James T

A bird once nested here in Scotland in an operational car ferry (Oban to Mull if I remember correctly!)

Fascinating - thanks for posting!

It's just down the road from me, but a busy weekend ahead so don't think I'll make it.

Great shots Bill. I cycled to Chain Bridge from here with my mate in June - it's about 14 miles from here. They had a nice old Routemaster there earlier this year. I finally got to Beamish a week ago today - we spent a whole day there. Superb place, but definitely need to make use of the whole year to see everything.

Great pics Bill, thanks for sharing!

Oh I know. Oddly enough, I went into our shed to get our wooden ladders and I spotted something which looked a bit like your photos. I'll not be at Lanark again this year - over visiting a mate in sunny Barrhead!

What did Miss Mushroom say about Mr Toadstool after their first date? 'He's a fungi to be with'

Great photos - thanks for sharing!

Yes indeed, Chris. The weather seems to have taken a toll here - Swifts seem very few and far between. The Grey Squirrel is another one which people seem to have a soft spot for despite its activities!

I'm an ex-employee of the RSPB many years ago with a keen interest in wildlife and farming (obviously, being on here!). I also live on a farm. I wasn't aware they had a 'stance on farmers'. I don't think that small birds being in decline is a load of 'cobblers' - in some parts of Scotland birds such as Yellowhammers and Tree Sparrows have declined dramatically due to habitat loss, some of it through agriculture, some through housing developments etc. The Corn Bunting is reduced to a mere fraction of its range and it used to be a widespread species - although before my time! There can be no doubt that agriculture (at least in part) led to this decline. As for the corvid issue, yes I can understand reasons for control in the countryside. However, Magpies have simply exploited the ample food sources available to them - whether it be garden birds, our careless management of waste or the vast number of gamebirds released into the countryside. I personally would like to see more research done into the effect of the domestic cat on songbird numbers In my experience people in towns/suburbia, they are hysterical when a Magpie comes in to their garden and makes off with a few nestlings (sometimes from nests of species such as Blackbirds which are in poorly-sited positions) but when 'tiddles' comes back with a half-dead bird 'awww, he's only bringing a present'. Hmmm....double standards? And let's not forget, other species such as Woodpeckers can take nestlings too... It's great to see the owls hunting - Barn Owls seem to have recovered in part here after the 2010 winter.

Turnip harvest well under way near here (Greenlaw, Berwickshire) today. Brilliant weather for getting out and getting some shots!

That 1984 Deutz Fahr is about 10 minutes along the road from me - it was sitting in a field near the farm in September and I was going to get a shot of it on my return from Berwick - but it had been moved :'( Incidentally, I'm pretty sure it's the same model of which there's another superb example near Thornhill in Stirlingshire.

Cheers guys. Apparently the drill is a prototype, made by Simba.

Here are some shots of the potato harvest near Greenlaw, Berwickshire from a week past on Wednesday until Sunday. Four Varitrons in use, with round the clock operations, halted one evening by frost. Following on, some tracked beauties in an adjacent field from last weekend.

There's a Sceptre sitting in a yard at a loacal farm - I *may* be able to get some photos at some point.

Cheers Tommy!

Is there a 'Power On The Land' comp this autumn?

Nice photo report, Bill. Was it as busy as previous years? I'm afraid I didn't make it along this year as I had something else on.

I use a fairly basic 'bridge camera' - a Kodak Z1012IS (10.1 MP). I've got a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 on order which will hopefully arrive soon!

Looking forward to it!

It was a lovely night yesterday (unlike today), so headed along the track and across the road to catch some haulm topping/blight spraying.