West Word - January 2025

Last year January seemed to take 150 years but this year, it has flown by at an alarming rate! It’s been a non-stop rainy and windy start to 2025; the ground is absolutely sodden and slipping in the mud is a daily occurrence. Bring on a drier, sunnier February!

We remained largely unscathed by Storm Eowyn, thankfully, partly due to a fairly neutral tide but there were water devils (small ones) spirally across the bay and the swell out towards Tarbert was particularly impressive. 

With the storms comes the marine plastic with large items being washed up on Canna shores. We will have to do a sweep of the island to clear it all away. 

The farm has been training the hogs to feed from troughs. The sheep are brought into the big barn for a time before being moved out to the fields with the troughs. All going well. The teenagers (cows) did some CREEL maintenance supervision for Jane and I while we were sorting out one of the wind turbines. They were very curious but not very helpful!

Our new Visitor Hub is now complete and it is looking incredibly smart. We are looking forward to our visitors using the facilities this coming season and beyond. Thank you to Speyside Builders for their work on building the hub. 

Canna House is pretty much done. Simpsons are here doing some final snagging and once that is complete, we will be moving towards the official opening of the house for the public to visit and take a tour. 

We have now got planning for our three new community houses. We have been working closely with Catoe & Brown and Community Housing Trust to take this project forward and we are incredibly grateful for all their hard work. 

The days are getting marginally longer and the snowdrops have started to appear in the woods. It hasn’t been that cold and the bulbs in the garden have already stuck their heads above ground; daffodils, tulips and bluebells all making a break for the light!