Bye bye polytunnel...

It's been a bit windy today to put it mildly, and the worst has come to pass -- we have lost the polytunnel cover...  

We did order a new one the other day which is now in courier-land, but it didn't arrive in time...  Oh well, we knew it was going to happen at some point, and we did get the first lot of plastic for free, so...

The only thing that was really still in the polytunnel was the last of the unripened tomatoes so they have all now been picked:

21 pounds worth.  (That's 1 1/2 stone for all you British people...)  I guess we will have vast quantities of green tomato chutney this winter -- mind, we still have a few jars left from last year that we haven't used up yet!

The wind has also taken most of the leaves off the trees -- this is why we never get nice autumn coloured leaves -- they're gone before they get the chance to turn...

And this is one of the sheep's drinking troughs -- looking a bit choppy like the sea!

Goodbye little lamb!

Today we said goodbye to our first little lamb -- he has gone to a new home on Sanday to have little lambs of his own.  I am pleased that he's staying on the island so I will be able to go visit him, but still sad to have to say goodbye...

He is about five and a half months old now -- look how much he's grown since my first pic with him when he was only just 24 hours old!

Polytunnel/Hedge Hen Update

See those tears in the roof of the polytunnel?  Yeah, so did the wind...

To be fair, the plastic we put up there was not designed for the purpose and does not have UV protection, but it was free, so...  We had attempted to patch some of this a few weeks ago, but clearly today's wind had other ideas.  

In the meantime, in case it suddenly comes off spectacularly all in one go, we've moved Hedge Hen and her chicks into a run for safety.  Seeing as how it's otter season, we've put one of the runs we used for chicks earlier in the year down on concrete and weighted it thoroughly so hopefully the otter won't be able to lift it and definitely won't be able to burrow under it.

Why do the otters come this time of year?  Is it because there's less food in the sea for them now?  Or is it because there's more darkness and they can therefore travel further when hunting?  Answers on a postcard please....

The chicks are getting feathers now and at age 2.5 weeks are looking more gawky and awkward rather than cute little fluff balls -- oh, how fast they grow up!  :)

In other news, we got a new sofa/pull out bed for Freya -- she definitely approves!  :)