A holiday in the Glen Affric Nature Reserve, 9th Oct to 16th

At the third time of trying, since my first Focaliser (work week leader) week, I was once again foiled in my efforts to partake in a TFL week as a volunteer.  The previous two occasions had been firstly due to a Focaliser becoming otherwise engaged, and then a college block-booking taking priority.  This time, with a lot less notice, one of the Focalisers was unable to make it following a trip to the hospital during the night before the week started.  As luck would have it, this gave me the opportunity to spend the week Focalising with Andrew.

During the week we planted 1435 trees, mostly Birch with some Alder, Rowan and Goat Willow, in Glen Cannich.  We had sunshiny days for the most part, but even so, the views up and down the Glen are spectacular, and the atmosphere was improved further by the almost constant sound of rutting stags in the distance.

We also spent some time removing non-native Spruce, Larch and Hemlock (and one Lodgepole Pine) from an area above Plodda called Farmer’s Wood.  Here we were treated to noisy flying displays by a local family of Ravens, whilst flocks of Tits came and went and a Great Spotted Woodpecker made various announcements from the nearby trees.

On Thursday we were lucky enough to spend a day in the nursery, with Jill and Abbie, putting a new cover on the first poly-tunnel.  I can now proudly say that I’ve been involved in the digging of the trenches for both poly-tunnels.  On this occasion it stayed dry, and Caroline managed to scrape some soup off the kitchen walls for a very successful lunch.