Walking Jenny Nobles Gill

 

It was such a beautiful morning I decided to walk round Jenny Nobles Gill which takes you onto The Tarras Valley Nature Reserve and my favourite walk. Normally I would take about 1.5 hours to do this walk of 4 miles but today I stopped 3 times as it was so beautiful and sat and enjoyed the sounds of the birds singing. My first stop and 10 minute seat was at The Round House.

I notice TVNR has cut a lot of the dead bracken, but no doubt it will come again in the spring

The first of the Longwood Oak trees with many of them over 300 years old

Although the path was quite muddy and waterlogged in places it was not too bad at this part of the walk.

A couple of the very old Oak trees

This one is one of my favourites

And this must be one of the oldest

The sign post for Jenny Nobles Gill

The old railway line and the site of my next 10 minute rest. I recorded 5 native birds on my phone app in a 5 minute spell. None of them were visitors. Robin, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit and a Coal Tit. In a few weeks time I will sit in the same place and should get lots more. My record last spring was 22 birds in a 10 minute spell.

The entrance from the road to Jenny Nobles Gill and the new sign identifying it as TVNR and not Buccleuch Estates. I found a Geocache among the trees near here.

Skippers Bridge from as far down the banking as I dared to go

Border Esk which has been a distillery a garage and now private houses. 

Skippers Bridge from the other side. My last stop was at Langholm Old Bowling Club to see the tremendous work being done by the club to improve the clubhouse. All should be ready for the opening of the green at the end of April. The green is in excellent condition, but I forgot to take a photograph of it.

A most enjoyable 2 hour walk.

A Day in Langholm with our Edinburgh Friends

 

Our Edinburgh friends Martin, John and Ken came down to Langholm today for a day out with myself and Tom. After having Coffee or Drinking Chocolate and Biscuits at Ardlui we set out for a short walk round the Lodge Walks. Ten years ago our walks would be at least 8 miles but today was just about 2.5 miles as we had lunch booked at Whitshiels. The conversation was great but the pace was much slower as the average age is just under 80 years.

Tom and Martin bringing up the rear over the Langholm Bridge

Tom and Martin sit on the Langholm Walks seat on the Castleholm

A nice display of Snowdrops near the Duchess Bridge

Martin, John, Tom, and Ken on the Duchess Bridge. A most enjoyable day and a fabulous lunch at Whitshiels. We plan to meet again in April probably in Berwickshire when Gaye and I have a week in a nice cottage at Burnmouth. We have been walking together for all our retirement years and have had many walking holidays together all over the country.

Beck's Burn Diversion and Problems

On a visit to The Becks Burn today Charlie and I saw for ourselves the problem created by recent floods. The bridge is due to be repaired soon as it is in a dire state, but now the burn had made itself a diversion, that at the moment leads nowhere but it is causing a marshy area and could eventually join the burn further down and create an island. On this photo you can see the new stream at the top left of the photo and the bridge to the right of the centre of the photo. Walkers now have to cross on stepping stones to get across the new stream.

Near the wee tree stump is where walkers have to cross the new diversion.

looking from higher up this is the area where all the water is flowing and I think it will eventually join up with The Beck's Burn a few yards further down creating an island.

The old bridge due to be repaired soon. Hopefully there will still be a burn going under it, but water is such a powerful element you never know what the next flood might bring and it could use the new diversion and eventually this bridge might be useless. There is such a lot of gravel in the burn and it just depends on how it reacts in the next flood.

 

Our Silver Birch Gets Pruned

 

For many years I have had people knocking on our door offering to prune our Silver Birch tree and at many different prices.Last autumn a local tree surgeon gave me a good price and said he would do the job when it had no leaves on. This was done today and it’s had a good prune. This was just before he started.

You need to have a good head for heights to do this job.

He gets very high up and spent nearly 4 hours in the tree.

There is a lot of shredding to be done tomorrow when they come back.

The pruning finished.

The Ponds are a Great Place to Sit for a While

Normally most of my photos locally are taken in the morning when I go my daily walk. I did my walk as usual this morning but it was such a lovely day I decided to drive down to the Ponds at the lower end of The Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. The light was just perfect, although it was quite cold. There are 2 lovely seats there created by local furniture maker Daniel Lacey so I sat on them for about 40 minutes and enjoyed the views. At the top pond a pair of Dippers flitted past me now and again, but never stopped anywhere for long. 

I never tire of visiting these ponds and soon they will be full of life and the banks will be a mass of wild flowers

The reflections of the trees on the farthest away pond were just magical

 

My Favourite Photos of 2025

January 2025 and our Grandson Elliot enjoying life at Bear Valley Ski Resort in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. All the American Graham family love their skiing.

22nd January and a meeting of the Last of the Summer Wine Walkers at Stow

Early February and Fraser is featured in a News Release by GM. https://news.gm.com/home.detail.html/Pages/topic/us/en/2025/feb/0210-graham.html

One of the new ponds created on The Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. This area became one of my favourite places in 2025 and hardly a month went by when I didn't visit them. They should be spectacular in spring 2026.

This is a Joshua Tree in The Joshua Tree National Park visited by Fraser and family in February 2025

Gaye's friends Margaret and Sandra on our annual lunch at Moreland near Penrith

March 2025 and a walk at Westerhall with John and Sandria

Early April and the American Grahams arrive for a week on the Northumberland coast at Seahouses. This is Elliot and Eleanor at Cragside in front of Gilnockie Tower

The Graham family before a kayaking expedition at Amble

Eleanor & Elliot at Bamburgh Castle

and their late Granny Sidne on the same throne several years earlier

Dinner in Newcastle with the family. Tommy was still in USA on a school trip and Hannah was in The Netherlands at University

Another get together of the Last of the Summer Wine Walkers at Gattonside near Melrose

May and a day trip to the Nith at Glencaple

June and Fraser, Elliot and Tommy are on a raft expedition on Middle Fork American River. Some of the rapids were spectacular and on one fast part of the river only Tommy stayed in the raft.

end June and Mario, Fiona and Leo are near Whitley Bay

July and the Last of the Summer Wine Walkers have our wettest ever walk at Joppa in Edinburgh

While the next day Mike and Charlie and myself have a lovely walk in Langholm

Gaye on South Pier in Blackpool in July

Leo in middle row in the blue T shirt on a school trip to China

Most days I walk past Alison Hutton's garden and its always a pleasure to see what is in bloom. This particular July day it was as spectacular as any time I have seen it. 

Summer Fair night and the bands playing Highland Cathedral in the market place 

Hannah and Leo enjoying a walk on The Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in August

Fiona and family with Mum and Dad in August

The Tree of the Year 2021 at Kippford and another Last of the Summer wine walkers get together

September and the Ponds on Lower Tarras Valley Nature Reserve are looking much better now

Another last of the summer Wine get together at Kelso

A spectacular autumnal view of a tree in Wilton Park, Hawick

October and a day out with my ex employees and friend Charlie at St. James Park Newcastle

End November and one of the TVNR Highland Coos

The TVNR Lakeland Fell Ponies in December

The final walk of 2025 with The Last of the Summer Wine Walkers at Tweedbank