Animals at Kelburn
Keep up to date on what the Kelburn Animals are up to here:
Geese
Our geese are Amelia and Grumman.
Amelia is named after one of the geese from the film the Aristocats and Grumman is named after a Grumman Goose aircraft.
Did you know geese can live for over 20 years?
Amelia and Grumman love to have baths in the trough, the paddling pools and their pond.
Amelia and Grumman have recently been joined by our newest arrivals!
Chickens
We have lots of different breeds of chickens including Bluebelles, Sussex, Black tails, Emeralds and Leghorns!
We have over 20 chickens and each one has their own name such as Gandalf, Azura, Chattie, Peony & Xena.
You might see the chickens rolling about on the ground and fluffing their feathers in the dirt, this is called dust bathing and keeps them free from pests!
Did you know male chickens are called Cockerels and female chickens are called Hens?
Ducks
We have a smaller flock of ducks compared to chickens, some of their names are Ben, Smudge, Tulip & Daffodil.
Did you know ducks are omnivores?
This means they eat plants, grass, bugs and all sorts!
You will probably hear our ducks before you see them, the girls sound like they are laughing!
Did you know that ducks have a preen gland which secretes oil?
They use this oil to waterproof their feathers!
The ducks will return to the field shortly!
Alpacas (not Llamas!)
Our Alpacas are called Hester (black wool) & Stella (brown wool).
They moved to Scotland in 2020 from Oxfordshire!
Did you know Alpaca wool is lighter, warmer, and softer than sheep’s wool and also hypoallergenic?
Soay Sheep
Soay are a Scottish breed from the St Kilda archipelago to the far northwest, about 40 miles off North Uist.
In 1930 the 36 remaining inhabitants evacuated from St Kilda and the sheep have lived wild on the island since.
Our Soay Sheep are all boys and have Scottish names, such as Gregor, Glen, Graham, Fraser, Fingal & Fergus.
Did you know Soay Sheep naturally shed their wool so they don’t need to be sheared?
There are three different colours in the Field, can you spot them all?
Dougal is the odd one out and is pied.
Gordon, Glen, Graham and Gregor are light phase mouflon colour.
Fingal, Fergus, Finlay and Fraser are dark phase or “wild” colour.
Yoko
Yoko the ginger tom cat lives at Kelburn Estate with two of the on-site rangers.
He’s getting a bit old now so he usually only ventures out in the late afternoon and evening, if you’re camping you might see him looking for mice in the fields!
