Scotsman Obituaries: Mervyn Knox-Browne MBE, hill farmer and weather recorder

Mervyn Knox-Browne MBE, weather recorder
Mervyn Knox-Browne turned his back on a life of privilege to become a shepherdMervyn Knox-Browne turned his back on a life of privilege to become a shepherd
Mervyn Knox-Browne turned his back on a life of privilege to become a shepherd

Mervyn Knox -Browne of Milton of Ardtalnaig Farm, south Loch Tay, who was a much-loved and revered member of the Highland Perthshire community, passed away in November at the age of 95.

To spend time with Mervyn was to step away from the stress of our media-bombarded lives and to revel in his wit, wisdom and kindness and contemplate the essential things in life: nature, the changing seasons, farming life in remote communities and stories and legends associated with the hills and glens.

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He could predict the weather by watching the hills and using his close affinity and understanding of the lunar phases. And he knew the Gaelic names of every notable hill in Scotland and Ireland and could translate their meanings.

Born in Cloghan, Glenfinn, County Donegal, his childhood was spent exploring the 16 miles the family owned on the River Finn, one of the finest salmon rivers in Ireland, as well as 20,000 acres of hill and moor.

Later the family took on Aughentaine, an estate in Co Tyrone, but Mervyn always struggled in his relationship with his strict, disciplinarian father, who had fixed ideas for how his life should be.

So, much to Mervyn's dismay, he was sent to boarding school at an early age and eventually to Glenalmond near Perth. Here he missed home badly, particularly his old keeper friend, Donal McGlinn, a legendary character who chewed tobacco and had a unique take on life.

McGlinn had taught him to fish and to “guddle”. Together they netted salmon, packing them into fern-lined boxes and barrowing them to the station using a wheelbarrow fitted with a bicycle wheel, minus tyre, so that it could run over the narrow-gauge railway line.

Due to his father’s continual pressure, Mervyn had a brief, unremarkable spell in the Black Watch before breaking free. However, he would never return to live and work on the family estate and instead chose the life of a hill sheep farmer, leaving the trappings and privileges of his previous world far behind.

He always said he was happiest working with blackface sheep and beef cattle with his beloved collies and gathering in the high hills with his fellow shepherds. Many of the younger generations acknowledge the importance of his patience, kindness, humour, and influence on their farming lives.

Mervyn worked on various farms before securing a full-time job on a remote farm on the Braes of Balquidder. In 1954 he acquired Milton Farm and 500 acres, having asked the sceptical banker in Killin for a loan, and in 1956 he married Catherine Ferguson (Kate).

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He understood the need to improve the land while farming sensitively, with nature planting trees and hedgerows. He also ran a successful shoot and was considered an excellent shot.

His diaries included meticulous records of all aspects of the weather and an in-depth understanding of the moon's phases, stars and planets and their connectedness to everything else. He feared we were losing these vital connections and with foresight realised that the increasingly frequent extreme weather patterns resulted from climate change.

In 1957 there was an opportunity for Mervyn to take on an auxiliary weather recording station on Loch Tay for the Met Office and the Climate-ological Observations Link. The dramatic view from his farm of the Munros in the Ben Lawers range helped him provide data on snow patches too. After 60 years, the Met Office presented him with an award as one of their most valued and longest-serving Scottish recorders.

One of his weather-related stories caused amusement when a group of shepherds and their collies regularly met above Balquidder, where the Hydro Board's rain gauge was situated. Officials were baffled as to why there was an exceptionally high rainfall in that precise spot until Mervyn pointed out that the dogs were lifting their legs against the gauge.

A former president of the Perth Area NFU, Mervyn also logged the arrivals and departures of avian migrants, the dates of the first frogspawn and various critical flowering plants, providing valuable information known as phenology for the Woodland Trust.

His records revealed that numbers of swallows, house martins and swifts were crashing; gone were the haunting cries of the curlew and the annual arrival of lapwing, and the call of the cuckoo was becoming rare. Further evidence of man-made changes.

Like many farmers on marginal land, Mervyn diversified. He was closely involved in the forerunner of The Heather Trust – The Joseph Nickerson Reconciliation Project – alongside his friend, the late John Phillips, assisting him in early tick research. He loved his role and later with the Heather Trust, which led to several years as the Scottish and Irish representative of Man Friday Helicopters, controlling bracken and advising landowners on how to carry out effective aerial spraying. As a founding member, Mervyn remained Vice President of The Heather Trust.

In 1999 Mervyn was awarded an MBE for services to the community and conservation.

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During his lifetime he had 22 collies, each buried high on his farm. In a moving ceremony appropriate to this gentle gentleman who loved the land and his animals, he was laid beside them high above Loch Tay, where he is surrounded by the elements for which he had such a close understanding.

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