February is out and March has arrived! And guess what that means? Yes both Capples and I (two of the Highland Cow trekking team) have birthdays, yippee!
But apparently that’s not all that happens on Dumble Farm in March, and today I found out all about it.
The morning started with the usual trekking procedure, we all know the routine now so are keen to get set off, we know that there is tasty grass along the way.
Over the bridge we trotted and what a surprise!
Instead of an empty field it was full of Highlands. They looked familiar… and who’s that…could it possibly be?
Oh my goodness yes! It’s Currac, my Mummy! I let out a big “Moo”.
Not only was it my mummy, Capples and Mel C’s
mums were there with Auntie Natasha (Charlie’s mum), plus lots of other friends we hadn’t seen for ages.
We skipped down the track to the fence and the Highlands in the field ran across to us. “Hello, hello” we all mooed. It was so lovely to see them all again. But why were they here so close to the farm? Why weren’t they working down in the wetlands?
As I like to know everything that’s going on, I asked Mum if she knew, of course she did. Mum told me that her and the main Highland fold had been busy grazing in the wetlands, preparing the ground for the lapwings to breed and now that time had arrived. March is the month when all the ground nesting birds look for breeding sites, so the Hairy Coos move out, leaving them in peace until they are settled.
Not only this!
SEVEN of the Highlands are due to have new baby calves in March and the farmers like to be able to check on them easily, everyone is very excited about the
new arrivals.
“Thanks Mum” I mooed.
We needed to carry on with our walk so we said our goodbyes. At the pond we all started laughing, a very strange looking tree indeed had grown overnight. I heard the farmers chatting and comparing it to something called a tower block.
Apparently it wasn’t a tree after all. It was a cluster of tree sparrow nesting boxes on a pole.
I didn’t think that birds had very much in common with cows, but I was wrong.
It seems that sparrows are very sociable and like to live close to all their friends, just like us!
