Animal review 2010

In Memoriam : a review of the Year


The biggest disaster for us in 2010 was Maddie's death (see " A curved Ball")
At seven she was still a relatively young dog when through some unfortunate medical care we lost her and the cottage remains a quieter place without her irascible bad temper and maiden aunt presence.

Maddie was our first Scottie, and her personality was a blue print for the breed. Tough,loyal,mistrusting of strangers and quietly self contained, she was not a dog who enjoyed fuss or cuddling, but she was a delightful old fashioned breed who maintained order within the dog pack by stopping any bicker of fight stone dead in its tracks.
I still miss her dreadfully.

I had some minor losses within the poultry population. The odd fox snatch here and the odd badger kill there. They were all opportunistic kills, older hens not making it back to base at night or young cockerels not having the sense to move home when the need arise.......and one in particular upset me more than the others. My tame buff Lily was an old favourite hen. Benign and unafraid, she would sit on my knee or clamber up onto my stomach when I was cloud watching, where she would sit unperturbed for ages.
She was a real sweetie.

The last loss that still lingers long in my mind, was the strange and rather moving death of an elderly Indian runner duck named Nell. In  the height of a beautiful summer's day, her bittersweet end perhaps underlines just why keeping animals can be so addictive, moving and at times essentially satisfying ( Blog entry- an odd little moment)

The pigs left us earlier in the year (they are now happily pregnant in a zoo in Cambridgeshire) and whole groups of ducklings and hen chicks have moved on to new homes locally and in Huddersfield!, which is nice.

And so we acknowledge the losses and now celebrate the new arrivals of 2010.

The geese Winnie and Jo have been two of my biggest joys of 2010.
As goslings they followed me everywhere and pandered to my constant need to be needed and to be carer..and as vocal adults they provide me with noisy company throughout the day on the field.
I would not be without them now

The saga of the ghost hens has captured the imagination of many throughout the year, and the arrival of these waifs and strays has proved to be one of my biggest successes this year. Bred to last a matter of weeks, three out of the original six runts have somehow survived the limitations of their over bred bodies and have enjoyed a free range life of dirty bums and Welsh fresh air.
Looking like Nick Parks' Chicken run animations, these three porkers lead a charmed life, and have repaid me tenfold by blossoming from cowed scraps of beak and feathers into buxom girls who after six months of hard work started to act like proper hens......they lay the occasional egg for me too!

 Speaking of eggs..this morning when I let out the new charity case hens ( The Belles of St Trinians) -above) there in the hen house were three large brown eggs......! after only three weeks of intensive care, good food and a bit of TLC this maltreated motley bunch of hasbeens have now turned the corner......another minor victory me thinks

In the autumn I hatched out the six quail with Red "the miracle quail" surviving his marathon 16 hour stint in a cold incubator..all are doing well on the field now and amateur cook Ian from the village is desperately looking forward in his hopeful supply of quail eggs in the spring!.............

and last but not least, the arrival of   Constance "the flatulent" and over affectionate bulldog has kept everyone on their toes.and although at first I thought she was going to be Chris' dog....the reality of the situation has been somewhat different!

Who knows where 2011 will lead?
We will have our share of disasters where trips to the vets and emotional goodbyes will be power for the course....but I am sure the field population will grow again with many more characters and the odd charity case or two...............
watch this space
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