Day of three halves

Monday morning started with a lot of rain. The mist sat on the horizon like a cat would on a mat. Today we volunteered with the National Trust of Scotland to do some conservation work in Glen Rosa.

At a speedy pace of 4 km/h we approached Glen Rosa. There we met a woman called Kate, who proceeded to ask us to act out an animal with the first letter of our name. We were then given bamboo sticks to beat back the bracken that was growing around the sprouting trees. This was to prevent the bracken from using up all the nutrients in the soil, and blocking the sunlight. At this time of the day it was dreicht and there was a lot of midges, though thankfully most of us were armed with midge nets.

Next on our to-do list was clear the path of heather. While we were walking to this path, after getting the loppers from our new friend Kate, we encountered some youths enjoying the Scottish weather. One of the group had become slightly colder than what is healthy. Our amazing instructor, Lucy, raced into action and pulled an emergency shelter out of her rucksack for the teenager to warm up in. With the help of Irn Bru, Jelly Babies and Mountain Rescue the girl made a quick recovery. We were on our way again.

We were each tasked with finding a flower to discover, identify and research. Later in the week, along with some illustrations, our findings will be presented to the rest of the group as part of our John Muir award.

As we approached the exclosure the sun graced us with its presence. The task here was to use the loppers and reduce footpath erosion by cutting back the heather and grass. This task seemed simple to begin with, yet with close encounters with flowing water and narrow path, it became difficult to get rid of all the hanging vegetation. After around some hard work, we called it a day.

On our return, we sighted two of Scotland's big five: the golden eagle and red deer. We returned to the bunkhouse slightly sore but satisfied with the outcome.