BOWHILL House and Country Estate has announced the winners of its annual scarecrow competition after receiving a wealth of creative entries.

The event – held on Sunday, September 21, and open to participants from across the region – took place as part of the Estate’s annual Harvest celebrations. This year’s theme was the Commonwealth Games and participants certainly sprang into action, creating a diverse range of wonderful scarecrows, from Carrot the tennis player to Nancy the West Highland Terrier.

The group category was won by St Joseph’s Primary School who impressed the judging public with ‘Usain McBolt and Wee Tam the Diving Haggis.’ With Usain McBolt’s colourful kilt and Wee Tam’s luminous goggles, the pair made up one of the most fashionable and funky scarecrows ever created for the festival.

The prize for the individual winner went to the McArdle family and their tartan-clad entry, ‘Angus’ – a red haired athlete with a colossal sweet tooth. The winning tattie-bogles were chosen by public vote, with both receiving a £50 prize. Everyone who visited Bowhill during the weekend was visibly impressed with this year’s entries, including Michael Paton, Countryside Ranger at Bowhill.

He said: “With each year the competition grows, the contestants never fail to come up with more entertaining and quirky creations. All I can say is next year’s entries will have a lot to live up to.

“We would like to thank all the participants who put in a great deal of effort and time to make it a fun day for everyone involved.”