Ardmore Lightning.

We headed out to Ardmore Forest, the most northerly tips of Mull, on Wednesday 21^st for a guided walk, I was ably assisted by Steve Irvine, our retired wildlife ranger, but it definitely turned out as one of our more electric ones. About half an hour into the walk and having experienced a bit of heavy rain and having had rumbles of thunder in the backgrounds,  I asking Steve if he thought  we should turn back, and his retort, ‘auch it will be fine’.  We were under an arch of coniferous trees when there was an almighty bang straight over our heads and the path was lit up in our shady location. Both dogs on the walk were mighty startled to say the least. We tallied on only to have another bang and flash. I had in my head ‘three strikes and you’re out’ but luckily there were no more and we continued on our walk unharmed. The wildlife did not seem to favour the lightning and thunder unfortunately but there was a lovely show of wild flowers and archaeology. Thankfully neither of these items could run away!!

 

Thank you.

I received a lovely envelope from Tobermory Primary School filled with Thank you notes. We had just completed a five week session of outdoor learning with them in Aros Park. At school they were reading a book about Percy the Park Keeper by Nick Buttersworth and I was filling in for Percy as he was away on his holidays!!. What a lovely bunch of youngsters.

Ulva wanders.

On Sunday Rachel French and I took a group of visiting Americans on a whistle stop tour of the south end of Ulva. Again such a lovely group of people, who were here on a musical tour, following their passion for Celtic music and staying in the Isle of Mull Hotel. We had a wee sing song in the church at Ulva and the acoustics did the singers proud. Again the flowers and variety of species found on Ulva had them enthralled as did Ulva’s historical past.

And so the summer continues….

What’s been happening in the south of the island?

Firstly, welcome to new summer volunteer Kate who arrived today.  I’ll let her introduce herself:

“Hi, my name’s Kate Mennie and I am here on Mull for the summer working alongside Emily as the volunteer assistant ranger.  I have worked in childcare for the last 7 years in my home town in Aberdeenshire.  More recently I have been doing forest school and achieved my level 3 certificate in 2015.  I have a keen interest in the outdoors and its wildlife and I hope to pursue this as a career and look forward to working on Mull and Iona for the next 3 months.  I have been to Mull on holiday and I really look forward to exploring it more and meeting new people.”

Iona nature club have been investigating butterflies, watching green-veined whites and peacocks fluttering around the gardens, making feeders with sugary water, and turning themselves into butterfly-inspired artworks as you can see below!

 

The local Iona Community family group for Mull and Iona enjoyed working out how many trees would absorb each person’s lifetime carbon footprint so far, on a visit to Tiroran Community Forest.

I managed to squeeze in a journey to Edinburgh to attend the Connections with Nature conference run by Learning for Sustainability Scotland.  Plenty of new inspiration and useful networking if a rather long journey after a busy day – but at least I was able to enjoy this lovely Trossachs sunset on the way!

As part of a programme session for guests at Iona Abbey we enjoyed a fascinating tour of current archaeological work taking place on the island, reopening trenches first dug in the 1950s and using new techniques not available then to study what’s been found.

Just a wee flavour of what we’ve been up to…hot chocolate anyone?

Emily

Friends of Calgary Bay have been busy raising funds to fence of a section of the machair so that sheep grazing can be managed for a period of up to 4 months annually. This will allow the machair to flower and set seed. With great thanks to all those whom contributed to the funding pot, we have enough funds to pay for and erect a fence, but still need to continue fund raising so we can install some signs to explain why the machair  and Calgary Bay are so special. It is a sand deposit based habitat unique to the west coast of Scotland and Ireland and therefor internationally very rare.

 

We had a very well supported beach clean at Calgary a couple of weeks ago and maybe due to the continual lifting of rubbish as people walked the beach there was not so much waste about, but an enjoyable day was had anyway.

 

 

I have had several groups of off island volunteers looking for jobs to do and we have got them involved in helping protect the machair by transplanting marram grass in the blown out areas of the sand dunes and also reshaping the edges of the sand dunes so they are not so sensitive to damage by wind.

 

 

The Lighthouse Path, Tobermory.

As many of you know, the condition of the path has been deteriorating for a number of years and following a landslip in 2014 the Council erected “road closed’ signs along the path. Although people continue to use the footpath, its condition makes the route difficult in parts, and muddy and slippery for the majority of the route.

After exploring many avenues to find a way to repair the footpath, Mull and Iona Community Trust has recently secured a grant from the European Improving Public Access scheme, which is administered by Scottish Natural Heritage. The funding will enable us to purchase materials and start the path improvements this summer.

