Sunshine and a clear blue sky greeted us this morning after a night of savage 60mph winds and torrential rain. The serenity of the field belied the ravages of the night before. Fortunately no trees had fallen but our track was scarred by huge ruts, gouged out by the force of water which must have been a raging torrent, washing away the hard core and depositing piles of debris at every twist and turn.
We have always had a natural pond at the bottom of our field, two or three years ago we brought in a JCB to make it bigger. Unfortunately we cannot get it to hold water, despite it being lined with clay. Malcolm assures me it will eventually stop leaking. The winter rains fill it up, only for it to empty slowly over the summer months until it is barely more than a puddle. Despite this we still have a pair of ducks that visit regularly a family of Moorhens and the occasional Heron. I have also seen a Roe deer drinking from it. Necessary though it is, I have never been a big fan of rain, however, the pond has fuelled me with a new enthusiasm and one of the first things we did this morning was to visit it to see how much it had filled over night. I am please to report it was a good 60cm higher than yesterday.
Our mild autumn weather has meant that many summer flowering plants are still going strong. We still have Geraniums and Begonias in flower in the garden, and in the field Corn Marigolds and even Cornflowers are struggling valiantly on.
Our Soay sheep were enjoying the calm and sunshine after the tempestuous night before and looked very serene, with the exception of our ram who was charging about and roaring (well grunting in a very guttural way) like a bull Elephant in must. It’s tupping time and he is in overdrive, barely stopping to eat, he is already losing weight and will be a shadow of his former self by the end. The lambs will be born next Easter. This is a phenomenon I have observed over the years: tupping is always at the same time, but the lambs are always born (with few exceptions) in the week preceding or following Easter, regardless of when Easter is, which leads me to believe it has something to do with the phases of the moon.
Never Mind the Bullocks 