Moth trap antics

Just a very quick blog to update on my moth trappings!

Large Yellow Underwing

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I thought I would give the moth trap a try in the evening.


2 Small Yellow Underwing

It didnt dissapoint. Nothing uncommon or amazingly special... 

I think I have I'd them correctly but you never can tell especially with the carpets - there are so many of them!



Garden Carpet

First week at Dunham Massey - laughs and learning

Well this week I have been the new girl on the block or Doug's replacement (the previous trainee ranger who is now assistant head ranger at Lymm!


It was my first week and the sun shone the whole week! How lucky was I!??!!!

My first week was a great, looking forward to the next two and a half years. Oh yes and I have immediately learnt that...

a) I am short! (Reaching some of the tools in the tool shed and also the gear stick on the landy is hard with short legs!)

b) I have no strength in my muscles (yet!) which is extremely frustrating!

c) The 'Dunham Massey 7' the amount of weight (in pounds thankfully, not stone) you apparently put on when working at Dunham!

So yes my first week was great the best bits of the week were (and in no particular order)...

1) Getting a NT uniform - I was so chuffed! Loving the combat style trousers and flattering black polo shirts!

2) Using a petrol strimmer - they are sooooo cool, much better than the piddly battery one Tom and I have at home for the allotment

3) Driving the landrover avec small trailer

4) Meeting all the friendly faces at Dunham, my team are great and the staff in the house are so friendly and welcoming. But beware of the Dunham Massey 7 - refuse all offers of home baked biscuits and cakes which really are on offer ever day at the house!

5) Realising how good Dunham is for getting experience in the 'bigger jobs' of the ranger team. Driving the tractor is a daily task here at dunham and big tree jobs are often done by the team (2 of the team are trained climbers so can fell some of the big trees themselves). There's also a lot of strimming, pruning etc to be done with it being quite a manicured park.

I wont go into the ins and outs of each day but needless to say it does seem like every day brings with it a new task or different thing to do. Friday is clock winding day of the clock in the clock tower and I think that alone will build up my muscles, the weights need winding back up each Friday and they are literally huge pieces of stone. I could just about turn one of the handles but no chance with the other. Then one of the other rangers took over and made it look like he was just mixing a cake - I have a long way to go and think I need to be winding that clock up each week!!!

I have spent I think 6 years volunteering for the NTS and have realised this week how lucky I am to be able to visit so many properties and learn so much but what I have learnt seems to be so small compared to what I need to learn going forward. The work at Dunham seems very different to what I am used to but I think its essentially bigger jobs and less nature conservation. Their main focus / priority seems to be on health and safety in terms of the veteran trees and making sure they are safe. The nature conservation side of things happens on the way! Its so interesting though to see the work of a ranger from Dunham's angle and I am certainly going to learn lots!  

One amazing piece of kit which I wish NTS have for their thistle camps are 'silkies' small hand held pruning saws which cut through so much with much less effort than bow saws and so much quicker and so much more ability to manoeuvre the blade than a bow saw. One to tell Jon next time I see him!

Tasks this week have included the necessary induction, pruning back tress overhanging fences by the tennis courts, increasing the height of the drainage access points and back filling the spaces around them with topsoil, strimming ride / field margins, walking the park for any snags or any questions I had (a very nice way to end a week with a walk around the park!). I have also been to meetings where I have met volunteer park rangers (85 in total I think, though I only met a few!) at their leaders meeting, meeting the head of departments at their meeting and the NW Director John Darlington!

What will next week have in store?

News News News!

Wow what a fantastic couple of months its been! I actually drafted this post I think at the beginning of July and its now the beginning of September but I thought I would complete it and post as its all going to get even busier in terms of my love of nature in the future. But anyway more about that later!

I have been having two types of guilt over the past couple of months. They have been niggling at me for a while and I need to tackle both of them! They are:

a)Bloggers guilt - the guilt of not 'getting round' to updating my blog - I started off so well!

b) Allotment guilt - a slightly worse condition than bloggers guilt brought on by non attendance at the allotment for some time as a result of completely munched potato plants and rotten spuds.

Both are now being remedied slowly!



Foxglove growing in a tree at Glenuig, Ardnamurchan

Well I have to say its been a cracking couple of months. As you may have guessed this statement doesn't relate to the weather but does relate to life in general!

The lack of sunshine generally and time at weekends has meant that there has not been much opportunity to get the moth trap out but we have been out and a bout a fair bit and have had some very good news! The news will come in a bit.




Where Tom celebrated being 30 on his birthday

Well June was full of fun and frolics. It was Tom's 30th birthday with celebrations including meals out, generally lots of food, a good hike up Snowdon and a sea kayaking trip up to Glenuig and rounds about. A pretty outdoor packed couple of weeks.



Butterwort in flower on the path up to snowdon

The sea kayaking was fantastic and we highly recommend Rockhopper Sea Kayaking http://www.rockhopperscotland.co.uk/. Ben was a fantastic guide allowed us to explore the sea lochs for starfish, otters and seals and did all the cooking and general hosting. We kayaked the North and South channels of Loch Moidart and wild camped on a white sand beach just north of Eilean Shona it was a great couple of days and extremely relaxing.

