A long way from home...

I didn't really expect to find a flock of Hebridean sheep grazing the churchyard in Castor, but perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. Hebrideans are hardy and able to thrive on rough grazing, and so are often used as conservation grazing animals to maintain natural grassland or heathland habitats. They are particularly effective at scrub control, having a strong preference for browsing. This is another example where a rare breed has been brought back from the brink largely because of its value in managing wildlife sites.

Rosie and I spend a pleasant couple of hours walking round Castor village recording plants. I usually drive through it to get to other nature reserves, and hadn't realised what an idyllic place it is, full of old limestone houses and quiet little bye-ways. It also proved to be really quite interesting botanically, and I recorded 112 species, not including the drifts of planted daffodils that shone golden in the morning sun. I'm not sure which variety they are, but they're always the first in flower locally.

This afternoon I completed a Powerpoint presentation for a talk I'm giving about photography at the Wildlife Trust's Ecology Group Conference this weekend. February seems to be the month for meetings and conferences!!