Just some very adorable photos of a bank vole taken at the bird hide to brighten up your Monday afternoon!
📷 Alistair Moulstone
09.03.2026 12:54
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Just some very adorable photos of a bank vole taken at the bird hide to brighten up your Monday afternoon!
📷 Alistair Moulstone
Very proud to see Langholm on the big screen at Holyrood last week used as a national example of Community Wealth Building!
A very inspiring event organised by Local People Leading.
Lots of amazing stories about Scottish Communities here:
www.scottishcommunityalliance.org.uk/community-we...
Some fantastic photos taken over the weekend of a male hen harrier on Tarras Valley.
Don't forget we still have some spaces available on our up and coming Skydancer Day bird watching tours!
The booking link is here: tickets.mp/tvnrskydance...
📸 Photo credit: Alistair Moulstone
A great visit from @srucnews.bsky.social yesterday despite the torrential rain!
Perfect conditions for getting a good look at our peat restoration areas. Lots of water being held in blocked ditches and plenty of sphagnum moss colonising!
Signs of spring on the reserve brightening up a very wet and gloomy Wednesday in Langholm 🌱🐸
Spring is on the way ☀️
Self seeded Sitka Spruce going, going, GONE! A good week to clear these non native trees from our peat bogs which have spread in from commercial forestry while the ground has been frozen! ❄️
What a fantastic shot of some of our resident Goldfinches enjoying the feeders at the Laverock Hide on a frosty cold day ❄️☀️
A big thanks to all our volunteers who help top up the feed stations, the birds are definitely making the most of them!
The Langholm Initiative joins us to talk about Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, one of Scotland's largest community land buyouts to create a large-scale nature reserve 💚 #Langholm Register for the online BDS Annual Meeting on Saturday 15 November 2025 👉 british-dragonflies.org.uk/event/annual...
The rain really hasn’t stopped in Langholm ☔️💧
A perfect time to see how our new wetland and peatland sites are standing up to the ongoing deluge.
Lots of new pools in blocked ditches, sphagnum moss colonising and wetland ponds full!
Some beautiful shots of resident Lakeland Fell ponies Stan, Dan and Paddy. They have been really thriving on the rough hill pastures on Tarras Valley and doing a fantastic job helping to regenerate the grassland habitats!
📷 Faith Garvey
slow worm under hibernacula
adder on road
adder in grass
common lizard on a drystone wall
We accidentally missed World Reptile Day on Tuesday this week 🫣 so better late than never, we thought we’d take a moment to celebrate our fascinating reptiles!
We are lucky to have all three of Scotland's native reptiles here on Tarras Valley which are the Common Lizard, Adder and Slow Worm 🐍🦎
Anyone noticing LOTs of acorns this year?
It’s looking like 2025 is a mast year, an ecological phenomenon where trees produce bumper crops of seeds and fruits ensuring the next generation of trees and a rich bounty for wildlife! 🌱
Our ancient oak forests are a wonderful sight at the moment 🍁🍂🌿
We’re delighted to have won Silver at the @GlobalGoodAwards in the Wild World: Recover, Regenerate, Rewild category, alongside @nationaltrust.org.uk Holnicote Estate! 🌍 Huge thanks to everyone who made the Tarras Valley community buy-out and reserve possible. #GlobalGoodAwards
Our feeder had two very different visitors – a nimble pine marten who scaled it with ease, and a determined badger who gave climbing a go… but didn’t quite manage it! Nature’s personalities always keep us smiling.
Week two in Taras Valley and Langholm Moor Nature Reserve filming our Community Wealth Building stories- where community ownership supports nature based enterprise for meaningful nature and climate contributions. @tarrasvalleynr.bsky.social @communitywoods.bsky.social @scottishbeacon.bsky.social
Our 3rd annual Community Land Ceilidh is back this October! 🎶💃 Free entry (donations welcome for kids’ outdoor learning). Music from Iain Anderson’s band, raffle & buffet. Book your spot: hello@tarrasvalleynaturereserve.org / 013873 80914. Thanks to @CommunityLandScotland!
