Mairi-Claire Connor

Mummy of tiny monster, cat lover, horse addict & worryingly dependant on Earl Grey tea. Sings a bit. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@MissCurrerBell As a rider, and knowing horses, they are very good at sensing potential danger (and crisp packets do fall under the life threatening category 🤣) but he heard the explosions from the camp, and was rightly spooked

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@DaveTait176 @ForcesNews The other driver was banned as they were at fault. The full video shows exactly wha happened. The military vehicle was not at fault int he slightest

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@Deffusible @ForcesNews They were banned as per the headline. The landrover had to swerve due to the other drivers error, thus causing the above accident

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@MissCurrerBell @sararipple Yes I picked up on that at the time and the similarities between the two!

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

Doris is a four-year-old Texel ewe on a fell in the Lake District.

Doris is, according to several recent opinion pieces, destroying the planet.

Let's check in on Doris.

6:30am - Doris began grazing. The fell she is grazing is semi-natural upland grassland. It has existed in this condition for approximately eight hundred years because sheep have been grazing it continuously for approximately eight hundred years. Without Doris, the coarse grasses outcompete the finer ones. The wildflowers disappear. The skylarks that nest at ground level lose the open sward they need and abandon the site. Doris does not know what a skylark is. She has found some good grass near the wall and that is the full extent of her agenda.

7:45am - Doris walked into the bog. This was not the plan. There was no plan. Doris extracted herself, turned around, and regarded the bog with the expression of an animal that has decided the bog started it.

9:00am - Doris found a gap in the wall and went through it. She was now in Brian's field. Brian's field is, by any measurable standard, identical to Doris's field. Doris is aware of this and does not consider it relevant.

10:30am - Doris was returned to her field. The farmer repaired the gap. Doris watched the repair with the focused attention of an animal taking measurements.

11:15am - Doris rolled into a dip in the fell and got cast. This means she ended up on her back and could not right herself because the weight of her fleece shifted her centre of gravity past the point of recovery. She lay there in the dip looking at the sky with the composure of an animal that has decided the sky is quite interesting actually.

11:40am - The farmer found her, righted her. Doris walked away at speed. No acknowledgement. Complete dignity. As though the last twenty-five minutes had happened to a different sheep.

1:00pm - Doris grazed the area around the base of the dry-stone wall. The grazing keeps the vegetation short enough that the wall's base stays dry and frost doesn't work into the joints and expand. The wall is two hundred and sixty years old. It will outlast everything currently being written about livestock farming if the vegetation around it is managed. It is being managed by Doris eating grass. Doris does not know she is doing conservation work. Doris has found something particularly good near the fourth stone from the bottom.

3:00pm - Doris produced manure. The manure will feed the soil microbiome. The soil microbiome will grow the grass. The grass will grow back where Doris has grazed it. The grazed areas will remain open enough for the tormentil and harebells to survive. The tormentil and harebells are why people drive three hours from Manchester to walk on this fell.

This system has no external inputs. It has been running since Texel sheep were brought to these fells from the Netherlands in 1970 and discovered the gaps in the walls shortly afterward.

5:00pm - Doris lay down. The fell was quiet. The skylarks were still up. The wildflowers were still in the turf.

5:47pm - Doris found a new gap. She was in Brian's field again.

Brian has started keeping a log.

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@GAltringham Southern comfort when I was around 21…I’m 44 and never touched it since 🤮

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@witty_genstein You had me there 😆

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@ick_real Custard!

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@ThrillaRilla369 I’m too far in to change now. Thanks though 😉

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@paulajaynebyrne Ahh Stourhead. My favourite place to visit (my husband proposed at apollos temple)

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@excelduru Monty

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@More_Sanditon @masterpiecepbs @RedPlanetTV @netflix @PrimeVideo @liamgallagher I think you meant to tag @LiamGarrigan81 🙊😆

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@JollofBallers Celtic?

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@outlanderfan_nl 😆😆 the letter we all hoped was from Xander…

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@liliuhms @arvalis What about a branded trolley token? They’re very useful for those (like me) who end up losing them 🫣

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@ThrillaRilla369 I’m UK and we used either wallpaper or posters!

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@UndisScot Looks like the Italian chapel in Orkney?

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@hilltopjennifer @rlimitexceeded @fem_mb When I was induced I was monitored whilst still wearing my own clothes. I only changed once I was in established labour…

[Mairi-Claire Connor @mcc81]

@DreyfusJames No way her voice message was that short?! I normally have to start taking notes so I can respond appropriately 😆😆😆