Ant has moved on from North Wald, Self Catering on Orkney

Poor Ant has crowed his last.

Ant as a youngster

He has been unwell for a while and lost his status as Cock ‘o’ North Wald quite a while ago.  He had taken to roaming the fields, mostly alone, but was getting spoiled by both me and Frankie slipping him extra feed when none of the others could see. He was slowly getting less and less adventurous and was often found just sitting about in the Peedie Hoose. Yesterday I thought he had gone missing and spent nearly half an hour looking for him before I found him sheltering behind the compost bins. He didn’t come out to the feeding area very often as he would be picked on by everyone. Sad really.

This morning he was lying expired just by the door in the Peedie Hoose. At least he made it back inside and didn’t die cold and alone in the bushes! How sentimental is that, to be worried about how one little cockerel died. So much for being the hard hearted farmer that I keep trying to be.

A Wet and Windy Winter at North Wald, Self Catering on Orkney!

What a wet, windy and miserable winter this has been so far, and we are only half way through!

The amount of rain that has come down is unbelievable. We are lucky in that we did not flood like other parts of the country have done and for this I am grateful but I do wish that I could get out in the garden to do some work though. The wind has been relentless with gale after gale. The polytunnel has taken a real battering but is still standing at present.

We did manage to get out and dig some more veggies today as we have guests in the cottage this week who wanted some of our veg. It was pretty sticky out there and you had to be careful where you placed your feet to ensure you didn’t sink but we managed it. A bucketful of fresh veg is now sorted and washed and waiting to be collected.

The Oyce in a gale

I was worried the guests would not make it here at all as the winds and sea were pretty rough yesterday. We kept an eye on the Pentalina’s web site to make sure the ferries were still sailing and on time. This was all combined with some of the highest tides we have had in ages. The Oyce almost became one with the sea at one point yesterday, and again this morning. The tides were so high the bar separating the Oyce from the Sea nearly vanished. The waves were breaking right over it. I did take a short video at one point but I was getting blown about so much that it was too shaky to see much.

One thing that the wind and rain has brought is milder weather. It has not been that cold at all, so far. Mind you the temperature is dropping right now as my feet are freezing. Time to open the fire up I think!