I went for a little walk the other day. I had been neglecting this type of exercise that’s really good for clearing the mental cobwebs when the good, sunny weather enticed me into the garden. I mean really, does anyone like weeding on a cold, dreary, dull day? No. A walk on such a day though, once you wrap up warmly, can be brisk and invigorating.
So, I went for a walk.
It wasn’t a very long walk but I saw some things that made me happy.
It’s Spring, and that means lambs. There are lambs all over the place these days, which I can see in every direction from the house. Usually these lambs are mostly white or all white. But, on my walk I saw the story book white lamb with black face and black legs. It really was so nice to see! There was something comforting about seeing the stereotypical colouring among the regular all white lambs. It made me think of my childhood books and authors – Enid Blyton for example.
I also surprised a Grouse! Now, this happens fairly often when walking on the Scottish moor. But, on this occasion I was almost on top of the grouse when it flapped off. As a testament to its plumage, I can honestly swear that I had no idea it was there – it was camouflaged so well. It was so close to me that I could see its eyes and the red detail over the eyes. It was so beautiful, I wanted to call someone and shriek happily about seeing such a beautiful bird. (At least I was fully able to identify this bird! Yes, there’s a backstory to this!)
While I didn’t call and shriek on the phone there in the middle of the moor, I did shriek at the Hubs when I got home. He, of course, is quite familiar with the grouse having walked over moors in various parts of Scotland all his life. He explained to me that the Grouse has not just beautiful looking plumage, but that its feathers are as soft as a puppy’s fur or a super-plush, stuffed toy. He thinks they’re lovely, smart birds and hopes many more come to live on our little section of the moor.
Those two bits of interaction with nature outside of my home and garden really made my day.
I even saw a field mouse, which I debated telling you. People often think ‘mouse’ and go ‘ew’. Which is my view point as well – especially if you live in an urban area where the mice tend to get into garbage cans etc. But, this is the rural and remote outdoors. There are more animals than people in my neck of the woods, and field mice are nowhere as icky looking as other types of mouse. They’re actually tiny and cute just like the Disney cartoons.
As I walked back home it was quite funny to see how the lambs behaved around me. I walked into a group of them just lying there on the path, and adult sheep grazing a short distance away. The lambs didn’t seem to know what to do with a human. One started galloping towards me on its tiny legs. Then mama sheep saw what was going on and quickly herded the errant one to the side. This made me wonder what the adult sheep have learned about humans.
In this neck of the woods, crofting is taken quite seriously. There is a lot of land per sheep, so they can (and do) run around and live happy lives. The numbers aren’t huge like sheep farms, a croft allows for a farming lifestyle on a much smaller scale. So, huge trailer-loads of sheep going to the slaughterhouse doesn’t happen on the usual croft. But, I wonder if the adult sheep remember any of their pals that might have been taken away and sold on. One could think that the mother sheep were just being overly cautious with their little ones. But, even later in the year when the lambs are bigger, sheep tend to be wary of humans. I won’t muse on it too long, though. I don’t especially want to try to figure out what happens in the head of a sheep.
