All you need is lovage

We saw a bird of prey tussle with another bird today before dispatching it right in front of us. There was a loud screeching then the two birds spilled out onto the path. The victim fell silent and still. We’re not sure what the bird of prey was but likely a buzzard or falcon (update: we’ve since learnt it was a male sparrowhawk). I got a photo of it. You can see the tail of the victim poking out from under the left wing. It flew off with its meal shortly after I took this photo.

Falkland Estate is full of wildlife. We saw a family of deer today too. It’s a bit hard to make out in my photo but in the centre of the pic is mum with two bambis behind.

Even the verges of carparks are teeming with life as they’ve left the wild flowers to flourish rather than mowing it and it looks much nicer than a strip of grass, or even worse, hard landscaping.

I’ve been cooking recipes from Yotam Ottolinghi’s book and the Pillars of Hercules grocery store always has the ingredients I need. Today I went in looking for lovage and couldn’t find any. I asked a member of staff whether they had any and she said no but could pick me some which she duly did.

We discovered more walks around the Falkland Estate today. It’s full of wonderful walking paths. This is a ruined chapel.

The forest is so thick it’s quite dark in places.

There are some interesting geological formations.

And lots of rhododendrons which are an imported invasive species in the UK.

This is the Tyndall Bruce monument, built by Margaret Tyndall Bruce in memory of her husband, Onesiphorus Tyndall Bruce in 1855.

Margaret Bruce inherited the Falkland Estate from her uncle and married Onesiphorus Tyndall whereupon they changed the family name to Tyndall Bruce. They were apparently much loved in the area, contributing to the community, including building the parish church and village fountain. There’s a statue of Onesiphorus in the church grounds.

And me standing in front of the fountain.

They also planted lots of trees on the estate and there’s a plaque on the monument to commemorate this. It reads,

“To mark the centenary of the laird who first afforested the Lomonds to the great benefit of his country in two world wars. Also to record a season during which 140 acres have been replanted. This plaque was unveiled on 19th March 1955 by Mrs Michael Crichton-Stuart of Falkland in the presence of the estate foresters who included descendants of one who took part in the first planting and the laird who succeeded Mr Bruce to the ancient title of Her Majesty’s Forester of Falkland.
These woodlands are dedicated. The hope that they may never again be devastated in the cause of war nor by the fires of the careless.”

There were young recently-planted saplings around the monument today.

It’s heart-warming to see a well-managed and ethically responsible, yet profitable, estate like Falkland. It may seem like a low bar – grow food, plant trees, and don’t fuck up the wildlife – but it’s not uncommon to read stories like this one about a land owner in England, Christopher Hodgson, who was found guilty of using banned chemicals to poison buzzards. Unfortunately the only consequence is a fine. There should be jail time for people who kill birds of prey. The sooner shooting estates are banned the better.