West Word - April 2025

The recent spell of relatively dry weather has meant that all things that grow seem to be off to a bit of a slow start. But with a couple of days of heavy downpours mixed with slow, steady drizzle, things have suddenly burst into life! 

Not least the calves and lambs. The calves this year are all crackers and the crofters are pleased to welcome a red beltie girl into the herd. A long awaited gift! Lambing has got off to a good start with lots of twins and a few sets of triplets. Caroline is extremely pleased that her new Badger Faced Sheep have produced fine looking lambs. Let’s not forget the Zwartbles with Target reliably producing a fine set of triplets. 

The NTS had a good Easter Trail/ Lambing Weekend with visitors learning all about the sheep in Canna and about lambing. Visitors took a tour of the lambing shed, enjoyed a talk on the different breeds we have here, did crafts and hunted for Easter Eggs. 

This coming July, there is the Nature Festival from 20th to 26th July - visitors will be able to enjoy a host of events throughout the week including talks from various nature based people such as woodlands, fungi, marine life and seabirds. Please visit the NTS Canna Eventbrite page for more details and to buy your tickets. 

The community is having their annual Canna 10K Trail Run on Saturday 24th May. There are still a few places available to register if you fancy dusting off your trail running shoes and running in our beautiful landscape. Runners and supporters can enjoy a post-run BBQ and a lively ceilidh in the evening. 

Please visit www.theisleofcanna.com/canna10ktrailrun-2025 to register!

Our brand new Visitor Hub is open and April has seen our visitors start to make use of the excellent facilities. We will be having a formal opening on Wednesday 16th July (during the stopover). 

Canna House is officially open to the public with tickets available on the NTS Canna Eventbrite page. Visitors can enjoy a tour of the house and learn all about the Canna Gaelic Archive and the lives of John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw. The garden is open again too with visitors welcome to look around. 

Cafe Canna is open again for the season! The cafe is now open 7 days per week with Tuesdays being pizza night! Yummy!