As our 10 pairs of chough plough on through the breeding season I've been busy the past couple of days carrying out jobs on the livestock that help provide these special birds with perfectly cropped swards on which to feed, namely our flock of Welsh mountain ewes. With just under 100 ewes grazing the northern half of the island, animal husbandry and shepherding work is part and parcel of my life on Ramsey. I couldn't do it without my trusty right hand man of course, Dewi the borer collie.
He is approaching 12 years old now and starting to show a few signs of slowing down so I treat him like the Welsh Rugby Union treat Alun-Wyn Jones, managing his 'game time' and reserving his energy for the 'big occasions'. I'm pretty sure Alun-Wyn doesn't read this blog so I'm probably safe comparing him to a border collie!
In all seriousness Dewi has been my wing man in the sheep fields for the past 12 years and I couldn't have done this without him. Its a joy and a privilege to work alongside him and he has saved me countless hours and untold amount of effort over the years. His boundless enthusiasm for the job is as unfettered now as it was as a bouncing, seemingly uncontrollable pup - he turned out ok though!
Dewi listening intently to the plan
After gathering the sheep in from all corners of the northern fields on Sunday I ran them through the sheep race yesterday and, after worming them and 'dagging' any that were dirty (shearing their back ends to clean them up) I treated them with a fly repellent spray. Due to the breed type and the harsh climate our ewes are never ready to shear until mid to late June. Left untreated between now and then we run the risk of them getting 'fly strike' - greenbottles lay their eggs on the fleece (they can be attracted by dirty back ends hence the dagging), the maggots then hatch and proceed to feed on the flesh of the host. A really horrible condition, even when caught early, and one that can easily kill a ewe. The spray lasts up to 8 weeks which should see us through to shearing time.
GM 'dagging' Molly - Molly was our first ever bottle fed lamb when we started lambing in 2008 - she is 12 years old now and been granted special dispensation to see out her days on the island! Remarkably she still has all her teeth!
Dewi bringing the ewes into the yard yesterday
Job done and ready to turn them back out (the blue dye on them is the fly repellent spray). For anyone interested we have bred from Sennybridge Cheviot rams on the past few occasions, crossed with Lleyn ewes and latterly with their offspring (different rams) making most of our flock almost pure Cheviot now
Once he knows the job is finished Dewi loves nothing more than a good roll
Bird news: of our 10 pairs of chough, at least seven are now confirmed as feeding young. The one pair of peregrine that is visible to us (out of three pairs in total) are still incubating (they are always much later than mainland pairs, many of which are feeding young now). 9 red kites was a good haul yesterday and the house martin boxes are slowly filling up with at least 6 boxes now in use. Another addition to the year list (which now stands at 81) was a nice lesser whitethroat over the weekend. The farmhouse valley chiffchaff looks to be breeding again (on a largely treeless island!) and it's possible our spotted flycatcher pair from last year are back
Thanks for the updates .love to Dewi as always Gwyn