Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A New Growing Season

January 2009

This year began cold and frosty, then wet and very windy, turning our garden into a muddy mess, which only our ducks enjoyed.

Thoughts turned to what we will be growing this year, and the excitement of choosing and chitting our potatoes. This year we are trying Epicure, the most popular early potato in Scotland, with a great taste and versatility.

We are also choosing vegetable seeds, comparing which varieties do best with us and only growing those vegetables we like to eat.

While contemplating all this, I have noticed some Golden Bunch crocuses flowering bravely in the chilly January air. There are other definite signs Spring is unfolding; the birds - mostly Great Tits, Robins, and Wrens - are singing, claiming their territory and calling for a mate. The blackbirds and hooded crows are already paired and defensive of their territories.

At times the sun is deceptively bright and we are fooled into thinking the season is more advanced than it really is, until a sudden hail shower delivers an icy slap, sending us indoors to dream by the fireside.


Monday, January 26, 2009

Sparrowhawks, lizards, and hawk moths

20/05/2008 Extracts from our diary


I came across a common lizard today at the back of the cottage. He must have been basking and fled across my path when he heard me approaching, wriggling his body rapidly from side to side so that he “swam” like a miniature snake through the long moor grass in front of me. I was thrilled to see him, especially in February, though it was a warm, sunny day. On average we see one about once a year here at River cottage.

I believe they are quite well distributed and common throughout Ireland, yet I know people here, native to Achill, who have never seen one.

The common lizard, lacerta viviparta,

It has been a wet winter though we are aware many places have had worse than ourselves, here on Achill island. The garden has stood up to it very well, and the shrubs we planted eighteen months ago have established successfully; as they are mostly evergreens, (holly, New Zealand flax, daisy bushes, griselinia, hebes) they have provided valuable cover for birds during both rain and storm.

The local sparrow-hawk has made our bird-feeding area, (where there are usually greenfinch, chaffinch, and various members of the titmouse family queing up for a peanut), his regular eaterie. We have seen him glide silenty along the course of the river under cover of bushes and trees, skimming over our cattle-gate, wings spread wide, then performing a perfect slow-motion circle round the willow where the feeder hangs; one time in every three he is successful. His flying is an art form. He has the grace of a ballerina. One cannot help but admire him.

Our time last year was mostly taken up with the new chalet, (Fuchsia Chalet) being built in our land where the ruins of the old house were. The chalet will prove very useful – Eileen is keen to devote more time to oil-painting again and I shall use it as a writing retreat for writing/revising/editing. Of course it will be excellent also for guests/visitors, it being self-contained and independent. Our son, Andrew, and grandson, Michael, may be the first to stay in it this summer.

It was a good year for frogs here; our frogspawn hatched very successfully into dozens of froglets which, with a little help from ourselves, hopped off to our drains in July/August. We have to make that pond this year!


We came across a few elephant hawk moth caterpillars in the summer; we haven’t seen any for a few years. We have let some Rosebay willow-herb establish in one part of the garden and there is also fuchsia; they are both preferred food plants. This entry is taken from my writing journal:


…….the elephant hawk moth caterpillar who I pick gently from the rosebay willowherb, rears up between my finger and thumb. He wags his head alarmingly from side- to- side like an angry, brown, cigar butt, puffing up his eye markings to look more fearsome in case I, as a bird undoubtedly would, intend making him my next snack. He sees me; is aware of me. Perceiving no threat now he stops. I carefully place him back on his food plant, happy to have made his acquaintance. I know what a beautiful adult velvety moth in pinks and warm browns he hatches into; but first he must pupate and sleep in the plant litter through the coming cold season. Maybe I shall see him in his hovering flight feeding from the wild woodbine blooms one evening next June. I hope so. The world is big enough for all of us if we look out for one another.


May, 2008

Just now the island is particularly lovely. There is a riot of colour from wild shrubs fowering. Saffron-coloured coconut-scented gorse is in full bloom and the rhododendron ponticum is opening its blooms in shades of purple.

The cuckoo has arrived back. Eileen first heard one on the 5th; last evening we saw a slate-blue male calling among our local trees; (of course it is only the male that makes the cuckoo call, the female has a warbling song as well as guttural coughs they both make.) Last night we lost sleep through him. Telegraph poles are a favourite perch of theirs. Their visits are always timed perfectly – their target host here are mostly the numerous meadow pipits who will be incubating eggs just now.

