| This was a day when the police
were advising everyone in Britain to stay home, but the roads
here were clear. However, it was one of the pre-Christmas
weekends and people are pretty busy, so this was a small expedition.
Just Rowan and Fern with Philippa, Sharon and Simon plus Ellie
and Rocky to sniff out the trail and investigate any burrows
we found.
The main part of the expedition was up the west side of the
Camuschoirce burn, a steep climb and not made any easier by
a layer of slushy snow on the tussocky grass. However, Ellie
and Rocky were on very good form and ran ahead showing us
the best route. The ravine was looking spectacular, with a
coating of ice on the waterfalls. We soon got up to the recessed
platform beside the burn and stopped for a short breather
before pressing on up the hill. There were some nice hemlocks
there and quite a few seedlings around – pretty trees
although the SOI are not keen on them spreading.
At one of the clearings we got a good view of Laudale across
the loch and we could also see a solitary gate on the skyline
above the forestry fence, but this was not a day for stopping
long and we continued at a good pace right up to the top of
the wood where we took a short break near the forestry fence.
I had unfortunately forgotten the Tunnock’s wafers and
we would have been in a parlous state had Simon not discovered
a Yorkie bar in his coat pocket, which was quickly divided
and devoured.
All too soon we were off again, firstly along the forestry
fence and then down the hill through a series of clearings
and patches of forestry, noting several ants’ nests
as we went. This time the badgers seem not to have scratched
them up. There were quite a few bracket fungi, two of which
seemed to have been half eaten by slugs.
We carried on down through the woods to the cars and, having
a bit of time to spare, we made a diversion down to the shore
in front of the Draycotts’ house. It was quite dark
in the woods so I took several expedition pictures near the
shore, but every shot had someone looking the wrong way, it
was Simon in this shot.
We were all pretty cold so the Blue Parrot was doubly welcome
this time. Rocky got some bits of ham and is now a keen supporter
of the establishment. He’ll show you the way there any
time. I picked out Fern’s picture showing a bracket
fungus and two lichens we found by the beach.
John Dye
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