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A fine warm spring day with celandines, primroses and violets
in bloom, but no eagles to be seen although we all kept looking.
There were ten young explorers, Alasdair C., Benjamin, Caleb,
Caulay, Edward, Frederik, JanHendrik, Robbie C., Sam and Thomas,
plus six helpers, Andrew L., Claire, Howard, Johnny, Pamela
and Philippa with Cora, Ellie and Honey to look after us.
We completely filled the little car park at Glenmoidart and
set off in high spirits, some of the boys taking the steep
short cut while the adults used the less arduous route. There
were lots of cows at the feeding area but our dogs behaved
impeccably and the cows lost interest in us. We were all looking
for eagles but all we saw was a buzzard and two herons. Our
young explorers were in good form and kept up a commendable
pace, some even breaking into a run on the track up to the
dam.
When we got to the top, I managed to dissuade most of my explorers
from crossing the dam and we took the safer route across the
river, looking at the boulder clay as we passed. Once across
we were in Glenforslan proper and just had to cross the hill
and climb up the stream to the site of the old village. There
were lots of old ruins to explore and a big hole under a rock
which could have held a wild animal but was empty when a volunteer
looked in.
We took our break in bright sunshine looking over the glen
and then did some more exploring of the village. We found
a couple of deep pools which didn't tempt any of the explorers
to swim, but were well used by Honey and Cora who both displayed
the classic dog paddle style before coming out and soaking
their friends. As we came down, one of the Crawford boys found
a caterpillar, which sat still while I photographed it.
Back on the main track, some of the boys investigated the
river bridge and we also found some tadpoles and water beetles
in the ditches.
For various reasons, not many of us reached the Pantry so
there were very few pictures produced this time.
John
Dye
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