“Saga” – no, not the collective noun for our sheep, though perhaps it should be! Somehow it seems appropriate to describe the journey we’ve had with them over the years. “Soay” is of old Icelandic origin and I’ve always loved the Icelandic sagas – having studied them at university and visited Iceland as a student. … More A Saga of Soays
Who can fail to be enchanted by the delicate, exquisite beauty of these ephemeral creatures? As a child I can remember the Buddleia tree in our small suburban garden covered in a glittering array, with every raceme sporting one or more of these jewel like species: Red admirals, Peacocks, Small tortoiseshells, Commas, Painted ladies and … More Butterflies – fleeting beauties of times past?
In common with bats and other nocturnal dwellers of the twilight world. most people know little about moths and even dislike or fear them. The few encounters many have with moths are often negative – perhaps clothes moth larvae devouring much loved garments, or larger unwelcome night time intruders, looming out of the darkness, flapping … More Moths – Beauty or the Beast?
Every morning I feed our small flock of Soay sheep. It keeps them tame – they are flighty, wily and impossible to herd, but will follow a feed bucket, no problem. After that I have a little stroll around the field, hoping to spy some interesting wildlife – perhaps a glimpse through the trees of … More Mornings……
As the bluebells fade and the hedgerows start to lose their lustre, the Foxgloves make their grand entrance. Standing stiffly to attention, parading our highways and byeways in a gloriously colourful guard of honour. They are the spiky purple heralds of the approaching summer that transport us back to childhood, evoking nostalgiac recollections of the … More Foxglove, Foxglove…..
Sunday dawned a gloriously sunny day – not a cloud in the sky. Days like this are precious and too good to waste. We had a leisurely breakfast in the garden and became completely absorbed watching the Blue Tit parents flitting to and fro with a never ending supply of caterpillars for their seemingly insatiable … More Lazy Sunday
As mentioned in previous blogs, we have a large natural pond in the lower part of our field. What I haven’t told you is that we also have a large pond at the top of our field (at the end of our garden) which Malcolm created quite a few years ago. The pond itself is … More Ponds, Ducks and lockdown
We like to intersperse cultivated plants in our garden with wild ones, we think these Red Campions give as good a show as anything you can buy at the garden centre.
We have sun and blue skies, it feels like summer, but where are the swallows, swifts and house martens? Usually we see the first ones towards the end of March, but this year we saw nothing until well into April when we saw two house martens. Since then we have seen a handful of house … More Where are the swallows?
Never Mind the Bullocks 