A beef and sheep farmer from Strathspey has had to use a canoe to check his livestock following the extreme flooding in the area.
Heavy rain showers on Friday evening through to Monday morning resulted in the River Spey bursting its banks with water rising onto farmland and the B970 Grantown to Newtonmore road.
Calvin Smith, who farms with his father Neil at Culreach and Tomdhu near Nethy Bridge has been badly affected by the flooding and said 60% to 70% of their farmland was under water.
They run 20 suckler cows and 550 breeding ewes, and have already salvaged five dead lambs from the floods.
He said there could be more drowned but they wouldn’t know until the water disappears.
“My father has never seen flooding like it in his lifetime – the river is about 800 metres away from the fields that are flooded,” said Calvin.
“We were warned about potential flooding but we didn’t think it would have been as bad as this. We moved livestock onto higher ground on Friday and then again on Saturday but the water still managed to reach them.”
Since the floods, the family, who own Culreach and rent Tomdhu from Seafield Estate, have been checking the 400 lambs and stirks with binoculars until Calvin was provided with a canoe from the Abernethy Outdoor Centre.
“The local community has been great, everyone is always stopping to ask if they can help with anything,” said Calvin.
“Prior to the floods, we were transitioning the lambs onto red clover so were shifting them on and off each day. The canoe has allowed my dog and I to go over and shift the lambs. It’s been a great help.”
Calvin also said that 12 acres of forage crop such as stubble turnips and kale was under water which was likely to be of no use for winter stock feeds now.