Festive fun!

You can almost hear Faro saying, " 'ello, 'ello, what have we here then?" as he surveys two gifts given to us over the Christmas period.

Now you can almost hear Fergus saying, "Are they chocolate - can we eat them?!"  Lovely gifts, but not edible, Fergus!

Fyta takes a much more cautious view of these gifts and keeps his distance from them.  Fidget, as always, is a long way off at the bottom of the paddock.

We've been blessed with very mild weather during Christmas week, daytime temperatures of 10 degrees c are pretty unusual at this time of the year around here.  Faro (left), Fyta and Fergus are in this shot.

Not really the 'awkward squad' (unless they want to be at nail clipping time!), Fidget (right) has joined his three pals for this photo.

After operating the digital camera for years, the Grumpy Gardener has found out how to set the date........!  This is Fyta waiting for Hogmanay and the New Year.

Blog readers will know that we usually have a jig-saw, or two, on the table around Christmas as an antidote to the seasonal TV programmes.  This is one of this year's efforts, a 1000 piece jigsaws entitled. 'The Bake Off.'

And finally...........people are so generous with their Christmas gifts.  From the left, this lovely Llama to hang on the tree (thanks Amy), the trendy alpaca lunch bag (thanks Alison & Brendan) and the little alpaca who is nice and snug wrapped up in a hand made blanket and ready to hang on the tree (thanks Julia). Best wishes to all our blog readers for a peaceful and successful 2019.  Take care.

Christmas greetings.

The four boys, from the left Faro, Fyta, Fergus and Fidget, on a gloomy day hoping that the carrot and apple mixture will taste nice!

Fidget has the most intense stare of all the alpacas - especially if he thinks that the human is hiding more food!

Aaah, nothing better than a mouthful of haylage!  This is Fyta, tucking into his favourite breakfast and enjoying every strand.

The boys had their shelter changed this week and they know instantly that a change is coming when we start to undo the gates.  Fergus is waiting for the gates to open because he knows what comes next.............

It's 'roll in the dust' time again!  Faro (right) is already rolling with Fergus and the other two boys are getting ready.

A few minutes of this rolling activity in their wet fleece and the inevitable happens..... Fergus is on the ground and covered in wet dust!

Faro - another intense stare, but not quite so piercing as Fidget's stare.  We've had these boys for almost 12 years but Faro still likes to check us out, always inquisitive and protective of his pals.

And finally.................to all our blog readers, wherever you may be in the world, we wish you a very peaceful and happy Christmas.

Sunrise, a visit and a Kestrel.

Considering the dire weather warnings this week, we were lucky to have escaped the storm which hit further south. We've had a mixture of weather, including sunny days like this when Fyta (left) and Faro were more interested in a passing cat than they were in the human!

At the beginning of the week we had amazing sunrises, this was taken just after 8.00am when it was still quite gloomy and the boys were being fed.

The boys are not interested in fiery sunrises, only food, and they are at the bottom right of the photo eating their haylage as the light display goes on above them.

We had a lovely visit mid-week from Alison and Brendan of Seafield Alpacas at Portmahomack.  Visitors mean 'goodies' and the boys soon gather around.

Alison feeds Faro whilst Fyta and Fergus both try and get their heads into the bowl which I am holding!

Fidget is also with the group, on the right, but as always he tends to keep a respectable distance from humans!  It was lovely to see you once again Alison and Brendan, thanks for the visit.

By the end of the week the clear, starlit nights meant frost so the first morning task is to get rid of the ice from the water troughs.

And finally..............a sad ending to the blog.  Last weekend we had seen a Kestrel sitting on our garage roof then on the roof of a neighbour's house.  Normally a human coming close to a Kestrel would mean that the bird would immediately take off, but this one seemed to be unwilling to move, but eventually it did.  We felt that the bird was either unwell or injured. On Tuesday we found the bird lying dead in a paddock at the foot of a fence-post where presumably it had been sitting. It appeared uninjured so the cause of death is unknown.  We buried her with dignity in the garden.

Munching swedes and things.

This is Faro (left) and his big pal, Fyta - the Terrible Twins, the Dynamic Duo, they are never very far from each other.

Fergus pictured here and Fidget are white alpacas and have different natures all together from Faro & Fyta. Fergus is enjoying some swede (turnip) in this photo.

You can't help feeling that Fyta (right) is getting a telling-off from Fergus!  The boys are still wet after days of rain and mist so a good dry breeze is needed now to dry them off.

Fidget is also enjoying his swede.  This week the boys have had a daily mixture of Swede, carrot and apple - not pampered are they?

What happens when Faro (right) comes into the personal space of Fidget whilst he, Fidget is enjoying his swede?  The camel-like motions start, the head is lowered, the neck is outstretched and Fidget makes camel noises.  If Faro does not back away he is likely to be spat at by Fidget.

And Faro decides that he will do without a bit of Fidget's swede today, and walks away!  The boys have had their Verm-X granules mixed with their daily feed this week and Faro is not keen on this, unlike the others.

This is Fyta's 'superior' look where he looks down his nose at the human with the camera!  He's not shy, he's very photogenic - I think he needs an Agent!

And finally............the Grumpy Gardener has been doing his 'All muck and magic' routine this week by spreading the composted 'paca dung onto the veg garden.  Good crops are assured in 2019!

Sunshine and showers

Fergus (front), Faro with Fidget in the background.  You can almost hear the question that Fergus and Faro are asking themselves......."Has this human got any goodies to eat?"  Fergus in particular has an intense stare when he thinks that food might be in the offing! 

Not far away from the other three boys in the paddock is Fyta, also quite keen to be fed some goodies, like apples, Swede (turnip) or carrots.  They got some apples!

Although it's not the clearest photo of Faro, this still shows him in a normal pose with his ears back and not looking directly at the camera.

We've had quite a bit of rain this week but midweek saw some good sunshine which helped to dry the boys off a bit.

This is what 'in your face' looks like with Fergus!  He's got plenty of head adornment and a mouthful of grass but he's still looking for goodies to nibble!

Fidget - still wet after a couple of days of rain.  We continue to watch him closely due to his weight reduction but he continues to eat and drink normally.

And finally.........a long shot, taken this afternoon with the boys in the farthest paddock with Ben Wyvis to the north in the background.