Pyrography is Brilliant Fun

I finally had a go with my pyrography set, I can't wait to play some more :-)

Tigh Mor Gets Completely Batty

At last, the bats have come out to play!  We had a brilliant bat walk at Tigh Mor with at least two soprano pipistrelles and one common pipistrelle swooping around our heads, also a daubenton's over the water following the curve of the loch shore.

Thanks for that excellent question, 'how fast do bats fly' - keeps us on our toes!  Well, I can only find the answer as being 'up to 31mph' but I can't find species specific answers so if anyone else can it would be brilliant if you could let us know.

In the meantime, here is an excellent link from the Bat Conservation Trust about how to help these endangered creatures in your own gardens.

Below is a closer example of the 'most excellent' Daubenton's bat like the one we saw during the walk.

Bumble Bee Stone

Just finished the second painted stone at Cobleland Campsite to come in line with this year's bee conservation awareness at the site.  I managed to revive the red squirrel from two years ago with a bit of a scrub and some varnish, yay! I wonder what the third stone will be next year?

If Ash comes before Oak.....

Oh dear, ash appears to have bud burst before oak this year....

If Ash comes before Oak, we're in for a soak
If Oak comes before Ash, we're in for a splash

Forest Hills, Aberfoyle

Thank you for such a brilliant turnout for our first 'Bats, Owls & Spooky Tales' at the lovely Forest Hills Hotel and Spa in Aberfoyle.

A chilly, windy night but at least the rain held off!  No wonder we only managed to see one bat, he obviously thought it was best to go back inside until another day and went on to tell all his friends.

 

A Batty Tigh Mor

Thanks to those that joined us on our first 'Bats, Owls and Spooky Tales' at the picturesque Tigh Mor last night.  That sneaky bat came out eventually!  'The' soprano pipestrelle seemed to like flapping around a big spruce tree, but it was obviously too cold for his friends to come and join him just yet.

Looking forward to discovering more little nature gems in such a lovely area.....

'May' the rain stop?

Thank you to all those that braved the rain and joined us on the ranger activities this May bank holiday at Cobleland Campsite :-)  Unfortunately it was still a bit cold and wet to find lots of bats, just a couple in the distance. Thank you to Donald, our reluctant but successful bat volunteer who gobbled up 12 of the 13 moths. Congratulations Emily for taking such excellent evasive action!

Matthew and Ellie are now able to survive out in the woods after completing a bushcraft and woodland survival skills activity on Sunday.  Wood sorrel was a favourite as ever - we forgot to say that if you get athletes foot you can rub on the leaves as a natural remedy! Here's a link to my personal blog for a picture reminder.

Well done to all the excellent mini raft builders, most imaginative, but so sorry that Matthew and Emily's rafts, 'Griffin' and 'Jade' decided to go all the way to Edinburgh - clearly excellent builds and the rafts didn't want their sailing to end!
Ellie was our first winner of the season pictured here with her raft 'Daisy Jack'. Rafts 'Danyy' (inspired by a plane), 'Ryan's Raft' and 'Sophie' were all successful sailings and Tommy's 'The Boat' floated successfully - but Tommy didn't want to risk losing his boat to the wind :-)

Ellie's Winning Raft 'Daisy Jack'



Will at the finish line

Abigail's 'Sophie'

Daniel's 'Danyy' and 'Ryan's Boat'

Tommy's 'The Boat'