2023 Highlights and What's to Come in 2024...

If you've been keeping up to date with our newsletters, you'll already know that 2023 was a busy year for us! Read on for a recap on some of the highlights, and a sneak peek of what's to come in 2024...

January

2023 kicked off with nine new students starting the NQ Countryside Skills with Ranger Training course at UHI North, West, & Hebrides. Now in its fourth year, the students worked with NLP and our amazing partners to carry out some exciting practical work for their Rural Estate Maintenance, Forestry Skills, and Habitat Management units. In June, the students went out into the world and were successful in finding employment as rangers and assistant wardens!

April

By April this year there had been some fairly big changes in the NLP office! A whole new staff team was in post, with previous Participation Officer, Rory, now Manager for NLP, and previous Seasonal Ranger, Ellie, taking up the revamped Engagement Ranger role for NLP and Friends of Nevis. Alice was our brilliant administrator for a while before heading off to a new job down south, so we were joined by the wonderful Lena in September. We continue to be supported by 10 volunteer directors who help keep us right.

June

We were successful in securing funding for two Seasonal Rangers to work up in the Glen this year. Robbie, (one of this year's NQ students), and Ellie HH, joined John Muir Trust's Seasonal Ranger, Jenny, for a very busy four month summer season. The team collected 190 bags of litter over 116 patrols, while also completing 19 path maintenance days and clearing away dozens of fire pits, abandoned tents, and hundreds of toileting sites. They also uploaded monthly blogs detailing the work they carried out and wildlife they discovered doing monitoring surveys...

July - September

The summer also saw some brilliant volunteer days and events, for which, the weather mostly behaved quite well! First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who came and helped us clear out cross drains, bash bracken, remove invasives, ID butterflies, check fences, pick litter, and clear the Curling Ponds. We couldn't have done it without you!

In the last nine months alone, our amazing volunteers have contributed roughly 670 hours of work over Friends of Nevis volunteer work parties and NLP's Ranger for a Day events, helping the Ben and the Glen to thrive for the wildlife, habitats, locals, and visitors. 

October

After securing funding from the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub as part of the 2023 Climate Festival, Engagement Ranger Ellie started running woodcarving workshops up Glen Nevis, teaching folk how to carve wooden spoons while surrounded by the incredible landscape of the Glen. Three successful workshops have produced 16 fantastic spoons - keep an eye out in the new year for more workshops if you missed them in 2023!

Friends of Nevis also played host to two other wonderful experts earlier in the year; Claire Holohan from West Highland Herbal, and Liz Holden, a leading field mycologist in Scotland. In July, Claire led a group in Glen Nevis, teaching us about all the incredible plant and herb species that can be found here, and later helped us turn our findings into vinegars and tinctures. In September, Liz led a walk around Fassfern, revealing the mind-boggling life of mushrooms and the varieties found in our Highland habitats. Keep an eye out on our events calendar below as new volunteer dates and events will start appearing in 2024!

November

We kicked off November with the Scottish Rural and Islands Youth Parliament! NLP's new Nevis Nature Youth Crew, a co-design team looking at youth governance, empowerment, and projects in conservation for 18 to 30 year old's, attended the event with roughly 70 other young people from around Scotland. The day focused on creating demands for the Scottish Government on topics such as housing, transport, education, agriculture, and the environment, which were taken back to Holyrood by Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform, and Islands. Our work is now going to a debate with MSPs in January, where we will find out what happens next - fingers crossed!

December

This month has been about outdoor learning and tying things up before the end of the year. We've worked with the John Muir Trust on their Junior Ranger sessions, delivering outdoor activities such as navigation and bushcraft up the Glen, and we've ran a Leave No Trace Course for ten UHI students who are studying to become outdoor instructors. We also had our AGM on the 12th of December which was well attended and great to hear a round up of the past year from our Chair, Mike.

2024...

Looking ahead to the new year, there's some exciting things on the horizon! Coming full circle, the NQ Countryside Skills with Ranger Training course will be kicking off with a batch of new students in January. We're currently working with UHI and the seven brilliant partners involved in the course to iron out final plans for the fifth year running. 

Keep an eye out on the calendar for more volunteer days and Ranger for a Day events, as well as guided carving workshops and foraging. 

Finally, just this week we've heard back that our initial Expression of Interest to NatureScot for a Nature Restoration Fund project, looking to tackle nature restoration issues from the valley floor to the mountain tops in the Nevis area has been accepted! This means, alongside our partners, Glen Nevis Estate, JAHAMA Highland Estates, and the John Muir Trust, we can submit a detailed application to the fund in the new year!

And one final huge thanks to all of our volunteers, event attendees, directors, donators, advisors, Seasonal Rangers, and partners for all of your help and enthusiasm this year! We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and see you in the New Year!