Birds in the North East of Scotland.

Whoooo.  Today has been a good day.  Feeling better, (last antibiotic, coffin sized pill, you do have to double check it says by mouth instead of....) 

I went off to Doug Irvine, Picture Framer extroadinaire.  Had coffee.  Chose mounts and frames for three pictures. 

These are three paintings I dont care if I sell as I LIKE THEM.

While I was doing this the Dawn Patroller was visiting a friend who lives in Peterhead.  She has over 30 Waxwings visiting her urban garden.  Okay she provides them with (peeled)

apples, (has to wash bird s*** off her windows),  but, hey, wow.  Waxwings winter here from Scandinavia.  I know we welcome them . (I wish we did the same as generously to other human immigrants).

These birds normally go for the red berries.  

Thank you Supermarkets and Local Authorities who do plant such shrubs as cotoneaster et al.

This afternoon I was down the shed.  Ha whats new.  Whilst I was drawing, painting and pen and inking, there was lots of noise from outside.  

Apart from our neighbour doing his first cut of his  vast lawns, and everyone who passes by has to toot him  on their car horn.... does interfere with Placido reaching his higher notes, the farmer was moving his sheep.  

We had the weigh in, those who have reached the weight, into the transporter and off for....(hands up who had lamb for  lunch on Sunday?)  

The others went back into the field.  And were then joined by the rest of the anorexics. (and dont anyone take offence here, I have personal experience of eating disorders but lets raise a laugh. Always)

Here they come from up the road field, down to our field.  Shepherd and dog and two young men who make strange noises.  Whoop, whistle, whoop, ( doesnt impress me and I have witnessed it doesnt impress sheep either).

Oh , says me, please turn left and eat our ex crap, failed,  wild flower meadow.

But no, they kept on and were then shepherded into the field.

Happy sheep, lots of Neeps (turnips, swedes) and hay, and water,  But, sad, one day soon they will also reach the required weight and be off to death row.  

The great thing is they have had such a wonderful fun life, out in the fresh air, playing, unlike some of the birds everywhere who are not.  Lets all give some thought as to where our food comes from.  And vegetarians - have you heard the scream from a carrot when it is pulled from the earth, so lets all stop being holier than thou and start asking, where did this come from?  Do they use pesticides?  Sorry didnt mean to preach.  This was supposed to be about the Birds.

So to my long gone beautiful free range Greenbrae Gang, our last home, and our last hens.  Who I hasten to add did not end up in the pot.  

Lots more birds in the NE of Scotland,, beautiful, interesting, awesome, paintable, wonderful.

Panic - Not now dear....

Wednesday evening I noticed there was something sliding down the flue of our wood burning stove.

Not now - please - I need your warmth.  I went into panic mode.  Is it going to kill me?  My eyes were watering.  But the Carbon Monoxide Alarm remained silent.  We let the fire go out.

Fortunately our supplier was totally laid back, recognised it as being, "You have not ensured your wood is dry."  and handed over a pot of stuff to throw on the fire, when lit, which would sort it.

We then got pyrotechnics.

Which nearly set me off again.  But on reading label of pot this was forecast.

We are now burning peat for a while (the DP being sensible he says - I prefer to see my fire with roaring flames not just sulkily smouldering.)


We have to throw this stuff on every day for so long, then have a gap, I assume at some stage we have to hunt down the only chimney sweep in the North East (hopefully not lambing yet) to come and sweep the flue.  Which will mean no fire to let it cool down..... Ah well the sweep is from Yorkshire and so am I so we usually manage to get him to come. (Barring lambing or calving)

Speaking of lambs, well our new neighbours are not lambs anymore.

Can you see that the transporter is a Three Decker?!

Hope he presses the right button or they are all going to get very squashed.

Wheeeeeeee!

The sheep are feeding on Neeps.  (Swedes in English or big turnips if you aint)  Which apparently are costing the farmer fortunes, doesnt everything cost Farmers fortunes?  If he hadnt had the sheep, which he grew the neeps for to eat , then he could have sold the neeps for vast fortunes down in England as their weather has meant they havent got any.  Follow that?  Also he bought the lambs at £60 each, and after feeding them up for months they are selling at £65, oh dear, but he thinks the price might increase as no-one else has neeps - or whatever, I lost the plot after that.  

Cannot remember which blog I was reading recently complaining about being woken up by the Woodpecker bashing hell out  of their soil pipe.  I thought about the Tawny owls at night, the geese at dawn and sunset honking over, not to mention Whooper Swans whooping, oh and yes we do have Woodpeckers, but they stick to battering the electric pole which says quite clearly, "Danger of Death", but then they cant read, and now we are to have baaa-ing.

This is taken from our bedroom window.

Robins have lovely singing voices.  Remember our garage robin?  I have attempted to immortalise him, without sound, apart from the swearing of the artist of course.  

There are currently four Robins in our garden.  Unusual as Robins are very territorial.  But given the weather they are all being very tolerant to each other.

So, no panic there, and none here now.  Stove simmering away, lovely smell of peat.  More snow forecast, one of four daughters arriving Monday, now should I start to panic...........

Activities.

Not much going on here on the beach at Fraserburgh.

Please dont talk when I am interrupting.

 The crafty group plotting our next venture.  Action stations!


Now then, does anyone know anything about sheep?

There has been a lot of activity on the road outside our house.  With transporter loads of sheep going one way.  And then another load of sheep going the other.  

