Welcome from the AB&A Matthews site to this web page of owners' pictures (well a few of them!).
Though
our land extends to about 60 acres, we are not farmers.
Nor do we come from a farming background. The most land
we had previously owned was a garden of about 1/3 acre!
We hope these photographs and brief text will give you an
idea of what Meikle Eldrig is like.
The air is unpolluted and so lichens thrive on the rocks
and trees.
We graze the pastures in the Spring and Autumn using a local farmers sheep as we do not have any animals of our own.
We also use a Tracmaster mower to cut some of the more vigorous growth. Sheep are not ideal - native ponies would be better and are more photogenic!
Leaving the fields ungrazed in summer enables many flowers to bloom and attracts insects to feed. Small mammals and birds find food and cover.
Whorled Caraway, a nationally scarce plant, grows in several fields and is prolific in one of them.
We
have recorded about 70 species of birds at Meikle Eldrig,
including Nightjar, Hen Harrier, Waxwing, Woodcock,
Common Crossbill.
Swallows, house martins, spotted flycathers, pied wagtails,
wrens and blackbirds have all nested on the house walls.
Part of our woodland is carpeted with bluebells in spring. Red squirrels live in the woodland but we do not see them very often. Nuthatches are nesting in one of our beech trees for the first time this year.
We see stoats regularly near the house. This one in its winter coat was photographed through the kitchen window.
Two large ponds enhance the Meikle Eldrig landscape. Large numbers of frogs and toads spawn there. Mallards, little grebes, moorhens and greylags have all nested there.
It doesn't snow very often here, but when it does, it is worth reaching for the camera.
