Blawhorn Wood

Roofs of Whiteside on left and ruins of original Wester Whin on right

Surviving among conifer plantations

There are conifers of various sizes in this area

A bit of nifty footwork to keep boots dry

This led to Drumelzie, now a ruin

Some deciduous trees surviving along track in a conifer plantation

Just east of Blawhorn Moss

Between a row of beech trees and conifer plantation

The track swings behind the buildings

The track leads to the edge of Blawhorn Moss Nature Reserve

Probably hiding boggy area. Pond might be visible when vegetation dies back

This set of plastic corrugated dams obviously replaced an older set of now-rotten wooden ones which can also clearly be seen. The dams are situated along a fairly steep drain (in relation to its surroundings at least) and the aim is to stop areas of this protected raised peat bog here from drying out. I'm sure there is solid reasoning behind this method, but having seen this setup before, often wonder whether it would not be easier filling in the drain with peat sourced from elsewhere. Perhaps because we have so much peat in Britain, particularly the Northern bit, we seem to almost stand alone in wanting to keep it in situ - other countries dig it up and sell it as a matter of course. It being managed land, it is possibly not done for fear of introducing the unknown effects of tiny alien species contained within the peat. I am actually set to study this area as part of an environmental course, so perhaps I will be able to add more to this square than my usual 'educated' guesses in the long run! Incidentally, the name 'Blawhorn' is said, according to the online pamphlet about the reserve, to derive from the practice of somebody once blowing a horn up here to alert the innkeeper in the nearby village of Blackridge to the appearance of travellers on foot and horseback heading in their direction. While plausible in a way, this is also slightly ridiculous in others, unless the innkeeper was regularly a good distance away tending a farm. Surely the travellers on the Glasgow to Edinburgh route would know that there was a stopping point in the village, and if not, the inn would surely have a sign? Therefore even if the innkeeper was short-staffed and working in the surrounding fields he could just leave out a horn for his customers to blow - this would surely be cheaper and more effective than relying on a sentry positioned in a peat bog?!

The drain approaches here from the rough direction of Easter Whin, the farm on the right of the picture. It flows into Drumtassie Burn (unseen and directly below camera), which at this point, even after a fair amount of recent rain, is more of a dribble and far less substantial than the drain itself. Drumtassie Burn, which rises from the boggy ground less than a mile West of here, marks the boundary between West Lothian and the Falkirk council area (which, confusingly, is officially just called Falkirk, like the town) for its entire length - though it gets renamed Lin Mill Burn a couple of miles downstream - until it reaches the River Avon. The picture was taken standing in West Lothian, but everything in shot is in Falkirk.

This picture was taken from the pavement on the North side of the A89. The sole reason for taking it was that the dead tree to the left of the copse straight ahead looked like a deer's head with antlers from this viewpoint! The overhead lines running above the horizon are only visible in the parts of the sky that are clouded over, something I have never noticed before in pictures - the short section to the right of the dead tree looks very odd indeed.

Viewed on a bright but chilly late-December afternoon.

A pharmacy and a convenience store in the middle of Blackridge village.

The walkers were enjoying the chilly but bright winter weather.

Formerly the A8, this route is much quieter with most of the traffic now using the M8. A winter view taken in mid-December.