Lakin Farm

I recently saw some excellent photos in Amateur Photographer magazine that had been taken by a guy from Arran called Andy Surrige.

I have seen images like Andy’s before but never quite got how they were done.

This only shows how out of touch I was, because looking through the father in law’s back issues of Amateur Photographer, there was quite a lot of information on how to create them.

Basically there is a way of creating images by merging three photographs (of the same thing) into a single picture. These pictures are called HDR (High Dynamic Range) images, and can look quite impressive when done right.

So after a while I got myself the required software and started to create my own HDR images.

I have put some of the results on my Photographs page.

With a bit more effort I think I should be able to create some nice pictures.

Just need to get out with camera a bit more.

The Lakin Farm has some very neglected fields. Some are so bad that they have been inaccessible for many years.

Part of the problem is the lay of the land. A couple of the fields sit in a natural bowl and are very wet and boggy as a result.

The other part of the problem is caused by regular flooding from a nearby river which has a big log jam in it.

I took this picture at the junction of two drains which form the corner of one of my ‘fields’. As far as I could see from my side of the ditch the trees and shrubs carry on forever.

The green patch at the right of the photograph was once the start of the field.

There is no way of getting to the other side as the mud in the ditch is a least chest high.

John Luke and I tested it with a pole, and agreed it was a complete death trap.

I have spent a couple of days cutting away the trees on one side of the ditch in order that, one day, I will be able to dig out the drain and get the land dry again.

It took me two days to clear about 30ft of trees, shrubs and brambles.

The drain/ditch is about a quarter of a mile long. So I reckon it will be at least a year before I finish clearing it.

Then I will start the ditch on the other side of the field.

One of the new chickens is laying massive eggs.

This picture shows the size difference between one of the monster eggs and a normal one.

Brings tears to the eyes just to look at it.

When we opened this egg it had two yolks in it.

We weren’t expecting any eggs from the new hens quite so soon. When they are all laying we will be having omelets for every meal!

Alex Salmond, the First Minister, came to the island today to visit various places including the GP Practice where Ruth is Practice Manager. Ruth organised the visit and it went very well.

The kids from the local school, including John Luke, went along to cheer Alex when he arrived.

He spent quite a long time chatting to the kids and was keen to answer their questions.

John Luke asked him how much he was paid, to which he replied “As First Minister you get paid loads”. Then John Luke asked how much photographers were paid. The two photographers who were there said they did it for the love of the job and not for the money.

John Luke said “I don’t want to be a photographer then!”.

One of the other kids asked how big the First Minister’s bed was. Alex said it was a huge bed. This caused much laughter.

Three of the kids were supposed to be competing in a speaking competition on the mainland, but were unable to go because the ferry had been canceled due to windy weather.

When Alex heard this he asked whether it would be possible to hear the pieces they were going to perform.

So the kids got to do their performances after all. Just not to the audience they were expecting.

This morning Ruth collected four more chickens from a local farm.

The new arrivals are in the process of molting and are therefore not laying eggs. This means we will be feeding them for a couple of weeks before they start laying.

This is no problem for us, as it means we got the birds for just a few pounds each.

John Luke and Abigail went with Ruth to collect the birds. Abigail chose one of the chicken because it had fully molted and looked ‘fluffy and brown’. The problem with this early molter (so Ruth was told) is that it wont be a good egg producer.

Our two existing chickens have not taken to the new birds very well. Our cockerel is a bit of a bully, so John Luke and I have clipped his spurs to stop him doing any damage to the new birds.

I read in a our chicken book that instead of clipping you can stab pieces of raw potato onto the spurs.

After a couple of days the potato (with the sharp bit of the spur inside it) falls off. Plus, with two lumps of potato on his feet, your cockerel is less inclined / able to pick a fight.

To minimise aggro, we should have introduced the new birds at night when the other birds were roosting.

In preparation for the new girls, I spent a day adding an extension to our chicken house.

John Luke helped me with the final touches this morning, and thinks the new bit will be much easier to clean out than the old part of the house.

We have already pulled out most of the insides of the old part of the house to make it easier to clean, but it still a nightmare.

In fact it is such a poorly designed house we were thinking of building a completely new one.

We will see how the birds get on with the house now it has been ‘pimped’. If it works out and we decide to keep it, I will replace the old roof with one that doesn’t have felt on it.

Apparently ticks and mites love to hide under the felt during the day, and come out to eat your chickens at night.