Easter, Beltane and Magical May

It’s been all go up in Strathyre these last few weeks. Ranger Nikki fills us in on developments…

Strathyre was blessed with fine weather over the recent holiday period, which pleased everyone, including the Easter Bunny. Feeling generous, he hid traditionally decorated boiled eggs around the site encouraging the kids to play the age-old game of ‘egg tapping’ before collecting their chocolate eggs.

We used the holiday period as an excuse to launch a chocolate treasure hunt, called the Chocuzzle. This can be played anytime during a guest’s stay and involves them collecting clues from around the site. They learn amazing facts and folklore linked to the local forest before solving the puzzle to win some chocolate – treasure hunting is hungry work!

Our new group shelter is proving a huge success in our new Dusk Watch session ‘Bats, Owls and Spooky Tales’. This activity recently fell on the eve of May 1st, or the old Celtic fire festival of Beltane, which was very fitting as we toasted our marshmallows around the fire below a clear, starlit sky.

Traditionally, this was also the time for maypole dancing around the May tree, or hawthorn, which is particularly sacred to the faeries. Locally, the druids would have lit the Beltane fires on the top of the nearby Corbett, Ben Ledi, which translates from the Gaelic as ‘Hill of God’ or ‘Hill of the Shoulder’. Back then, the locals would extinguish their own fires in their homes then re-light them from the festival fire for good luck.

During the festival, bannock (Scottish flatbread) would have been eaten as part of the feast, but someone would have received a piece with charcoal hidden in it. That person would then have had to leap over the fire three times as an appeasement to the gods and in the hope of a successful harvest for the year ahead. This is one part of tradition that we didn’t uphold!

The swallows and house martins have started to arrive back from Africa, and are busy chasing insects and establishing their nests in the cabin eaves. There has been much folklore attached to the swallow over the years and it’s almost universally regarded as the herald of spring. In Scotland, it was thought lucky to spot the first swallow but only if you were sitting down! Both the Romans and Chinese believed that it was especially lucky to have swallows nesting on your house and unlucky if they flew away. In the north of England, they thought it unlucky to steal swallow’s eggs as the cows in the byre would then produce bloody milk.

It’s the Celtic tree month for Willow, believed to be equally powerful as a magic wand and as a natural pain killer (willow contains salicylic acid – an ingredient in aspirin). It’s believed that now is a good time to sit under a willow tree in order to gain intuition, creativity and a better understanding of our ‘watery’ emotions.

Lady’s Mantle has been bursting out amongst the cabins. It’s amazing to think these star-shaped leaves, which are so often trampled underfoot, were used for alchemy and collecting dew droplets in the morning, which would then be used as a refreshing face wash. In fact its Gaelic name translates as ‘dew cup’. It was also used in a traditional remedy for any cattle that had been shot by an arrow from malevolent elves!

How the other half live

Here’s another blog from Chris, ranger at Keldy & Cropton in Yorkshire. This time, he goes north of the border to visit his colleagues at the Argyll site and gives an insight into the treasures that await you.

I was due some holiday, and being keen on walking and climbing, decided on a trip to Bonny Scotland with a couple of nights’ camping at Ardgarten. After a six-hour journey I arrived in the seaside town of Arrochar, and was greeted by the smell of sea air and hailstones. Well, I thought, hailstones in April is probably the norm here, and I waited for the bus to take me the two miles to the Argyll site.

Greeted by friendly colleagues who immediately supplied me with a much-needed brew, it didn’t take long to realise what a great place this was to work. John showed me to a cracking little pitch overlooking Loch Long, and as the sun tried to break through, a glorious rainbow spread across the head of the loch. I had a fitful sleep with the sound of the sea lapping at the shingle beach.

After a couple of nights, I packed up for pastures new, and taking into account Scotland’s fantastic access laws, I decided to wild camp out in the mountains. Leaving the site to climb over The Brack and Ben Donich (two of Scotland’s 221 corbetts – in other words, mountains between 2500-3000ft), I found a cracking site up the side of Beinn an’ Lochain.

Searching for the perfect spot, I climbed above the tree line and was amazed and surprised to see a small group of Red Deer stags. I had the jump on them and I quickly crouched down and cautiously opened my camera case. I managed to take a few photos before they became too startled and retreated over the hillside. Seeing these magnificent beasts so close really made my holiday. If I could just have seen some Red Squirrels my hols would have been complete!

I would urge anyone to go up to Argyll. Whether it’s staying in the luxury of a cabin or going a bit wild in a tent, I can heartily recommend it. A big thank you must go to the staff at Ardgarten: John, Frances, Richard and Stephen. Thanks for your friendly welcome and assistance. And to manager Juliette, well done on running a fantastic site. I will be back.

If you go down to the woods today...

Thanks to ranger Martin for this gorgeous picture of his dog Zak among the bluebells at Deerpark. He tells us that May is a great time to admire this fabulous sight and that there's a carpet of blue all the way down to Looe six miles away. Could there be a more beautiful walk?

Geese a-laying

Canada Geese are a common enough sight (and their honking a familiar noise!) throughout the British countryside, although, as their name suggests, they are native to North America. Around this time of year, Canada Geese in their second year of life will have found themselves a mate. In common with swans and many species of penguins, these animals are monogamous and will stay together throughout their lives.