We’re hiring! 🎉 Our first Graduate Placement is open – a 12-month role with the Langholm Initiative team, working on projects at Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. Apply by 1pm, 3 Oct. More info 👉 www.tarrasvalleynaturereserve.org/vacancies
We’ve had amazing news! 🪶 A male Hen Harrier that fledged from Tarras in 2020 has been spotted this summer on a nest camera in North Wales — the first sighting from our 2020 chicks! A hopeful story for this species 💚 Thanks to RSPB & Keith Offord for sharing. 📸 Keith Offord
Insects are the building blocks of biodiversity 🐛🦋🐜🐝
Some hopeful results from ongoing community -led insect surveying on the reserve!
✅ 302 moth species now recorded - 23% of Scotlands 1300 species!
✅ 13 of 26 Scottish Dragonfly species on our new ponds 💧
✅ 19 Butterfly species recorded!
We held a sunny summer BBQ at Cronksbank to thank our amazing Tarras Valley volunteers! 🌞 Since March they’ve given 350+ hours, planting trees, tackling invasives, monitoring wildlife & more. We couldn’t do it without you. Huge thank you! 🌿💚 #TarrasValleyNatureReserve
Last week we hosted part two of our Herbivore Impact Assessment training with the Woodland Trust Scotland, focusing on monitoring grazing impact on bog and heathland.
Thanks to our brilliant volunteers, survey work like this helps guide long-term land restoration! 🌿✨
We're pleased to take part in the Roots to Regeneration grazing workshop with Caroline Grindrod and @herdyshepherd.bsky.social in the North Lakes. The 3 days looked at regenerative grazing practices, reducing wormers and antibiotics, soil health, all to help boost profitability and nature.
We were delighted to welcome this year’s Front Three, Cornet Patterson and his right- and left-hand men, Bailey and Chris!
We presented Cornet Patterson with a small gift and wished them all the best for Friday.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Common Riding!
Safe Oot, Safe In! 🐎💙 #CommonRiding2025
Thanks to the Community Woodlands Association for organising an exchange visit to Kilsture Forest. Several different groups who own woodland came along to look at the work that the Kilsture group are involved in around enhancing the biodiversity of the woodland.
Thanks making us feel so welcome!
We are delighted to see the first phase of Tarras Valley signage going on site this week!
The signage has been designed by Studio Walden, funded by South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) and being installed by Simon Richardson Contracting fencing team as part of our ‘Welcome to Tarras Valley’ project.
We are delighted to have been shortlisted for a prestigious @globalgoodaward in the brand-new category for 2025 called Wild World: Recover, Regenerate, Rewild!
globalgoodawards.co.uk/2025-global-...
Wish us luck for the awards in September and good luck to all the other finalists!
🌿 Volunteer Week ends with roots in the ground! 🌿
Today we were back at Lower Tarras — the heart of our biggest restoration effort — planting juniper trees with our brilliant volunteers. Thank you to everyone who joined us today and throughout the year.
🎣 Caught in the act!
Our trap cam on the River Tarras captured this incredible footage of a heron successfully catching its lunch. A perfect example of the wild moments happening all around us and nature doing its thing.
#TarrasValley #Wildlife #Heron #Nature #RiverTarras #BirdsOfBritain
🌿 It’s #VolunteersWeek — and we want to say a massive THANK YOU!
From tree planting to bracken bashing, fence and sitka spruce removal — we couldn’t do it without our amazing volunteers. 💚
You’re helping shape a better future for nature & community!
#VolunteersWeek #Volunteers #ThankYouVolunteers
We’ve loved seeing your wildlife photos from Tarras Valley! 🖼️✨
- Grey Wagtail
- Pied Flycatcher
- Long Tailed Tit
Tag us or email hello@tarrasvalleynaturereserve.org to share yours!
Photos:
Caroline Blackie
Alistair Moulstone
Michael White
Shug Ferguson
