A varied week.

We've got so used to using the wee digital camera for taking quick photos for the blog we have neglected a much better Sony a200 camera which we've hardly used in years.  The Grumpy Gardener decided it was time to give the Sony a bit of fresh air so after a lengthy battery charge he took some snaps.  This is Faro in his usual, 'I'm the boss so what are you doing in my paddock?' type stance - head up, ears back and tail up!

Looking down on the boys with snowy Ben Wyvis in the top right of the frame and Beaufort Castle in the middle of the frame, a couple of miles distant.

We've had several days of brilliant weather this week, warm sunshine during the day but freezing overnight temperatures.  This shot looks over one of the boys' field shelters to the hills in the west.

The Sony camera takes lovely photos but because it is bigger and has a protruding lens, not so easy to carry around - so, back to the digital!  Early in the week we penned the boys so that Faro could have his drench and Fergus and Fidget could have a nail trimming.  This is Fergus (left) and Fyta waiting to see what tasks the humans require to carry out in the pen.

Of course, not all catch-pen sessions are totally incident free. Faro's drench was the easy part but Fergus in particular was not over keen on his nails being trimmed so there was an element of spitting in the air.  Unfortunately Fyta (right) caught a whiff of Fergus's spit and that was sufficient for the 'droopy lip' syndrome to appear (above).  The boys' reaction to this is usually to grab a mouthful of hay or haylage and that seems to neutralise it and that is what Fyta did.

We had a mid-week visit from old friends Alan and Kath and fortunately, although quite cold sometimes, at least the snow kept at bay. This was also Verm-X granules week for the boys, hidden at the bottom of their bowls under their other feed!

This morning the snow had re-appeared overnight and the boys were reluctant to move from their shelter first thing. Faro (left) and Fyta are standing with Fidget lying at the rear and Fergus in front.  The snow had largely disappeared by late afternoon which pleased the boys!

And finally..............overnight snow always gives the game away for nocturnal animals.  Amongst all the rabbit and cat tracks there was a line of these footprints which I think is a badger, there are certainly plenty of them around this area.