Wildlife ( & not so Wild) News

Introduced Laurence Atkinson's handsome new tup "Chris" to our granddaughters Mimi & Tilly George.  Chris is a Swarble breed of sheep aparantly coming from the Netherlands where they are accusotmed to the harsh weather coming in off the North Sea - hence thay will feel right at home here in Argengathdale.  As well as being very hardy their fleece carries a significant price premium because of the exceptional quality of the wool so hopefully Laurence & Michael will get something from the fleece from Chris & his offspring rather than the negligible price they get for ordinary fleeces?

The white blaze on Chris's  muzzle and the white socks & tail are a characteristic marking for these sheep - how come Mimi is so worried about a big tup?  By the way Chris has recently been clipped - hence he is lacking his usual bulk and lovely dark brown fleece - odd that when clipped his remaining fleece is black underneath!

We had a Kestrel perch on the garden wlll just  outside the kitchen window yesterday - seems that it is an ideal resting place where they can scan the whole of the upper Arklebeck valley whilst sitting comfortably.  We have seen this happen before but of course by the time I have run upstairs for the camera they have moved off!

However we also had a group of six young Pheasant wander by on the terrace seemingly grazing and again by the time I got my camera only one remained.

Must keep the camera in the kitchen to get these instant wildlife shots (excluding Chris from the wildlife category of course as he is incredibly friendly - in fact so friendly that it is sometimes difficult to get him to move away from the gate so that one can get the car through).

Still waiting for the house painter (now about 4 weeks overdue) - if he cannot do the job then I guess I'll have to do it as we really need it doing before we can put Hill Top on the market since our purchase of Highfields in Reeth can oly be a few weeks away now.