Author: dougie

Beware of the Mittens

Sent from my iPhone

Using wool to give the compost bin a warm lid.

Sent from my iPhone

Meadow preparation

I tried sowing Yellow Rattle last autumn. And then planted plugs in spring. Limited success. Very limited. Going to give it another try this year.

[Digitalis] Foxglove



I love those self-seeded foxgloves on a tree stump. Well it’s an off-cut that I use as a foot stool. Used to anyway. I wonder if there’s enough in the stump for the foxglove to succeed next spring.

Colin and Clarissa

For the avoidance of doubt, all cock pheasants are called Colin, and all female pheasants are called Clarissa. It’s just the way things are.

Lost more birdsong, and the appearance of a mirror that is destined for a Tip Run. In the meantime, Colin has issues. I won’t deny it, I feel a bit bad about that. But it’s outweighed by the amusement factor.

And there’s a new cat. An unknown unknown. There’s our three, then a few locals we recognise … and a new floof.

There’s a hoolit loose, aboot this hoose

We often hear them, but rarely see them. Apart from this footage from the trailcam from the recent snowy weather. I find it slightly alarming to look at, but knowing the owl is where the water is, (or an unfortunate rodent looking for same water), I’m assuming everything is ok.

Redwings in the snow

It was in March 2018 when I saw my first redwing. The Beast from the East brought a blast of snow to Durham and suddenly there were strange birds in the garden. We had fieldfares too, and peering at the photos I realise I struggle to distinguish a fieldfare from a redwing from a song thrush. But I’m pretty sure they were all at the party.

  • Redwing
  • Song Thrush
  • Fieldfare
I wonder if I’ve got those right.

And now three years on I have a trailcam and I’m browsing through the video clips. It’s snowing again, and the redwings are back again. And blackbirds. Lots and lots and lots of blackbirds. And a hoolit. Out of nowhere, in the middle of the night. Everyone needs a drink of water it seems.

Low Burnhall Maprun Score event fly-by

On Thursday it was sunny but still with fresh snow on the ground. It seemed like a good day to have a play with the action camera on the Low Burnhall Maprun Score event. It was lovely. The snow is gone now but this is how it looked (compressed into about 25 minutes). Details are available (for the time being) in the Northern Navigators website.