Humpy Draining Plough on a high elevation site – in Torrachilty area
The photograph was taken by the late Finlay MacRae who was a District Officer in the Forestry Commission based in Dingwall at the time. The images are courtesy of his daughter Donna.
A forestry site in an unidentified location where ploughing and draining is being undertaken. At this hill top site the soil looks very thin and broken stone slabs can be observed in the turned over soil. One presumes a tine plough was employed here but difficult to ascertain here and in the ploughed area just behind the draining plough. Unfortunately the tractor hitched onto the plough is not shown.
Can anyone identify the location and the forester?
See Comments - Willie Beattie - below
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Tractors Ploughs and Drainage Machines
2 Comments
I think that the plough is situated near to the 1,200' (365m) upper eastern fence line of the Garbat block, below the western facing slope of An Cabar, a Ben Wyvis outlier top. To the north of this picture, to the right, the highest part of Garbat plantings went to 1,475' (450m) ASL, the ALP never grew to produce anything usable at that elevation.
The forest block above Willie's head, is Longart Forest block that had a memorial plaque in the fire break JL planting, by the entrance gate from Inchbae, commemerating it's initial planting in the early 1940's during WWII.
The block extending to the right above the plough' beam is the Inchbae Wood that was extended from an old Strathvaic Estate planted woodland, to a higher elevation by the FC, I cannot give any P years.
On the lower ground to the west of the Inchbae Wood is the Strath Rannoch (Badan Ruigh Tulchainn) FC block, planted predominantly, with ILP and ALP. This block was planted in the early 1960's, as I recall and was badly affected by the Pine Beauty Moth outbreaks of the early 1980's. Harry Grainge (RIP), the keeper who lived at Inchbae and the Torrachilty establishment squad spent many days conducting pupal surveys in the needle litter beneath the trees and egg counts on the underside of the pine needles to estimate potential Pine Beauty moth populations for Dr John Stokely, Entomologist, Forest Research, Bush, Edinburgh. There was a helicopter spraying operation carried out in the area to control the initial infestation. On the second occasion, when another spraying operation had been planned and authorised, the caterpiller population crashed overnight due to a virulent viral infection.
The hills beyond are in Inchbae Forest to the north of the Loch Vaich hydro dam and loch. The Loch Glascarnoch hydro dam and loch are to the left of the photograph and hidden behind the Longart Forest block.
Good health, Bill Comment left on 19 September 2024 at 01:17 by Bill Rayner