Are they all just out on a trip?

Activity at the Art group - and down the shed.  Trying to paint these three boats.  Not easy.


So at the moment, total inactivity beckons.

Free Range.

This morning's Dawn Patrol.

Sign at Cairness Home Farm.

Free range bunny.

Now these are (free range) Zwartbles sheep.  Native to Friesland in the North of Holland.  These sheep are docile, friendly sheep and being naturally tame, prefer to be led rather than herded.  The wool is sought after by spinners and weavers.  The meat is very lean and sweet.*

Scotch Mule below, native to Scotland.  Now found throughout the British Isles.  It is a cross between a Blue Faced Leicester ram and a Blackface ewe, bred in large numbers since the early 1900s.
It produces quality meat from natural unadulterated grass and the wool is mainly used for knitwear and tweeds.*

No idea.  Hens at Watty's next door but one.  Watty also has a hand in the masses of pheasants we end up feeding in our garden.

Whilst the DP was off up some Lady's bosom and seeing Capercaillies, I was enjoying my Tuesday.  Free ranging around the Broch (Fraserburgh)

I joined the Knitting Nancies for coffee and then two of us had lunch in the Lighthouse Museum.  Most of the gang are now in the depths of their volunteering their skills in the primary schools.  The two of us who had lunch also rebuilt the bridge between the Knitting Nancies and the new manager of the Lighthouse Museum to the mutual benefit and approval of both.  More later.  And most probably - more free ranging.

Almost forgot to mention my Wednesday morning art class.  Next two weeks is farm animals/birds.  These were our free ranging hens where we lived over a year ago.  I am doing a painting of this view, with only three hens, and one of them has to be pecking its own feet as, yet again, I do not think ahea.....

*Know more sheep Jack Byard. www.oldpond.com.

Sunday's Saunterings.

The Dawn Patroller is on his way to full recovery after a bad cold. 

(bit of s sniffle and and some sneezing) (and banished to the spare room so he didnt infect me.)

So this morning he set off to Tyrie, by Fraserburgh, where his square of the ordnance survey map has been given by the British Trust for Ornithology.  He is doing a Breeding Bird Survey.

From there he could see the sun shining on the North Sea.  As the sun was rising.

A Song Thrush.

Not sure whether this is yet another ruined farm or whether it is lived in.

The area has been quarried.  Once the quarrying finishes some areas are left to fill with water.


Isnt it beautiful now?

Farming as well in the area, of course.  

Pictures such as these soothe my soul, I hope they do yours.  


In fact I feel such a stupid person to get myself in a state as to where to put the tele, (see previous post) when I do watch it I complain about the rubbish thats on and when the adverts come on I have been known to go ballistic at "INSULTS TO MY INTELLIGENCE."  So I would probably be just as well in putting it inside a cupboard.


So I will just saunter away now and have a glass of wine


Hope you had a good Sunday.

Mondays Meanderings.

Just look at this amazing poster, advertising See Scotland by Train.  The silhouettes of the buildings and the beach are still there, and I think the building, on the left, could be the Beach Cafe, which is also still there.

My second daughter works at the newly refurbished Museum in Edinburgh and sent me this.


Right, more history.



During the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, a large number of, usually circular, burial mounds were erected in prominent locations to intern important members of the community. The rites of inhumation (in short, stone-lined cist graves), and cremation (in large pottery urns), were practised.  Aberdeenshire Council.

This one is huge, and is the remaining one of three, at Memsie, not far from here.

The picture below gives a better idea of the size as you can see the house behind it.

Nice view!

This morning's deer via the DP.

And as lambing continues apace some more aww pictures (and dreams of mint sauce Penny.)

I'll just meander along to the bottle of wine.

Sunday's Serendipety

Well - they looked straight when I ploughed them.

You never know when you might want a cup of tea.

One always has hope, (see previous post on our woodland.)

Snow, followed by sun, followed by hail, followed by sun.  Proper British Weather.

Awwww.

So good to know....

that life goes on.

Tuesdays twitterings.

This lot do more than twitter.  Their calls are truly magical.  Pink Footed Geese.  We get over 30,000 of these every winter.

We woke this morning to find it had snowed in the night.


As we are only 3 miles from the sea we do not often get snow.  We certainly had not got the depth of snow that they had more inland, or further up North.

The sheep are about to lamb, hope they can hang on a bit longer.

Our house, good to see the loft insulation is working!

The Dawn Patroller's path this morning.

A sheep who obviously laid down till the snow stopped!

And the teasel field looking even more artistic than when I painted it some months back.

My dear friend Lynn from Sunnysideofthestreet.blogspot.com sent me some teasel seeds, also some Comfrey seeds.  I have the compost and the trays just need to get the proverbial into gear.  We counted ten goldfinches this morning and they love teasel seed heads so who knows, might corner the market later this year.


Later in the morning I met the gang in the Cafe Connect for coffee, in Fraserburgh.

Tuesday mornings we take over the Cafe Connect, the three tables are moved to make one long one, and then we sort the world out.  And plan and discuss our next voluntary involvement with the community/schools. whether they want it or not.


We had a very interesting lecture about how onions absorb infections, so I am to place said onion beside my bed so I get no more chest infections.


And then we moved on for lunch at the Lighthouse Museum.  Bloody hard work all this.


Back home through yet another blizzard.  Afternoon in the shed/summerhoose,/blah blah
No more twitterings.  


Glass of wine.