Four rare-breed Ixworth hens lie dead, killed during last night in their electric-fenced enclosure by a predator who, as well as finding his way through the fence, managed to force the security door of the coop.
In the two weeks we've been away, Tom Bryson, who farms Craigard croft in Ormsaigbeg, has lost fifteen of his precious chickens in three separate attacks. In the first, he lost eight hens and a cockerel, in the second two cockerels, and then the four hens last night. The attacks, as well as wiping out all the Ixworth cockerels he has brought on this year, destroyed his stock of the very rare French breed, Bresse Gauloise Grise - there's a website about them
here.
In the first two attacks, the culprit was a pine marten, but last night's killer was a mink. Tom, awakened during the night by a commotion from the field where he keeps his chickens, opened the coop to find the attacker inside. The corpses all show the mink's trade-mark attack, where he kills them by biting through the throat.
Both mink and marten are indiscriminate killers, killing for the pleasure as much as for the food. Most of the dead birds are left. Occasionally, the heads of some of the chickens are bitten off and eaten.
Fortunately, Tom's a real farmer, someone who can cope with the sort of disaster that would drive others to despair. He's already talking of how he can re-stock and how he can further improve his security. As for the attackers, mink can be dealt with, but pine martens are much more of a problem as they, too, are rare and so protected by legislation.
After yesterday's overindulgence of Kilchoan Sunshine, the sky suddenly cleared and we were in to a real October evening, with bright sunshine drawing a perfect rainbow over Ben Hiant. As the evening progressed into night, a series of sharp hail showers were accompanied by lightning and peals of thunder.
This morning we're in a run of strong westerlies. Where we live, with the high ridge of Druim na Gearr Leacainn behind us, we have no warning of the heavy showers they bring.
The day dawned a wonderful Kilchoan Sunshiny day, pure sunlight arriving horizontally by the bucketful at input speeds at times exceeding force 7 on the Beaufort Scale. So we were pretty disgusted to find that certain Ormsaigbeg residents were still abed when we walked down to the shop at about ten this morning. Yes, there are seven of them in there.
We were considerably worried around eleven this morning when four strange ships began to emerge out of the sunny haze, ships which, while evidently naval in design, didn't look at all like Royal Navy, not with big numbers like that so clearly painted on the side. Our immediate reaction was that this was a Russian invasion, but A432 is an Estonian mine countermeasures ship, the EML Tasuja (Wikipedia reference here), and the wonderful AIS System revealed that one of the others was Norwegian - the other two passed as vague shapes and couldn't be identified. So these were our European friends doing the job RN ships used to do so well before they were all sold to China, steam around and show the flag.
Meanwhile, on shore, as we basked in the rising warmth, the power went off. This was a scheduled power cut, to allow Scottish & Southern to attach a cable for one of the new houses being built along Ormsaigbeg. Give the lads their due, they shinned up the pole despite the conditions, and had the power back on in far less time than they'd predicted, leaving them plenty of time to relax in a couple of deck chairs before driving off down the peninsula.
Four rare-breed Ixworth hens lie dead, killed during last night in their electric-fenced enclosure by a predator who, as well as finding his way through the fence, managed to force the security door of the coop.
Firemen from the Highlands & Islands Fire and Rescue Service have put together a calendar to raise money for the Scottish Burned Children's Club, a charity which helps children who have been scarred, physically and psychologically, by fire or scalding.
