It's a pretty grey day here at The Oa, so time for a prowl around the farm sheds to see who's about. Such is the importance of grazing as a habitat management tool at Loch Gruinart and The Oa that both reserves have their own in-house farm staff and livestock. There's an ever-changing selection of sheep and cows in for a bit of extra attention in the few indoor areas that we have here.
Here's the newest arrival at The Oa, a Texel tup recently purchased on the mainland and now getting used to the slower pace of life way out west. However, with tupping season rapidly approaching, he'll soon need all the energy he can muster. The vast majority of the ewes at The Oa are of the hardy native Scottish Blackface breed, but we put Texel and Bluefaced Leicester tups over some of them as they produce a slightly bigger lamb that does better at sale for us. Conservation in a remote area such as this does not come cheap, so any money we can generate for ourselves supplements the vital contributions from our members and donors, without whom none of this would be possible.
Next door, here's some of this year's Highland calves, born around April time. We have a wide range of cattle breeds here, both native and from the Continent. The Scottish Highland and Luing breeds are able to graze the rougher areas of the reserve, with the aim of stopping heather and other rougher grasses encroaching on to the coastal grassland and maximising feeding habitat for Chough.