Mud

Mud ( and wellies)

To my follower, there has been a bit of a gap.  there are approximately 2 hours less daylight here when compared to balmier climes. So  if you want pictures of black, then fine.

And so far this winter we have had a lot of rain . And there is the well-known formula

rain  + soil =mud

So we are doing mud quite a lot . When i stand in some , my wellies disappear. 

We've got about 10 separate places where you can loose your wellies in the mud

And wander off the drive a little, and you get mud , and there is standing water in all the fields

 

 And the sheep and hens are living in mud

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and the paths through the fields are mud .

Fed up about mud ?
how could you tell ?

Not the Somerset Levels

A wet hen

But we have had quite a lot of rain, and there are bits of fields under standing water  and there is  a lot of mud around.  And the water that falls has to find its way down to the Bay.

The engineering for the new pond has been successful  - too successful in fact because there is a little stream running out from the pond .

 

 And then the water runs down through the small field. Its good job we moved the hen- house - if we hadn't it would now be in the middle of a  little stream .
  And then the water runs down through the field . We have the burn , but the water is finding its own way to the Bay - we have another ad-hoc  burn .

Looking down the hill as the water winds its way down towards the burn.

And back up the hill

and a bit lower down

But we do also have  quite a lot of standing water around the place . And i haven't taken any more pictures of mud

Ovine Intensive Care

 There has been a lot of rain - so there is mud everywhere - and then snow over the last week or so.  

And the young rams have clearly been struggling in the adverse conditions. 

A couple of them have got a skin infection on their noses  - possible trauma in trying to  graze through ice and the mud is a less than hygienic environment . 

So they needed an antibiotic jab, and some feeding up , so they have been brought in for a few days 

Water engineering part 2

 The sun is now high enough to get to the 2nd pond, but its still all very wet and muddy - Somerset isn't the only place that has been getting more rain than usual.

 

  

and the pond is filling and draining  - the overflow is coming over the stones, and then disappearing  in a drainage channel  that runs down under the large rock






and the channel that was dug to try and drainthe muddy bit has filled with a bit of water








but the mud is still there and still as gloopy

So  I wondered if the pond was overflowing somewhere else and the water going straight into the  muddy  bit, but on  exploring round the pond directly above the mud  the soil was relatively dry , so its not filling from there.





 So  I think the next step  is to see whats going where with some methylene blue . Add it at the top and see where it comes out.

Indoor hens

We have had quite a lot of rain  so far this winter . Its a bit muddy . Just as muddy as it was in 2015 

And we have moved one of the hen houses to make it more accessible in the winter . But this means that we are walking over the same ground . Did you know that you can get standing water on a slope ?

And the hens are in this bit. And theyu have stopped laying - related to the hours of dalylight ( not a lot up here) at this time of the year and there isnt a lot fo food avaialble to them - bugs dont grow in mud and cold

So we have brougth some of them inside.

We can feed them , give them additional light and hopefully get them back into lay . So a run, constructed with sheep hurdles and netting , some nesting boxes, and food and additional light ( on a timer) and we shall see what happens over the next week or so

The other pond

Weve fenced in a bit more of the pond to  try and discourage the otter(s) , adn the ducks are getting bigger so that is also hopefully a bit of a deterrent.  But we do need a 'Plan B' either if we loose another one or if we get or breed young  ( and small) ducklings .

There is another pond  and there are some pictures from last March of the ornamental pond.

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but on close inspection , all is not well ( ignore the hail - we seem to get a fair bit of hail up here )

 A lot of the timber is rotten and rotting and doesn;t support someones' weight ( how do I know that ?) . So we have decided it is going to come out . The wood, once  its fired out can probably be recycled to the  fire .








But  ducks will need water. We think the pond just fills from run-off from  up the hill a little. Ducks like water and  ideally some that flows. We certainly have a lot of  water at the moment. There is a rivulet   of water that runs  down part of the garden  so the great plan is to divert it into the pond and aid the flow of water into the pond.


Remember days onthe beach building sandcastles and moats and building  walls to channel the water ?

Well it was a bit like that .

 Here's the water  running down the side of the  path .

So about an hour with a spade , and relying on my seaside experience with sandcastles. moats and the tide, the water was diverted

And  over the afternoon the pond filled up a bit more .

But of course water that goes in has ( eventually) to go out.

And it flows over the low point of the pond , on its way to the Bay of Isbister via a  burn or 2  . And round the pond is field. and excess water on the field makes mud  .

So the next job is a runoff for the field  once the drainage channels have been filled in with hardcore and some stones  and the path put back.

 
 

Happier Ducks

In October  we moved the ducks to their new home. We gave them access to some of the pond. Ducks are very messy eaters, and need access to  water when eating ,  and emptying  and refilling buckets was a real hassle. giving them access to water . We  took  pictures of Previous their previous home  and the mess they managed to produce.

They and we are much happier with their new home ( well apart from some of the mud, but we shall wee how it dries out this spring) .  And now we think we can give them access to more of the pond. And we haven't had a lot of rain over the last few days  so it as the opportunity to move things around a bit .

 How it was

So we've move the railings and they have access to the whole pond. By now they are good at going into the run at night. They lay their eggs in the morning  and hopefully they’ve got the idea of laying them in the house. First attempt at moving them and they were laid all over the place. In the intelligence stakes ducks come a bit behind carrots.

 So their new home, with access to all the pond. And if they  dont go walkabout from here , the railings will be replaced by a drystone wall in the spring ( or summer) , or when I get round to it  

It's an A Road

We dont live at the back of beyond - we live on a major trunk road -the A966 from  Norseman to Dounby. The road sign at the junction says so.  And there are other examples travelling up the of the A966  here. Its a trunk orad after all. And there are lots of passing places


there was a major accident on the main Finstown to Stromness road, which led to it being closed and all the traffic was diverted along the A966. So  a steady stream of traffic was going upand down the hill in the course of an evening .  And not everyone is as patient as they should be . And they have between them nad e mess fo the verges as they squeezed past each other.

And all the mud over theroad - nut never mind there has been enough rain  to sort the problem out. it would have served someone right if the had ended up in the ditch and needed to be pulled out.

So with the Lyde closed as well as the main road, that would have caused some chaos