We have formed a Steering Group to oversee the work and the core members are; Alexa Kershaw, Moray Finch, Jan Dunlop, James Henderson, John MacDonald, and Charlie MacDonald of the Northern Lighthouse Board.

We are in the process of appointing local contractors to work on the path improvements and will be asking for help from anyone who is keen to be involved in the near future, so watch this space and if you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch with me on jan.dunlop@forestry.gsi.gov.uk or 07765898600.

 

 

The Walled Garden, Aros Park.

The Forestry Commission has bought back the Walled Garden in Aros Park and has cleared all the fallen timber and rhododendron so now it is an open and viable space. The Forestry Commission and are looking to encouraging a community project to get involved in utilizing this wonderful space. If you have any great ideas the Ranger Service or Mull and Iona Community Trust would be very interested in hearing them.

Fun Packed Events Programme. We would like you to come and join us on one of our events and hopefully we have something for everyone so keep an eye out for posters, article in Round and About and posts both here and on our Facebook Page: Mull and Iona Ranger service. If you do attend one of our vents we would love to hear what you think and if you have any new events you would like to see us running please get in touch.

 

It’s great to see leaves on trees, flowers popping up everywhere and returning migrants swelling the chorus of birdsong around us.  Here on the Ross we hosted a birdsong walk around Bunessan village in mid-April, listening to house sparrows, wren, songthrush, blackbird, robin, blue tit, goldfinch, chaffinch, goldcrest among others.  Why not come along to the next one on Wednesday 3rd May and add some new songs to your repertoire?  Meeting at 9.30am in Bunessan main carpark.

 

Plenty of other activity as visiting Thistle Camp workparties turned their hand to drystone walling and path repair, improving a fank at Burg and a boundary wall on Iona, while local volunteers have been working hard on a myriad of bird survey tasks.

Afterschool nature clubs are now ongoing at Iona primary school and so far we’ve investigated natural textures and birdsong – during which a cheeky sparrow dropped in to find out what all the fuss was about – and after watching our local rookery the children also wanted to have a go at building nests themselves, carefully choosing the right materials for the job.  Butterflies and bushcraft are next on the agenda!

I’ve been spending more time with Bunessan school as well, with the younger class learning about how owls’ soft feathers help them to glide silently, and turning detective while dissecting owl pellets to find out what they’d been eating.  The next day it was the turn of the older class to visit Tiroran Community Forest for some natural art and poetry writing.

At the start of April we welcomed back Rachel French to be our seasonal ranger based at West Ardhu eagle hide – more from her over on the Mull Eagle Watch blog and look out for her contributing events to our programme as well.

All that in April, phew!  Check back soon for news from the north…meanwhile I’ll leave you with a rather calmer image, from yesterday’s session with Iona Community guests at the Abbey, who were thinking about our motivations for conservation, finding out about the work of the ranger service locally and investigating the small details of nature for themselves.

Enjoy spring!  Emily

 

Time to update you on the adventures of Bunessan primary school with the ranger service this year.  In late January, the older class visited Tiroran Community Forest to take part in the Big Schools Birdwatch at the feeders by the hide.  While one group was keeping an eye on our feathered friends through binoculars, others were busy dissecting owl pellets and identifying the bones of voles and mice they’d eaten, or playing games to demonstrate how different shapes of beaks are suited to finding different foods.

Afterschool nature club resumed in March with a spring walk around the local area to create story sticks with objects found along the way, and then a session on chocolate geology complete with a playground timeline, exploding volcano and different chocolate bars representing the different geological processes which have created our local rocks.

Last week it was the turn of the younger class to visit the forest for outdoor art and a poetry session with Jan Sutch Pickard.  You can read their creative writing below.

Looking forward to the next time!

 

In the Forest

Written by children from Bunessan Primary School and Jan Sutch Pickard

March 2017

 

Bumpy ground, cracky stick,

bark flaky and rough,

moss fluffy and soft,

squishy mud, dry bracken,

dead leaves like ripped silk

– the feel of the forest.

 

What can we see?

Twigs, trees, moss, broken branches, crumbly old pieces of tree,

dead leaves nibbled, wee creatures with legs, a rabbit hole, a worm,

an eagle, circling.

What can it see?

Human beings, you and me.

 

Our senses are alive here –                                       Palmo & Oscar

We feel slimy stuff and hear birds singing

and rivers flowing also,

we taste sweetness and see trees and smell air.

 

We see patterns on the bark,                                     Elizabeth & Megan

we feel that the moss is soft,

we hear birds, see a river and trees

and an animal made of moss – a hibernating bear –

we thought this could be a den.

 

I tasted salt, I touched leaves fallen from trees,       John & Finlay

we seen new plants and listened to birds sing,

found a pattern on a stick and spots on a leaf.

There is holes in the ground.

