All Hallows Eve at Tigh Mor

Unbelievably the rain held off for the two hours so that we could all enjoy our Batty Halloween Walk at Tigh Mor, our last bat walk for the season. We had earlier been making magic wands and Charlotte kindly did a rain spell for us so thanks Charlotte :-)

Thank you to all those that joined us today to help raise money for the Bat Conservation Trust. We will update everyone on the final count next week.  There were 16 magic wand makers, 9 getting their faces painted and a whopping 39 on the walk.

 Charlotte and Olivia show off their painted faces, a self designed pink cat and Olivia went for a tiger (again).  Other faces were a vampire and his wife, Frankenstein, butterflies and cats.

 

 

Charlotte's wand was made from Rowan, the best for protection so great for Halloween. All were amazingly creative and individual :-)

To celebrate the Celtic New Year we had a few tricks and treats up our sleeve for this bat walk, the bats by the way were staying in if not already in their bat caves for a snooze though. Some excellent costumes and stories by those attending. Some had to earn their treats as they used to do traditionally, so there were a few jokes kicking around too, mostly from Sam, one of which was, "how do you get a tissue to dance? Put a bit of boogie in it!"

 Death.......... just there to accompany you to the other realm!

 

 Having to resort to wellies instead of my fluffy boots! I'm trying to represent where this custom originated, with the Celts on Samhain or Summer's end. They were said to wear masks, especially animal masks to confuse mischievous spirits and faery folk who could easily slip into our realm when the veil between worlds is at their thinnest on this day.

 

 

'Death' helps Stephen the bat find lots of moths the size of children to eat for his dinner!

There were hand made pendants with protective rowan berries and elder beads for the best dressed and best spooky tales, a few apple and divining games and everyone celebrated the Celtic New Year by placing a piece of ash while releasing something unwanted in their lives in order to start afresh. We had to remind the little ones that it didn't mean getting rid of your annoying brother or sister!

 Batty Pumpkin

 

 Thanks Lesley from Cobleland Campsite for the brilliant cat and owl pumpkin.

 

Pumpkins were an extension of the mask, to scare off unwanted spirits. They would have been carved from neeps or spuds though before the Irish travelled to America taking their customs with them. Pumpkins are easier to carve though :-)

Batty Halloween Walk at Forest Hills

Well it was still raining, but we went ahead with the last bat walk of the season at Forest Hills. This one had a spooky twist as Hallowe'en is coming up giving people ideas and traditions to do on Thursday. We played traditional games and divination with apples with a few tricks and treats along the way. Thanks to all those that came along to help raise money for the Bat Conservation Trust :-)

Ken the bat perfectly demonstrates how to eat Peter the moth using echo location. 'Death' or the Grim Reaper is a constant distractor for young Peter though :-)

 

Windy Wet Rafts at Tigh Mor

We were saved by the gilly hut today being able to get creative under cover.  It was yet another wet day but that didn't put off the young raft makers at Tigh Mor!

Jacob's Jolly Roger and Joshua's Viking battling out the weather.

 oops, Jakob's Victini takes a tumble! Below shows his excellent sailor (which survived).

 

Sophie's The Jolly Roger after a speedy session down the river.

Tigh Mor Soggy Bat Walk

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us on the soggy bat walk at Tigh Mor! We charged half price due to the rain, but I think we still all had fun. Unfortunately the bats were staying in the trees for the night, probably wise and laughing at us lot in the rain trying to find them!

Andy, probably our most keenest bat ever, who actually nearly took off with his wings and not at all deterred by the rain!!

Tigh Mor Rafts & Crafts

Four rafts and a magick wand this week at Tigh Mor....

The adorable Anna made this (probably most ever decorated) Hazel wand. Amongst the gems and ribbons you can see that Anna used magickal Theban script writing and a Celtic Ogham alphabet symbol for Hazel which will help enhance her already creative skills even more! Her wand is also infused with the magic from the water faeries or Kelpies, love it :-)

Here's Kate's fabulous T1 

Kate's brother Fraser designed this brilliant raft, calling it 'Stringy' - of course! 

Anna's older brother's Jamie and Rob designed J.M Rocket and The Grassinator, I'm sure you can tell which is which! Both looked great on Loch Achray. 

Wacky Forth Races

 

 

Just two rafts on this gloriously sun-shiny day, but sister's Ellen and Alexandra fought it out on the river with their amazing rafts.

Ellen's winning raft 'I Dunno' complete with sailors.

'I Dunno' takes the winning position at the finish line!

Alexandra's 'Perfect' boat had a great start but alas, it was caught in the trees! 

How amazing is this leafy sail (put together by Mum) :-)

 

 

 

 

Cobleland Magick Wands & Pendants

Gorgeous weather this weekend for the school holidays and we were joined in the ranger tent for magic making, crafts and rafts.

From left: Matthew and his Sister Becca chose Hazel wands for creativity and invisibility spells.

Alexandra chose a Willow wand for imagination, intuition and vision.

 

Alexandra's big sister Ellen made this lovely pendant using old Theban script writing.

Tigh Mor Bat Walk

The bat numbers are on the downward slope now as they ready themselves for the bat cave, but a few Soprano Pipistrelle's came out to play at Tigh Mor.

Here is Conal the bat, who in his own words said "That's the most fun I've ever had in a field"! Brilliant, we love our bat suit!  His father-in-law was understandably keen to get the photo's to show the family :-)

Conal tries out his bat wings - hard to flap at the hands and not the arms though!

Flapping bat ear muscles at 200 times a second proves tricky too!

 Will explains how bats have evolved to be the amazing midge hunters that they are.

Tigh Mor Guided Walk

Our walking guide friend Arthur Jones from Trossachs Treks asked us to cover his walk today in Brig O'Turk whilst he was away on short notice meeting his first grandson, Matthew, aah :-).  What a gorgeous setting for a guided walk so thanks for asking us Arthur!!

Glen Finglas

We were joined by Mike the bat again, his lovely wife and yet another lovely couple who all enjoyed the sunshiny walk amongst the oak and ash, mushrooms and lochs.

The Bicycle Tree - spot the bike!

Bat Walk at Tigh Mor

Thanks for being our bat Mike, you look excellent against Tigh Mor, very spooky  :-)  It was a good night for real bats too, with Sorprano Pipistrelles and Daubenton's busy eating as much as they could in preparation for their bat caves.

Mike the bat!

Daubenton's or the water bat about to scoop up a tasty meal!
Image from Meneith Fisheries, not sure if they had a super duper photographer take the picture from there?