This morning, our cat Lola brought in two dead baby birds. Both fledglings and therefore slower to fly off, she had managed to catch them. She may have even played with them for a bit before she brought them in the house as gifts for me. I very much dislike it when she kills a bird. Yet, I know about the prey and predator dynamics and that’s what cats do. At the moment, there are many fledglings leaving their nests and they are vulnerable to our cats. With their wings not yet strong enough to fly, they spend a few …

Today is the Winter Solstice marking the point in the year when the Sun reaches its most southernly position, giving us the shortest amount of daylight. The Sun rises but barely makes it over the horizon at this time of year. I have been out most days at sunset over these past couple of weeks, taking hay to our sheep at that time, and on clear days, I have been treated to the most delightful show of pinks and light yellows.

Have you noticed the qualities of sunlight at Midwinter? It is pale, weak, fragile and hesitant. Not at all …

When we were looking to buy a smallholding, one of our priorities was somewhere where we could be or work towards being “off-grid” for our utilities, or at least some of them. We thought that it would help us achieve our goal of keeping our outgoings to a minimum and feel more in charge/in control of our consumption. We figured that a more sustainable and self-reliant way of living would make us more resilient in an increasingly fragile and unsustainable world with rising living costs, limited resources and the serious challenges we face to tackle and respond to climate change. …