Peat bog/cotton buds

Rannoch brindled beauty moth 

When you put your foot it, if it doesn’t drown you, it makes you feel like a complete arse. 

The bird’s nest is in the cold Sutherland hearth. Peatland people betrayed by those who owed them a duty of care.

 

 

Out on the moss the cuckoo’s favourite food is the hairy caterpillar. The gut of the cuckoo is so full of these caterpillars that it is like a furry purse. 

“…The nest of the curlew / is in the bubbling peat-moss…” from a traditional Highland song, quoted by @JimHunter22 in ‘The Other Side of Sorrow’ @BirlinnBooks 

Cutting, catching, throwing: rhythms and patterns at the Mayday peatbank. 

After another glorious May Bank Holiday cutting, more beer. 

A beer after the cutting is finished…

Mayday weekend is peat cutting time. The tairsgeir, tusker or turf spade is stained the same colour as the peat .