Ealasaid the crofting vet with her menagerie of feathered, furry and woolly friends.

Ealasaid Dick is a young vet and crofter living in North Uist. Her family originate from Berneray and are in fact distant relatives of my husband through her mother’s family so as they term in the Hebrides we are ‘cousins’ … of sorts!!

We are now also proud owners of Ealasaid’s Hebridean ram ‘Bail’Ur Ailean’ which she reared from a lamb. He is a fine fella, handsome and confident (will eat from your hand) and has proved himself as quite able to father lambs!!

This year, I blended Ealasaid’s Hebridean fleece with that of our own to spin into our pure Hebridean Peaty Brown yarn.

I thought it would, therefore, be interesting for you to ‘meet’ Ealasaid and her menagerie of poultry, sheep and other furry friends so you know the back-story wound into our yarn. You can catch up on her crofting activities through her Instagram account @croftlifeuist

I initially grew up in Balemore in North Uist the elder sister to two twin siblings Lachie and Chrissie. There is actually only 1 year and 2 weeks between us so it must have been really quite hard work for our parents in those earlier years. I remember Dad used to manage to get home during his lunch break to hang out the washing and make us lunch to help out. When we were still small, but the chaos of twins had abated a little, Mum and Dad built a house at Newton and it is here that I had my earliest first-hand crofting experience.

From a very young age, I was always interested in animals and knew I wanted to be a vet. Dad took on a few chickens, black-face sheep and dabbled with Hebrideans, which were then registered as a rare breed. However, he didn’t have the patience for pedigrees and such like so they didn’t last long as part of his flock. As children we enjoyed the company of our naughty terrier ‘Megan’, sheep dog ‘Tip’ and pet lamb ‘Shaun’ (Wallace and Gromit: a Close Shave had just come out of course!).

After graduating from Veterinary Medicine in 2014, I moved back to North Uist and have since then taken up a croft overlooking the hill of Eabhal while also working 2 weeks on/off with a vet practice in Rosshire. My father and boyfriend attend to my animals while I am away but I love coming home to them and enjoy my 2 weeks away from the pressures of work sorting, fixing and tending to my croft.

I currently have 32 Hebridean sheep including 19 breeding ewes. They are all such characters and are very easy to keep. I have only once had to intervene with a lambing as they lamb so easily. Their small size means I can lift them into a pick up if necessary on my own so I don’t have to rely on help. As the Hebrideans are native to the north they have evolved in this environment and are, therefore, well suited to the harsh climate and require very little supplementary feeding compared with most commercial breeds. They are very agile over rough ground, almost goat like, and really quite smart.

Of course I do have my favourites. ‘Sparky’ will be 18 years old, she is just so wise and steady. While ‘Alma’ is a princess as she won’t eat off dirty ground but is also very friendly and attentive. I get so much from my sheep. If I have had a stressful time at work, spending time with them really calms me down. I appreciate their quiet nature and how their antics make me laugh.

As for poultry, I have quite a lot of different kinds. In total 15 chickens plus 2 cockerels including Lavender Araucanas, Columbian Blacktails, Bantams and a Buff Orpington. I have started having a bit of fun ‘painting’ with egg colours. If you cross breed a hen that lays brown eggs with a blue egg cockerel you get shades of olive. I get a lot of satisfaction from collecting my eggs and putting them all in a basket together to marvel at their colour combinations. Of course I don’t sell them it is nice to give them away to family and neighbours especially just now when things are a bit difficult for everyone.

I also have a goose called Elsa, actually she is a greylag goose who thinks she is a chicken. She was brought home as an egg by my Springer Spaniel ‘Bessie’ in her mouth and I thought ‘let’s just put it under this broody hen and see what happens’. So out hatched a little greylag gosling and ever since she has been in the company of chickens … so she is a goose who thinks she is a chicken!!

Just to finish off my poultry menagerie, I have two Muscovy ducks ‘Elinda’ named after my Grandfather’s fishing boat and ‘Kelvin’ named after my Great Grandfather’s fishing boat that was the first motorised boat on the Isle of Berneray. They were hatched in an incubator and lived as house ducks for a time!

Of course no croft would be complete without a cat and so I have ‘Donald’ who came home from work with me one day as a small stray kitten and has lived in sofa heaven ever since.

I started my Instagram account @croftlifeuist for a bit of fun. I enjoy sharing my life through the eyes of my quirky animals that make me smile, laugh and bring me much happiness. I hope you will enjoy it too.

All photos by Ealasaid Dick.