“He’s back”, Eileen said conspiratorially the other evening at dusk, hardly able to hide her excitement. Puzzled, I crept outside and strained to hear. I confessed I could not hear him, nor was I sure which bird she meant – the sedge warbler whom the poet Seamus Heaney rightly points out in his poem “Serenades”, describing it as ..”a little bird with a big voice/ kicking up a racket all night”, I could make out its rather lovely short bursts of warbles. But this was not the bird she wanted me to listen for. It was another summer visitor very familiar to us – a summer visitor from Africa like the swallow and cuckoo and willow warbler. “There he is!” she exclaimed, and I could just make out his high continuous song, like a fishing reel, or a grasshopper, above the distant barks of skittish dogs and the low drone of moving traffic. The grasshopper warbler was back again. Another piece of the early summer jigsaw was in place. We stood a while listening, his song a mantra running through our all our May’s here on Achill, connecting present with past, conjuring memories of quiet evenings looking up at starlit heavens while he serenaded us in the background, fittingly strange and mysterious.

The frogspawn was again this year rescued from the drains in early March before our ducks could slurp it and transferred to the patio ponds – now thousands of tadpoles grow among the pondweed and lily-pads. They’ll “hop-off” one night in July.

Over the years we have let some willows that seeded in naturally develop into small trees. In addition we have planted some and pollarded them. Each spring in March/April we have a great show of “pussy-willow”, the large flowers so well known to every school-child. We have also let mountain-ash grow and planted alder seedlings, gorse, gorse, bulrush and flag-iris.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Some Nature Notes from our original River Cottage website



Wednesday, 20th June 2007

The siskins have appeared on our feeders in the last couple of weeks, bright, slender birds, yellow-green in colour, the males particularly handsome with their black crowns.
We have noticed a juvenile dog-fox frequently crossing the hill at the back of the cottage, in the daytime, recently. We have known him since last year when we watched him playing and dozing with his siblings and parents. Luckily for us he seems to keep his distance - our hens and ducks free-range in our land from early morning to evening.
On one occasion, our local hooded crows were harrying our resident sparrow hawk who had just procured a small bird for lunch. Maythered, he dropped the bird from his grasp. Before either himself or the crows could retrieve it, the adolescent fox (mentioned above), jumping and twisting, caught the bird in his mouth while airborne. Then, much to the annoyance of the crows and hawk, he beat a hasty retreat into dense undergrowth. All this within 5 yards of the cottage and boundary fence!
Over the past few weeks our attention has been focussed on a chalet we are having built on the site of the old house. It will be somewhere we can both write and paint, as well as accomodation for visitors when needed.

Saturday, 1st June 2007

Spring has come and gone, slipping seamlessly into Summer. The swallows arrived earlier than usual - in late March. The cuckoo also returned early - we heard the first unmistakable heart-lifting call across Achill Sound on 24th April. Here, their preference is meadow pipits to act as surrogate parents. For a few weeks, from late April, the district is hardly ever without them, calling both night and day. In early May the Willow warblers arrived with their beautiful song, along with the Grasshopper warblers with their fishing-reel-like call continuing for minutes on end deep among undergrowth. Now, there are groups of fledged young birds appearing, like the party of eight great tits learning to hunt food and fly that I saw moving through the garden early this morning, urged on by their anxious parents.

Sunday, 11th March 2007

Spring continues to unfold here despite plenty of gales and rain. The frogspawn has been temporarily housed in a bucket due to the heavy rainfall. We hope to dig a good-sized pond at the back of the cottage in early summer, so that will be where the tadpoles hatch in May. The alder catkins, pussy willow, and gorse bloom are a picture just now.

Saturday, 3rd March 2007

On Thursday we spotted our first bumble-bee of the year - seeking nectar from the early primrose flowers and daffodils. The last two nights have been quite clear with a big full moon shining; the frogs have been singing and croaking in the drain - more and more frog-spawn is appearing. The pussy willow is making a great show of lovely silver-cream studded rods. We have a wild variety that always puts on a show earlier than our other varieties.
Our local hooded crows have been courting and reinforcing their nest in the flat top of the big old Scots pine across the river from us. They have nested in it every year but two since we moved here. A few days ago, they spent hours cawing and flying up into the air above the nest, swooping down and up high again. It was as though they were celebrating spring. I must confess I haven't observed this behaviour before. Today they are collecting soft material for the lining where the eggs will be laid - mostly sheep's wool.

