Rambo's Romantic Supermoon

The problem with this time of year is that when I'm at work there's barely enough daylight left to throw some food at the chickens morning and evening, so some days there really is nothing to report.

Friday 11th November 2016
News today that Leonard Cohen has died. I feel genuinely sad at the loss of such a thoughtful and gentle mind. There are way too few of them around.

Saturday 12th November 2016
I topped up the bird feeders today. I've had to move them as they were too close to the new conservatory, but hopefully the birds will get used to them soon enough. I'll have to start a conservatory list now.

Sunday 13th November 2016
A big day for Rambo. For today he was allowed back in with his harem of ewes.

First we had to move out the condemned, up to the top paddock. These are the two Shetland lambs from last year (now hogget) and the two commercial cade lambs which we bought in from the rare breeds farm for fattening up.Separating them from the others was a little tricky but we sorted it out in the end. I had forgotten that I had failed to fix up the electric fence a few weeks back, so had to hastily perform a bit of jiggery pokery to get it wired up and working.
The timing was good as Rambo's temporary pen was beginnning to get a little muddy with the recent rains and his impatient pacing up and down.

With that achieved we took the dogs out for a long walk as it was a sunny winter's day. A skein of geese flew over the farm as we left and a waxwing trilled from the orchard - sure signs of winter. Along the Main Drain the kingfisher was surprisingly still present up by the bridge, despite the fact that the drainage board had cleared the banks of all vegetation.

As dusk approached the moon rose - a Supermoon! Tomorrow night was supposed to see it at its very best, but it would actually be at its fullest sometime tomorrow morning. Anyway, with heavy cloud forecast for tomorrow, I thought I'd see what we got tonight and it really was quite impressive, especially when it first came up. Even more impressive when a Barn Owl flew in front of it and perched up on a post alongside the sheep before continuing to hunt over our land. It's the first time I've seen one since I was handed the injured bird over the farm gate about a month ago.

Overall today was just about perfect, a day filled with simple pleasures.