George Simpson & Ben
We are fortunate that one of the local sheep farmers is an experienced sheepdog handler and is happy to allow us to work with his training sheep. George has often has over 4000 sheep to look after and has a preference for strong working dogs. The day after the Forgue Trial we were able to watch as George worked his dog Ben with a flock of approximately 40 sheep around the trial course.
Forgue Sheepdog Trial.
A cold Saturday morning found us spectating at the Forgue Sheepdog trial organised by George Simpson at his farm near to Huntly.
Sheep Herding Clinic, Drumdollo.
Once again, Agnes managed to talk Derek Scrimgeour into travelling north to help introduce a group of agility handlers to the art or herding.
Mute Swan in Flight
I often see Mute Swans on the river Don at Dyce, but very rarely see them in flight. This sequence of pictures captures one of these graceful birds taking off and then flying low across the surface of the river.
Clann An Drumma
Scottish Tribal band, 'Clann An Drumma' performing at the Scottish Game Fair, Scone Palace.
The 2010 Agility Zone Highland Final
On the 3rd July, the Scottish Game Fair held at Scone Palace, Perth, hosted the 2010 Agility Zone Higland Final. Images of all dogs from the afternoons final have been added to the agility images gallery.
The Worlds Smallest Swimming Pool
What do you get when you mix a hot summers day, a bucket and a determined border collie?
Avon Medium Challenge
Pictures of the Avon Medium Challenge finalists have been uploaded.
Brown Hare
This year we have seen a big increase in the number of Brown Hares we see near to our house. These pictures were taken early one evening in the neighbours Barley Field.
SKC Large Championship Final
Pictures from the SKC Large Championship final have been uploaded. Sadly I don't have pictures of all the dogs who reached the final.
Pictures of Siskins added to the Birds section
Siskins are one of the many species of birds we have living in the garden and are regular visitors to the bird feeders.
Fair City Agility Competition
The Fair City Show, held in the grounds of Scone Palace, is one of my personal favourite shows. Pictures taken of Saturdays 5-7 Large Jumping class have been uploaded to the Agility Pictures gallery.
Woodside Agility Competition
Pictures from the Woodside Championship final and some from the Olympia ABC qualifiers have now been uploaded.
Dundee Dog Agility Competition Last weekend was the start of the Outdoor Agility Competition season in Scotland. Stunning weather (for Scotland in April) and some challenging courses brought out the smile on most peoples faces.
Sheep herding - Lonscale Farm
In March we spent a weekend training with Sheep at Stonehouse and Lonscale. For us it was a huge change to be out without being in the snow.
Watching Derek working his dogs across the open hillsides at Lonscale is truely awe inspiring and leaves me wondering how on earth we are going to progress from the level we are at now to being able to work our dogs out at such distances?
Sheep herding
In Mid February we had a weekend where the snow had melted enough to enable us to get out an do some well needed herding practice at Forgue.
The last weekend of February found us back at Stonehouse for another training clinic. We made some good progress during the clinic, but still have an enormous way to go.
Corsica - Walking the GR 20 Back in 1998, together with 3 friends, we tackled the Northern part of GR 20 hiking route in Corsica. Corsica is a magical island boasting specatcular beaches, forest and high rugged mountains. The Northern part of the route starts in Calenzana an winds it's way to Vizzavona.
Let it Snow!
Being away visiting Agnes' parents over Christmas and New year we thought we would miss most of the wintery weather the UK was having, how wrong we were. We returned to the UK to freezing temperatures and heavy snow fall. At home the result was a thick blanket of snow of about a metre deep.
We didn't need to venture too far from the house to take some decent panoramic scenes.
Olympia International Horse of the Year Show. In 2009, Agnes qualified Manouk to compete in the Kennel Club Large Agility final held at the Olympia International Horse of the Year Show on the 19th December. Although not being that interested in horses before we went, the day we had there was brilliant. Although I didn't manage to take any photographs of the dog agility, I did take some of the other events that were going on during the day.