the lower branches) and stumbling through knee high heather the next, but it makes life more interesting. We found signs of many deer, foxes, and red squirrels and watched a pair of merganser courting.

We found a lovely spot at the water's edge for a picnic and Chris began to fish for our lunch.

The biggest fish he caught however was this one...

So it was lucky that we'd also brought sausages!

Whisper is 1!

Our gorgeous little girl is now 1! I can't believe how much has happened since we got her and how fast that time has passed. She has gone from being a funny little puppy with her head permanently in the clouds, to a beautiful clever young lady... with her head in the clouds only most of the time, a state which we refer to as being "Whisper in La La Land!"

She is the most cuddly of border collies, quite the opposite of Fox and will throw herself at you for a cuddle, sneak under the duvet when she gets the chance or curl up on the sofa with Chris and I. She manages to combine being a most girly girl with being a total tomboy. She has no concept of looking before leaping, and rarely flinches as she bashes her way through brambles, branches or indeed other dogs or people who stand in her way.

She has shown herself to have amazing potential on sheep and I can't wait to get organised up here and begin her training proper.

Happy Birthday Whisper! You've managed to fully embed yourself into our little family and we love you lots. We're very proud of your birthday acheivement of learning to swim!

A beautiful Beltane

Happy May Day every one! Of course, it being May Day today means that last night must have been Beltane: the ancient Celtic celebration of fertility and the arrival of summer. In Edinburgh there is an annual Beltane festival something that Chris and I would love to attend but have never quite managed yet. Usually we would be sitting around a fire somewhere with music playing and beer flowing.

This year however we are rather far from home and also still tending the ewes and their young lambs closely, so we settled for a romantic stroll along the estuary watching the mist over the water and a stunning sunset.

Lambs on the rocks

Surely no lambing field is complete without a suitable highpoint specifically for the purpose of playing "King of the Castle!"
The girls, Lunde and Kate find a rock which seems suitable for the purpose...
Boys, Wiggy and Braeface, soon stamp their claim! I love Wiggy's beautiful chocolate brown fleece; he's a very smart little chap. Braeface has a super fine and crimpy grey fleece.

Lunde demonstrates the similarities between Shetlands and mountain goats. Kate and Braeface are more interested in what Chris is up to.
Well done Braeface, you're the king now...But you've got company!

The lambs are doing a lot of exploring now and getting themselves into mischeif. There were two outside the field this morning and we have had to go round plugging up holes with anything that comes to hand. Here is Chris with Kate after he had removed burs from her head and fleece!

First catch your beaver...

I've just returned from spending a week at Telemark University in Norway where I have been assisting with their fieldwork in order to learn about beavers and gain experience of working with these oversized rodents. My boss, and project manager, Simon and I had a challenging experience while there, working daft hours and pushing ourselves both mentally and physically. I think it's fair to say though that we are both pretty tough and fit, so despite our days being 9am - 4am we came through it all smiling: afterall we did get to sleep for 5 hours in every 24!

Our first night there was the only oportunity we had to "let our hair down" as we joined local hunters, students, professors and wildlife rangers whose common interest was the beaver even if the reason for this fascination differed somewhat. I joined a beaver hunt and after the success of thism dinner was... yes you guessed it... beaver tacos! Not bad eating at all!

The rest of our time there we were keeping our beavers very much alive so that they could be studied. The students were researching (broadly) interactions between families of beavers, hormone levels and scent marking behaviour. To do this the animals needed to be fitted with microchips, radio and/or GPS tags, data loggers and ear tags, as well as have samples taken.

Catching beavers isn't easy. They are large muscular animals and superb swimmers. They know their habitat, and the best escape routes, very well and learn how to outwit people over time. The main method of catching beavers in Norway is with the use of power boats and nets: the trapping team use spotlights to find a beaver; when found the driver goes full throttle towards it and attempts to herd it toward shore if it swims. The trapper stands at the front of the boat with a large net and at the opportune moment leaps off to catch the animal... sound easy?

What made it harder was the conditions in which we were working. Sections of the river were still frozen and snow still thick on the ground in many places. It was freezing at night and I wore so many clothes that I could hardly bend. I did however manage to trap a beaver myself :o)

Samples were taken quickly and efficiently but with great care. If we injured or stressed the animals then it would render the information that we were collecting, both at the time and in the future, useless. The beavers were handled in sacs so that they were in the dark and felt secure but couldn't damage us!

The best part of course was releasing the beaver back into the wild, comfortable in the knowledge that this research team has been trapping some individuals regularly for 10 years. These animals have left perfectly normal beaver lives building lodges, raising families and defending a territory. It puts my mind a little more at ease since I'll regularly have to trap our beavers in Knapdale. How many we catch by this method remains to be seen!

New Flock Members

I managed to get a shot of almost the whole colourful little gang! From the top: Lunde, Ruby's son (Tayvallich perhaps...), Bazil, big twinnie, Wiggy, Braeface, mummy's boy and Kate. Clearly we have some more names to think of!

The only one missing is "little twinnie" so here he is with his brother (he's the one on the right).
There are rather too many boys for my liking but I am delighted with the lambs. They are fit healthy and the colours and spots are amazing.