Saturday, 24th February 2007

As the weather improves the wild birds here are beginning to pair up. We have a few blackbird couples that are out foraging on the lawn early each morning. If the sun comes out Great tits begin calling from high in the alder copse beside us; they are already staking out their territory. We are hoping to place a few more nest boxes this year. Must get a move on!
We leave out a variety of bird food; mixed seed, pea-nuts and fat blocks, and this must factor in when they are determining where to raise a family. We hang the feeders from our willow bushes where the robins; chaffinches; green finches; coal tits; blue tits; great tits; reed buntings; blackbirds; and dunnocks can help themselves. Earlier in winter, in cold weather, we had the siskins and goldfinches visiting them. Regrettably, we didn't attract any redpolls this year. Last year they were prolific. Two years ago, in early winter, during a cold snap, we had 17 waxwing visitors who cleared our rowan trees of bright orange berries. Usually it is the fieldfares or redwings.
Our first daffodils - a double early, "Van Sion", that is almost naturalised here on the island - have been flowering about a week now along with the miniature "Tete-a-tete", - a picture with the wide-open, lilac, crocus tomasinius. Narcissus "February Gold" is just
opening. Deep maroon hellebores are in flower, and the siver-leaved cyclamen coum under the fuchsia hedge have a good showing of palest pink blooms.

Monday, 26th February

Frogspawn has appeared overnight, in a flooded section of one of our land drains - and more in one of our miniature patio ponds! Keen to ensure it hatches, we have protected it from being slurped by the ducks with some strategic positioning of plant pots. Frogs wake from their winter hibernation in February. They quickly return to ponds and drains and spawning usually occurs in March and April.
A female can lay as many as 2-3,000 eggs which are fertilised by the male. They disperse again after spawning. The tadpoles hatch at the end of May. In mid-July the mini-frogs leave the water, maturing into adult frogs in three years.
The first pale lemon primroses and china blue, starry, periwinkle flowers, are open for early insects and bees in the borders on the more sheltered, east-facing, front of the cottage.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Journey To freedom


We used to live in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, working as nurses in the National Health Service. By the early 1990s we had outgrown both the town we lived in and the places we worked. We wanted far more. A lifestyle change beckoned. Our dream was to live a better life - a more simple, yet, much richer life. A quiet life close to nature.
In 1995 we left our jobs and emigrated to the west coast of
Ireland
. To Achill Island, Irelands largest island, with 5 blue flag beaches and a wild, unspoilt landscape of mountains, bogs and spectacular cliffs. We named our house River Cottage.

River Cottage.......

We first saw the cottage in November 1994 and moved in the following November 11th. What that move to Ireland, to the world famous Achill island with all its moods, its rugged, world famous, scenery, its winter storms, its bright coastal sunlight meant to us, is difficult to convey.

Interests........

We began growing organic fruit and vegetables, made country wine, gradually made a garden out of the wet, rushy land we came to. Shortly, our own hens were free-ranging in the garden. We joined the local Country Market and began selling home-baking, eggs, and plants.
After a couple of years, we acquired a sheepdog puppy we named Prince; a border collie. Then two ducks. And more hens. Mark began to write poetry and study art, as well as pursuing his life long passion for photography. We went on painting weekends together, hung our oil
paintings on our walls.

We were living the dream!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Welcome!

Hi everyone and welcome to our blog.

Sitting in 1 ½ acres of garden, River Cottage has been our home since 1995. It faces across the sparkling waters of Achill Sound to the mainland hills and is situated among the rugged and beautiful scenery of Achill island.


Beside us flows the River Shraheens, and there is a large variety of bird and animal life in the area. Foxes abound, and even otters and lizards are no strangers to us. In mid-April the swallows arrive back, and the cuckoo starts calling from the chimneys in May.


In our first and second summers here we thrilled to be woken from our sleep by the churring of nightjars. Courting Peregreine falcons talon-grappled in the deep blue skies overhead – the sparrowhawk, snipe, and woodcock became our companions.


We emigrated here to the west coast of Ireland almost fourteen years ago. Since then, when not just standing and staring with children’s eyes, we have tried many things new to us. We busy ourselves with writing, painting, tending the garden, and managing our pets – currently 2 ducks, 1 sheepdog, 3 hens, 2 cats, and 3 goldfish


Through this blog you can read about our lives here at River Cottage