Alpacas on Lewis

Saturday was a red letter day for me when we went to visit with the Lewis Alpacas, and what a fine bunch they are - every bit as cute in the flesh as they are in photos.

They come to the bucket very readily and it was great to see them so close up....

The angle on this picture is a bit strange - this ones legs aren't really this thin and her feet are quite sizeable. I didn't realise that they don't have hooves, they have pads on the soles of their feet a bit like dogs.

Here's Jasmine looking pensively out onto the croft. The location is just fabulous, right on the coastline at North Galson with beautiful flat pasture - most unlike our moonscape on Scalpay!

I bet it gets cold and windy in the winter though!

On the way home, Bramble had had enough of the day and found Jasmines blanket - which I've taken to hand-spin in exchange for three sacks of top notch Hebridean fleeces to add to this years pool for machine spinning - a welcome pillow!

We have also located a new collie pup! Very exciting. Hope to be picking him up in a couple of weeks when he's old enough to leave his mum. More about this later.......

Today we have a bird of prey - small, a bit grey and very quick - swooping around the croft. I'm a bit worried about Meryl and the black chick, but the hen seems to be keeping them inside their enclosure today, which is very sensible of her.