17th Feb 2010 'Plumdally'

Spent today erecting a deer fence in preparation for the planting of about 500 Beach trees, it was so warm, so close to the bay and not a breath of wind. I must admit, I am really pleased with the photo of the Sun, it's looking SW across 'Barlocco Bay' and the 'Solway', you can see the famous 'Solway Mist' that used to enable the smugglers to disappear like ghosts. Just over the headland on this photo is a cave that is tall enough to hide a small sailing rigg and was used by the smugglers, it's also where we are placing our Lobster pots (keep an eye out for the pics) I'm looking forward to the rewards!

12th Feb 2010

Started to build the 'laying pens' today but due to the fantastic weather it was decided to go and do something else... Not only was it great fun but it will encourage loads of new growth, kill a lot of the 'ticks' and also help to get rid of 'Myxi' by killing the fleas.

We are building 50 small laying pens with 9 hens in each plus another 500 hens in the main pen, giving a total of 950 hens that now need to be caught over the next 4 weeks... here we go!

9th Feb 2010

Nice sunrise this morning, it's starting to feel 'Springy'
The bird rearing season is upon us again next week, bird catching, egg collecting, hatching, pen building and all the other things that need to be done. I'm looking to post regular photos, so keep taking a quick look to see how it's going, I wonder when the first one day old chick will appear!

A Great Video 8th Feb 2010

This video was created by a young girl from the village.... not what I was expecting but I think it's brilliant!

Today's shoot in photos 30th Jan 2010

A few photos taken on today's shoot, only a small rough shoot but the last of the season here. Very cold first thing but by the afternoon it was fantastic.

'Apache' 26th Jan 2010

Out all day beating, what a day...
The Stats
Beaters 4
Guns 7
Phesant 57
Shots 247

Not that bad for the end of the season and with all the walking involved a fantastic way to see the land starting to live again...
All of this set to the backdrop of a group of 'Apache' helecopters unleashing 1000's of rounds of machine gun fire about 2 miles away on the local range... I do not lie, you could feel it!
As dusk fell I made my way back home to the tune of the 'Apache', at low level and hugging the cliffs, then turning South across the sea.