The female lays somewhere between three and eight eggs, which she will incubate for three to four weeks. During this nesting time she loses her flight feathers, which re-grow in time to accompany her goslings on their maiden flight. The male remains close by.

Adult geese are very protective of their young, and can often be seen bookending their goslings in a line. Woe betide any nosy dog, human or other creature that stumbles too close; geese will stand erect, spread their wings and hiss wildly at anything they find threatening. Best to take several steps back as a goose has a nasty peck!

These pictures were taken by Martin, ranger at Deerpark, who is happy to explain more about Canada Geese and their behaviour.

A Spring In My Step

Chris, ranger at the Keldy and Cropton sites in North Yorkshire, has always loved spring with its overwhelming sense of new beginnings. Here he talks about the changes taking place in the Yorkshire forests:

Spring must be my favourite time of year; seeing new life emerging is truly heartening. This time of re-birth was vigorously celebrated by ancient religions, particularly at the Spring Equinox when the day and night is of equal length. The longer days and warmer temperatures also signal to the wildlife that it is time to creep out of their holes and hollows and start their annual cycle of life yet again.

The earliest indicator of spring is of course the snowdrop, but these hardy little flowers can survive through frost and snow so do not always indicate the weather is getting any warmer. It is only when we see the first bud burst on the trees that we know spring is truly here.

The larch is one of my favourite trees, not only for its summer fullness of soft green needles, but also for the open airiness of a larch forest in winter. This allows light through so spring flowers will often flourish here. I could go on with a list of trees that are presently busy budding (such as the sharp black buds of ash and the large sticky buds on the mighty oak) but enough of the flora, here’s what the fauna has to offer us...

Few things are more exciting than discovering frog-spawn! Who would believe these gelatinous gatherings are the springboard of so much life? And it’s not just the frog-sprawn that’s started to emerge. I’ve also spotted the first peacock butterflies, those mad March hares playing wildly and a number birds starting to nest.

Yes, this is undoubtedly my favourite time of year, and it’s one which never gets boring. So keep your eyes peeled for the little things and let them put a spring in your step.

Strathyre’s New Outdoor Group Shelter

Here’s another blog from Nikki and Will up in Strathyre. Here they say goodbye to an old friend (Strathyre’s loss is Cropton’s gain) and explain how their new ranger station was constructed and how it will be used in their popular ‘Dusk Watch’ and ‘Young Explorers’ sessions.

As one of her last tasks at Strathyre before moving on to adventures new at the Forest Holidays site at Cropton, Debbie kindly opened our brand new group shelter. We celebrated with a BBQ in the fire pit! We would just like to thank Debbie for all her support with our new activities and wish her the very best for when she starts at Cropton on 18th April. Be sure to visit her there!

Will constructed the shelter with a hazel and alder wood frame and a spruce thatch. The design follows the ‘lean-to’ style den demonstrated on his Forest Survival sessions. Similar to an ancient round house, people would gather and warm themselves around a fire and enjoy communal food and festivities. This shelter has a larger hole in the top, but it’s still cosy!

We will be using this as our new ranger station amongst the trees in a hidden section of the site. It will also feature in our new version of Dusk Watch where we talk ‘bats, owls and spooky tales’! We will finish around the fire with marshmallows for the spooky tales and the odd forest spell!

Later this year we will also be using the shelter for our new Young Explorers session - ‘Arts and Rafts’ - where we will be building amongst other things mini bug hotels, wands, pendants, faerie houses and rafts which can be put to test on the nearby loch. Can anyone better Will’s raft, Wilson, we wonder?

It’s all happening here thanks to this gorgeous weather. We’ve had roe and red deer sightings, rabbits are everywhere, toads, catkins, coltsfoot, lesser celandine and much more has been spotted. All are celebrating new life as the days become longer than night after the recent Spring Equinox. We’re looking forward to having so much to talk about, eat and use on our walks. We’re also keeping an eye out for that first house martin or swallow to arrive back to the cabin eaves! It shouldn’t be long now…

The Super Moon!

This blog comes from Nikki and Will, rangers up in Strathyre in beautiful Perthshire. Here, they share some of the mystical beliefs that surrounding the moon and the Alder tree.

The full moon in March is said to be the ‘Wind Strong Moon’. This March is very special as the moon is the closest to the earth in decades. As winter turns to spring, storms sweep in, bringing with them a turbulent time of both hope and danger. As we didn’t see a shadow on February 2nd here though, we should expect a lovely spring this year. Plus, a snowy February is said to bring a good spring! Talking of spring and rebirth, here is a bit of moon superstition and lore for you:

If you give birth on a waxing moon, your next child will be the same sex. If you give birth on a waning moon, your next baby will be the opposite sex!

There is much interest in the moon, whether it’s connected to space flight or the lunar effect on earth’s creatures and plants, our moods and our energy. Some of these things we talk about on our walks here at Strathyre, but regardless of your interests, there is something very special about gazing up at a full moon.

The Celtic tree calendar for Alder started yesterday. In traditional lore, its wisdom supposedly helps bring us a balanced outlook, providing a firm foundation for blending our watery intuitive selves with our outer fiery selves.

This is my own birth tree, so it is a personal favourite of mine. Not only is it known as a ‘soil fixer’, it’s also water resistant, can be used as a fabric dye or paint, a toothbrush or even a magical flute thanks to its great acoustic properties. It even has the ability to refresh hot, tired feet whilst you are out on your forest holiday walks!