3rd Oct 2022
September Ranger Update!
In the month of September, we saw nearly 3000 people, 400 of which we talked to about their day in the Glen and on the Ben. We’ve continued our visitor surveys on behalf of the John Muir Trust to find out how people travel here, what draws them to the area, and what can be improved. Again, we’ve collected a fair amount of litter, about 20 bags, amongst which there were a couple of tents, many socks, banana and citrus peel and most of all, tissues… We are currently in the midst of writing our end of season report for NatureScot, who fund our positions through the Better Places Fund. This has given us a lot of opportunity to reflect on our summer and suggest what might work well next year!
Tree Planting
As Autumn begins, the cooling temperatures and increased rain means it has been a great time to plant out the Scots Pine that has been in our nursery waiting for a while. We worked with Jahama’s two rangers, Michaela and Angus, in one of their exclosures on the slopes of Sgùrr a’Mhaim to ger more than 200 trees into the ground! This will make a huge difference to further native woodland regeneration in the area.
Path Maintenance
We had two days at the Halfway Lochan clearing the drains and water bars on the path that leads to the CIC hut. We also had a day with JMT clearing the drains and ditches on the Steall path, as well as carrying out some landscaping in the meadow where people were braiding the existing path into a new section. To stop more erosion, we blocked the diverted path and widened the main trail a little to make it easier for everyone when encountering other walkers.
We also teamed up again with the John Muir Trust to help out on Ben Nevis working on path maintenance between Corner 2 and 3, clearing the drains and some ditches. As always, a lot of people stopped for a wee chat, saying how much they appreciate the work we do and some even wanted to join in with the mattocks. Thanks everyone!
Events
September has been incredibly busy for us, not only with patrols, engagement, and litter but with many exciting events and activities!
Fungi Foray
We hosted a Fungi Walk with one of Scotland’s leading mycologists, Liz Holden. This event was open to the public and has been run many times before, keeping folks’ interest alive and encouraging locals to go out safely foraging. We found a total of 27 different mushroom varieties including Milk Caps, Boletes, Chanterelles, Turkey Tail, Fly Agaric and many more. Liz identified and explained the intricate relationships fungi have with trees through their underground mycorrhizal network and the important part that fungi play in the ecosystem.
Leave No Trace
NLP’s Participation Officer Rory ran a Leave No Trace awareness day with us, outlining how the principles can be hammered home and taught to groups. It was super interesting, finding out how long some things take to decompose and playing games to keep the learning fun. We also tested different trowels, digging our own cat holes and discussed how these messages can be put out to the public more. We were then invited to help run a Leave No Trace session with the John Muir Trust Junior Rangers which was also a huge success!
Sarah Fanet SNP
Earlier in the month we were joined by Councilor Sarah Fanet SNP who came out on patrol with us to help with litter picking, fire pit management, and some path work up from the Visitor Centre. It was a great morning of idea sharing and feedbacking between us and we really enjoyed having Sarah along to help out. Thank you!
NLP’s 20th Anniversary
On the 24th of September, the Nevis Landscape Partnership celebrated its 20th anniversary. The day culminated in a celebration at the Highland Cinema with talks from John Hutcheson MBE, John Muir Trust’s Nathan Berrie, and our own Rory Stewart who shared some brilliant stories about adventures in and around the Glen. Our raffle raised money for future work and the prize recipients went away with some exciting goodies! The evening was a really nice opportunity for our team and the wider NLP community to come together and reflect on many years hard work and time invested into such a worthwhile cause.
Bird ringing
Roughly 20 new birds were ringed at a morning ringing session at the Visitor Centre and a number of birds were re-captured from previous days. It’s always lovely to see the birds close up and find out which ones are about in the area. Most of them are pretty feisty, especially blue tits who give you quite a good nip. The data collected is very important and feeds into the RSPB records. We re-caught a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker which they had ringed earlier in the year so it’s great to know she likes the area. Thank you to everyone who came along to help or find out about bird ringing.
What’s happening in October?
In our last month we have a few tasks to polish off, one of them being owl box maintenance and bird ringing will be back on the 8th of October at the Visitor Centre. We will be helping out with a project with the college, as well as assisting in some peatland restoration with the John Muir Trust. We also hope to be planting hundreds more trees with Jahama Highland Estates and their smelter team!