 

Dark forest, trolls, giants!                                            David & Quinn

 

Eagle, trees, moss, leaves,                                        Karys

logs, grass, breeze.

 

Tiny leaves of sorrel, tasty,                                        Katy & Lilly

big trees wrapped in moss, soft and squishy,

giants on three trees above us,

giants made of willow and moss.

 

I lie on very soft moss,                                                          Rory & Archie

I see three giants heads,

I see eagles flying high,

round and round the trees.

 

Bird tweeting, river running,                                        Jodie & Ciara

eagle swooping, tasting air.

Dark forest, giant giants,

bus shining, trees in the breeze.

Logs lying, crows cawing,

twigs snapping, soft moss.

Patterned wood, bugs crawling,

golden celandine growing.

 

I can see an eagle                                                       Libby

peering through bare branches,

sweeping from the glittering blue.

I can see big, big wings,

as big as the biggest thing.

Yay – I’m free.

We are advertising the following opportunities:

2 x Seasonal Countryside Rangers

37.5 hrs per week from April -September 2017

The Mull and Iona Community Trust and RSPB Scotland are looking for 2 seasonal rangers with the support of Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, and Police Scotland in partnership with North West Mull Community Woodlands Ltd and South West Mull and Iona Development.

The Seasonal Rangers will spend the majority of time helping run the award winning Mull Eagle Watch Hides (April to September) managed by this partnership.
They will also spend time assisting in the running of an events programme and helping in general ranger duties.

Good communication skills and an open, approachable style are essential. Previous experience is desirable, and a broad base of relevant knowledge will be beneficial. This includes an interest in the natural environment, and a good knowledge of Mull & Iona.

For the MICT post please download the application form & equal opportunities form below and send the completed documents to Jan Dunlop – jan.dunlop@forestry.gsi.gov.uk 

To express an initial interest in the RSPB post please email: david.sexton@rspb.org.uk

As both posts are similar it’s possible they will be interviewed together.
Applications must be received by 4pm Monday 20th February 2017,
with interviews planned for the week of 6th March 2017
and a start date of 3rd April 2017.

RANGER – 2017 Job Desc

Application Form

Equal Opportunities Form

 

Volunteer Assistant Ranger

We are looking for a volunteer assistant ranger for 3 months full time beginning late May/early June. This is a great opportunity to develop skills and experience in nature conservation and rangering. The role involves assisting with varied tasks over a number of island sites, including wildlife survey work, delivery of education projects and public events programme, providing information to visitors, practical maintenance tasks. Accommodation and some travel costs will be covered.

You must show enthusiasm for wildlife and the great outdoors. Some knowledge/experience in the relevant field would be useful but more important is flexibility, good communication skills, an ability to work under your own initiative, and a desire to learn. You will need to be willing and able to work inside or outside in all weathers, including some lone working in rugged coastal terrain. Some weekend/evening hours will be required.

Please contact Emily Wilkins for more information and an application form (no CVs please).  ewilkins@nts.org.uk   01681 700659   07717581405

Closing date: 9am on Monday 13^th March

Interview date: week of 27^th March

There has been so much roaring going on over the last couple of days I forgot to update you on our deer rut walk last Wednesday. It was very well attended as usual with a good mixture of visitors and locals

James Greig, the FC Forest Ranger had been out checking where the deer were best seen from in the run up to the event.

We thought James had hurled a boogie with only one or two deer showing themselves but just as darkness fell one, then two, and before  we knew it more than 20 hinds were standing on the skyline silhouette in the setting sun, A big stag was bring up the rear. A cheeky younger stag had obviously questioned his authority and the next thing we saw was the stag disappearing over the skyline in pursuit of the younger one, defending his right to the herd of hinds and looking after their moral well being I presume

The viewing session was followed by a question and answer session, with lots of interesting questions even from the youngsters in the group

All in all it was a very enjoyable autumnal evening

And what is there to come?

 

Mull and Iona Community Trust are taking part in The Big Bike Revival this month. Whether you’re a regular cyclist or haven’t been on a bike for years, there are lots of ways you can get out and about on two wheels on Mull and Iona. They are organising two events during October which are a great opportunity to remind yourself of the fun of cycling or learn new skills, no matter what your age.

The Big Bunessan Bike Ride – Sunday 23rd October – Meeting at 11am at Bunessan School. Join us for a led ride aro…und Ardtun and Bunessan finishing with a cycle cafe at Bunessan Village Hall with some delicious food from The Blackbird Bistro and the opportunity to chat to Isle of Mull Cycle Club, Tiroran Community Forest, South West Mull and Iona Development, Mull and Iona Ranger Service, Mull electric bikes and On Yer Bike Cycle Hire.