Introducing Gemma

This is Gemma she was born a fortnight ago.

Her mother is Beauty a Limousin cross who's father is Ronwick Iceman.

Gemma's father is an Aberdeen Angus called Nightingale Quinton.

Now for some reason she has come out a browny colour rather than black like her parents, but we will not hold that against her.

She is fine, fit and healthy that's the main thing.

Her mother loves her and hates her out of sight, she is Beauties first baby and she cannot get enough of her.

Gemma on the other hand loves nothing more than to run around the croft legs flying this way and that prancing up and down annoying the sheep and generally causing havoc.

She runs around at full pelt never walks, she slams the anchors on just at the last minute.

Now this is entertainment for her, but her poor mother is beside herself chasing about after her trying to keep her in check.

I think we will have our hands full with this one, she is so full of devilment, every time you open the byre door on a morning to feed the others if Gemma sees even a crack in the doorway she pushes her nose through and is out and off running into the other sheds out into the fields back around to the byre, all the while her mother is hooting and hollering for her.

Not a blind bit of notice does she take.

If she is not annoying the sheep she is chasing the dog, it's like watching a whirlwind or Tasmanian devil, she kicks her legs about like a prize bucking bronco.

It's good to see new life around the place again, it takes your mind of the sadder things that happen to us all at some point in our lives.

We are expecting another three calves over the next couple of weeks so lets hope they are all as mad as Gemma ; )

Natures awakening

Shelduck addition

Well the birds are out in abundance on the croft, and around about.

The top picture is of a buzzard of some kind, which had just caught a rabbit, I could not get any closer to him as he was a little weary, there are also two herons down on the common grazing's, they are here quiet often now, they are in the burns a lot of the time taking out the small fish that are swimming about.

The oyster catchers were down on Traigh beach the other morning just sitting enjoying a dry morning for a change.

The Red Bull Finch was sitting on the Landy just singing his heart out also enjoying the day.

The bottom picture is of a Buzzard watching for the Rabbits on the croft that seem to have taken over the hill behind our caravan.

I have also spotted a Barn owl in a particular place every other evening about the same time, but as yet I have not managed to get a good photograph of him as the light is not to good yet, maybe later.

We have the usual Robins, Wrens, Black birds and the noisy Chaffies.

But I am waiting for the Sand Martins to come back, I spotted a place on the common grazing's by the river that a colony of them were nesting in last year, hopefully I can get a few good photographs of them flying in and out of the sand banks this year.

The Cuckoo will be with us soon last year he appeared down here about the 18th April there have been three in the area on the mountain behind us, I do not think I will ever get a picture of them as they are so illusive.

The Corn Crake appears in the spring and there have been odd birds that as yet I have not been able to identify, one of my friends from school was a great bird watcher he would have known what they were in an instant, I remember when we were younger he memorised a British Bird book for a charity event at school, but he never got out of the habit and carried on learning everything he could about the bird population, each to their own.

I just love to here the dawn chorus in a morning it lets you know you are still alive and spring is about to burst out in glorious technicolour.

Shelduck or Tadorna comes from Celtic roots and means "pied waterfowl" he is an addition to the photographs I posted earlier, I manage to get a picture of him after trying for some time.

There has been three of them around the Traigh beach for a little while now, they are quite shy, but I persevered and waited I think it was worth the wait don't you?