How time flies ….
After a late, but lovely slow spring we now find ourselves past the summer solstice and relishing some well-ealanced british weather for a change – some rain, some sun, some rain, some sun. So refreshing!

We’ve  had loads of bluebells in the hedgerows and at the fairydell, and lambs in Huw’s field. Wolf and Ceri next door now have cows, and we have one new alpaca … so far!
His name is Rabbit and he was born on the 3rd July to Lavender. Hit the ground running, as they say!

Meanwhile, our three guests, Dora, Hurricane and Jet have headed off for pastures new. They are missed (particularly Dora!), but we do need the grass which has been a bit slow this year, so it’s a good thing really.

Elsewhere I have been busy with Wolf, my neighbour cleaning up the wood by the road, which for some years had been used for fly-tipping. We’ve both earned some serious brownie points in the village for this, and I reckon we deserve them – the amount of rubbish that came out was astounding. The whole place feels and looks so much better of course, and means that as you approach Talog you are greeted by trees and greenery rather than bits of old washing machines and a broken toilet.

Long may it last!

It’s been a while since the last post – January and February were hard going here for lots of reasons, and I seemed to be stuck at the computer a lot more than I would like. Aside from the first couple of weeks of January and one week in February, the weather here has been good:  very cold, but dry and clear, and great weather for clearing brambles, felling trees, and minor building projects. Frustrating then to miss most of it! It now feels like full steam ahead to get as much done as possible before the spring sets in.

If it weren’t for the freezing nights (-6 on Sunday night) you would think that spring was here already. I’ve had a couple of pretty idyllic afternoons in the wood bundling faggotts from last years sticks. Gwen has had an equally good time trying to undo them all again of course, but it’s been really lovely just working quietly in the wood, with the sun coming through the bare trees. A good reminder of why we are here.  All of the trees that are coming down this year are now down, so the wood looks like a real hive of activity. We’ve felled a couple into the lower wood, which was necessary, but has forced me to address the challenge of how to get the logs out of there – it is so steep and there is no easy path. A welcome break from  logic and databases, nevertheless!

Another sign of spring is the yearly incursions of the sheep. Today there was a little gang wandering down the road, down our track, into Wolf’s field and then heading back up the road through the wood. By evening they were back in Wolf’s field. They’re not Wolf’s sheep, by the way.

Yesterday one particularly stupid sheep found it’s way into our field via a dodgy hedge, and all the farmers on the surrounding hillsides were treated to the sight of two men, a dog, and a herd of alpacas all trying to get the wretched thing out. Actually the alpacas were more bemused than bothered and stood there gawping at us, along with half of Talog … one of the drawbacks of being highly visible on a hillside.

Speaking of the alpacas – they’re all doing well. Well fleeced now, so we’re not at all bothered by the cold temperatures. As it’s dry they don’t bother with the field shelter and are now hanging out at the top of the field again. A favourite spot, generally, and right now the place where there is the most grass. I shall be glad when it starts growing again. We do have enough, but with very little to spare. The two cria are both very impressive as quality animals and as characters to spend time with.

But back to the wood …. the ravens have returned. Not as many as last year, but then there are fewer lambs in Huw’s field. Maybe more will come (both ravens and lambs). There’s still enough (ravens, not lambs) to make you very aware in the wood – amazing cronking and vocalisations that really do sound like a conversation. Thankfully there’s been no carnage yet, but I doubt if it will be long before we’re stepping over the remains of their dinner …

At the house, I’ve done a few more jobs, but there is only so much energy. (I’m feeling it at 51!) Finally though, I’m getting the stones cleared up!

Well, here we are in the first week of January, with more snow than you can shake a stick at.

Temperatures are low as well, which means that the alpacas have had to put with being brought in at night. Actually they could probably cope with this quite easily, but I need my sleep – I don’t want to lay in bed at night worrying about Lavender catching a chill, or Molly getting buried in the snow.

So they’re in the barn! Twelve of them in there is quite snug, and they do seem quite happy. During the day, of course, they’re free to wander about and try and entertain themselves – hard when the main pleasure is munching the meadow, which is now buried 6 inches below. Hay is good, but after a while ….. you can tell they’re missing the grass.

As for the rest of us. It’s harder work for me and Caerthan, and harder play for Gwen, who can’t get enough of it. She likes finding a deep bit and then sticking her nose right in. Herbert prefers to stay in!

