A New Road and a Baby Barn Owl

On my Thursday walk with Mike Tinker today we had decided to walk the new road Langholm Initiative have had made to take the trees out of the felled wood at Hallpath. This has had to be done in the summer to prevent any damage to the habitat on Whita Hill.

This is at the Broomholmshiels end of the road.

A grand view of Langholm in the distance

Part of the road follows the track made by the people working on the pylons a couple of years ago

An even better view of Langholm

A little bit higher up from Broomholmshiels

We stopped for a Coffee Break at Broomholmshiels and Mike noticed in the distance a fluffy ball in the middle of the road so on closer inspection we found this baby Barn Owl.

It was very cute but in real danger from the forestry trucks going along the road

We decided to pick it up and put it back in the barn so Mike being very brave did the deed but not before it had stuck its claw into his finger and I had to remove it. 

This was the first time Mike had seen a baby Barn Owl never mind pick it up.

One of the Forestry Trucks plying the new road

A most beautiful bird. We contacted Langholm Initiative and two of the Tarras valley Nature Reserve team came up to look at it and managed to get it back into the nest box. They said that the Barn Owl expert Rick would visit tonight to see that it was ok. 

A Visit to Buccleuch Mill

Our first visit in Buccleuch Mill was to Elliot's Shed which is owned by Lynn Elliot who works with British  Wool to produce his range of Tarras Tweed, a soft handling Shetland cloth which has found favour for many end uses.

Our next visit was to Kynoch where I was delighted to meet Kay who I used to work with in 1983 at R G Neill & Sons.  They are doing very well and getting some very good orders for their expensive luxury cloth.

We then crossed the yard to FTS Dyers who are specialists in dyeing wool and its associated blends.They employ 31 people and business is very good with a possibility of an increase in capacity from new clients soon which should add new jobs to the company.  

David enjoyed the visit as he joined the company when it was Langholm Dyeing & Finishing and run by his father Drew Stevenson in the late 60s. 

We were given a superb look round the mill by Manager James Blackburn and his enthusiasm for his work made it such an interesting visit.  

Our next visit was to Doctor Grow where these two brothers have started a small garden and horticultural supplies company specialising in growing mediums and fertilisers. They are very enthusiastic and hard working and seem to be doing very well. 

Next door is Glen Isla where top quality scarves are inspected, labelled, and despatched from this work shop.

From expensive cashmere we moved to a firm Askerebe Clearance who buy anything thats cheap from bankrupt companies and sell the products on to anybody who wants them.  

The next company was Yarns to Yearn for owned by Alan Miller. He sells a wide range of yarns  all over the world mostly to people who wish to make their own items of clothing. He has shipped to over 60 countries over the last few years. He also sells these special Bears in Tartan and this Bear is going to accompany him on a Lands End to John of Groats cycle trip in September and then will be raffled and won by a very lucky person. 

This piece of wood from Daniel Lacey Design & Furniture is about 7500 years old and is a Bog Oak found near the Solway a few years ago. He will make it into a superb item of furniture. The quality of his work is second to none and he is one of the finest furniture makers in Europe. I never tire of visiting his workshop and of course can only dream of owning a piece of his very expensive furniture. 

Our last company visited was Eskdale Solutions a web design and marketing agency. We also visited Drove Weaving but I forgot to take a photograph there. The tour round Buccleuch Mill was excellent and most enjoyable. I reckoned up that there are about 80 people working in the old mill buildings and that could increase soon.