Interview #10 Tarras Valley Part One

Part One of a podcast Off the Leash's Charlie Moores has made to support the Langholm Initiative and a community buy out that is turning - to quote Raptor Persecution UK - a 'knackered old grouse moor' into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.
The buy out is a fascinating and inspiring story that is centred around Eskdale and Langholm (a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway just 20 miles north of Carlisle) and the Duke of Buccleuch, one of the richest men in the UK who owns a staggering 217,000 acres of moorland, farms and forestry - including Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley.
in May 2019, Buccleuch Estates announced a decision to sell 25,000 acres of Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley. Community interest in buying at least some of the land grew (and we'll be discussing just how close the community here is in Part Two). The Langholm initiative launched a fundraising campaign on behalf of the community and 'The impossible Dream' as it was termed initially, took off.
The campaign grew quickly, attracting national interest and support from all over the world, and in just six months had attracted £3.8m in grants and funding, including a crowd funder which raised over £200,000.
The community now legally owns 5,200 acres of land which includes upland moor, ancient woodland, meadows, peatlands and a river valley which is all being developed into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.
A second fundraiser has now been set up to buy an additional 5000 acres. The money has to be raised by May 2022 or the land could be put up for sale on the open market, and the chance to manage a whopping 10,000 acres could be lost.
On December 7th - after watching a very instructive video on YouTube about the community buyout and the reserve, just two weeks after Storm Arwen battered Scotland and northern England ripping up trees and bringing down power lines, and on the very same day that Storm Barra battered Scotland (etc etc) Charlie found himself overlooking the Tarras Valley with Jenny Barlow, Estate manager of the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, and Angela Williams,Development Manager at the reserve, before a drive along the track that winds through the valley and out the other side...

• Langholm Initiative Website and Twitter feed
• Go Fund me Crowd Funder (Community Buyout 2)
• Tarras Valley Nature Reserve Twitter feed
• YouTube Tarras Valley Live Event (December 1st)