All is calm and tranquil in the field at Pistyll Gwyn, but that’s not how it has been ….
Last week Hurricane, Jet, and Dora arrived from a nearby farm. They’ll be staying here until the spring while their owner moves home and gets settled. We were keen to help out and absolutely delighted to have them – for one thing it has brought a refreshing bit of colour into our herd!

For the most part, our lot were welcoming. Walter especially seemed to recognise Jet and be very pleased to see him. (They last saw each other about 18 months ago when they were both at Susan’s.) But then …. Our Silky got territorial, eiter about the land or the girls, or something else alpaca that we don’t know about and set about poor Hurricane and Jet. Dora got off lightly – being an ‘open’ female Silky had other designs on her!

Thus started two days of Silky muttering under his breath, like Steptoe,  and chasing Hurricane round the field, spitting at every opportunity. We were very glad at this point that we had Silky’s fighting teeth removed a few weeks previously, although to be honest there wasn’t much fighting going on – Hurricane just wanted to get out of the way. Hurricane bore the brunt of it. Jet would get little blasts of disgruntlement coming his way, but by and large it was Hurricane, for some reason, who was really not welcome.

On the other hand, there were some other voices to be heard … On that first day, the three newcomers had sought a bit of peace and quiet, away from Silky and the herd, down in the corner at Wolf’s Gate. I was watching and feeling slightly relieved that for the moment at least Silky had backed down. From across the field, all by herself, came Olive. She just went and joined the three, sniffed them, and started eating. This seemed to relax Jet and Dora, and they started eating too, and I just stood there feeling dead proud of Olive. Meanwhile, Silky, back at the field shelter was glowering and muttering ….
There was no long-lasting peace though, and soon enough Silky got one on him and came charging down the field to chase Hurricane off. Dora and Jet would stand and watch and once Silky had had enough they would go and give Hurricane a bit of moral support.

The other very obvious peacekeeper that day was Tyler. In the evening he pointedly went over and sat with the new alpacas who based themselves under the Beech Tree at the top of the field. This was the start of the herd fragmenting and re-integrating itself, although we were unsure at that stage what would happen.

The next morning I was just happy that all 12 alpacas were still there and still alive. It was still obvious that no-one was particularly happy, although they were all roughly in the same part of the field together. Hurricane had got himself in a little nook at the very top, (which I now call Hurricane’s Corner), and seemed quite miserable, prefering to lie there and keep an eye out for the dreaded Silky.
Caerthan fed them, and we were heartened that even Hurricane came down, although he kept his distance.

At this stage we noticed that although Dora would keep going back to be with Hurricane and Jet, she was clearly happy hanging around with the girls and Blanco, who was keeping a very low profile in all of this.

Walter, on the other hand … it was like he had just had enough of it all, and he decided that he would much rather be with slightly exotic and mysterious newcomers than pussy-footing (if an alpaca can do such a thing) around the petulant Silky. He switched camps.

On that second day, petulant was probably the right word for Silky. He had the odd flare up, but mostly he just kept his distance. The rest of the herd were a bit more miserable, unsure about where they should be. Hurricane, Jet, Dora and Walter would be at the top of the field. Silky and the girls would be at the bottom. Jet seemed quite stressed – humming constantly.

Tyler and Blanco would be spaced between the two groups.

Although it was better we still went to bed with heavy hearts.

The next morning we saw an immediate improvement. Silky and Hurricane were both eating in fairly close proximity to each other. Jet and Dora seemed more integrated, and there was much less visible division into two herds.

Now it was Hurricane’s turn to sulk a bit. Understandably, I think, after his less than warm welcome, but he did start to play it – huffing and puffing, and looking remarkably like a cross between Windsor Davies and a giant sheep (Neither he nor Dora had been sheared this year).
But this was the end of it. We relaxed, as it was obvious it was all going to be okay, and that alpaca business-as-normal would soon be resumed.

Looking back, I am wondering if we shouldn’t have put the newcomers in the Naughty Paddock for a bit – so they could all see each other, and maybe get a bit of that old alpaca curiosity going,  before being asked to actually integrate.

One thing that it has shown us is how much we project onto the animals and how much we don’t know about what is really going on in the world of the alpaca herd.
After all – our mild mannered Silky …. who’d have thought it?

Mike and Suzy called in on their way back from York (slight detour). Really good to see them again, although Suzy was just a little bit  distracted by concern for the newly flown fledgelings, who are now both at their universities.

Gwen had a great time of course – all over them.

We seemed to spend a long time talking about astronomy and stars and stuff. It’s a good place for that sort of thing here, and we stood in the field and took in the night sky, on a beautiful clear Pistyll Gwyn night.
With shooting stars too.