Then it was back to work for a short week before heading off to a friends wedding down in Suffolk. A great weekend.


Dunham has the 4 different colour of Fallow deer three shown here!

One of the lakes at Dunham, my future office!



July bought with it a sea change in my career path too and one that I am sooooooo excited about. I somehow managed to convince the team at Dunham Massey, National Trust house, gardens and park to give me their 2 and a half year training academy post as a trainee ranger!!!!

I couldn't quite believe it, cried for about 2 hours after the head ranger telling me the good news and I still am in shock about it!! Here are some pics of Dunham above and below. It will be such a fantastic experience, once in a lifetime opportunity and one I will throw myself completely into. Here is the link to more information on the National Trust's website about Dunham: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dunhammassey/

In addition to working with a ranger team and learning the ropes literally from the bottom up I also get training and certification in using chainsaws, tractors, pesticide use and brush cutting along with anything else the head ranger deems necessary.

Dunham is a SSSI for deadwood ecology how cool is that!??

Whats even more exciting is the park is home to a large herd of fallow deer so I will be involved in the yearly cull as well as experiencing the rut and all that goes on in the yearly cycle of the deer. Its a fantastic park with about 300 acres, planted about 300 years and more ago and is a SSSI for deadwood ecology because of the amount of veteran trees and their dead counterparts. Its got I think 4 lakes too so great for a huge range of invertebrates which in tern means its also probably great for bats and birds and the likes.

I start as a trainee ranger on the 3rd September (tomorrow!!) and I cannot wait!


What..? Nearly the end of May? Surely not already!

Hello!

Well I cant believe its nearly the end of the month of May and I also cant believe how the weather has changed! It scorchio today as I write and in my south facing yard I didn't manage to last more than 15 minutes in the sun before retreating inside!

Well again, its been a bust couple of weeks but mostly due to assignment writing. Habitat Management - Management Plan for Thurstaston Common Local Nature Reserve and an Academic and Professional Development Assignment. Well when I say an APD assignment what I should say is 4 tasks all rolled into one assignment = lots of work! I have also had an exam for Habitat Management which was absolutely fine. So all of that has taken up most of my free time and the rest of it has been spent either going up to the allotment to check on the plants or potting up courgettes, sweet potato and tomatoes in the back yard.

I have been continuing with the volunteering too at Tam O Shanter Urban Farm which has been brilliant. I'm loving it there and just wish I could work there more as there is so much, in terms of interpretation, tidying up that I could be pottering with but at the moment Mondays fly there and I dont really get chance to do much more than the day to day tasks of feeding, mucking out and getting the animals in and out. Its great fun though and lovely to meet such a nice bunch of volunteers.


So last night was I think the first night of 2012 that I put the moth trap out in the back yard! It was great and after only a couple of hours I managed to get some micro moths and the two below. I'm not a whiz at identifying them yet without looking at the book (cant imagine I ever will - there are soooooo many) but I think the two moths below might be a Scalloped Hazel (left) and a Buttoned Snout (right). Not bad for the first night of moth trapping in deepest darkest urban Rock Ferry.


Scalloped Hazel



Buttoned Snout?

I'm planning on putting the trap out again tonight and trying to work out how to put it out at the allotment without the possibility of it getting stolen, answers on a postcard please!

Busy weeks!

Well its been a busy week, nearly two weeks since I last wrote. The weather has been a bit all over the show but its still been kind enough to let me out on the allotment and have a great first day on the urban farm.

However the other Sunday, 29th April it absolutely bucketed it down for the walk I lead over at Llyn Crafnant. Despite the pouring rain I still managed to persuade about 25/26 people to come out walking with me, Tom and the mad mutt Archie, even Bailey the cute little dog of Sharon braved the elements on the 8 mile walk. Needless to say with all the rain I didn't manage to take any pictures. It was still a great end to my season leading walks for the Ramblers and I can now prepare for the Yorkshire 3 Peaks in July! Do I ever stop for a break? I wish I could say yes, but apart from the occasional slobbing on the sofa on a Thursday evening, I don't think I'm able to stop!!! Anyway if you are ever interested in going for a walk with some lovely people in lovely surroundings check out the Merseyside Young  Walkers Group that I lead for http://www.fillyaboots.org.uk/walks.html#May

Monday 30th April was my first day volunteering with Tam O Shanter Urban Farm up at Bidston. It was a great first day! I wasn't too sure at first, I was inpatient and wanted to do, do, do (now there's a surprise) but I soon got into the rhythm and loved it. My first day there included letting all the chickens, ducks and geese out of their sheds and collecting their eggs (so many colours of eggs I couldn't believe it), letting the goats out (they have some power to them) and giving them a bit of a brush. I cleaned the little Shetland pony's feet and led him out into the field and then got about cleaning and feeding. After break and lunch I got stuck into removing some sycamore from one of the hedges and refilled the disinfectant bucket for our wellies. The very end of the day I spent doing something I wasn't expecting, and never done before, I plucked a goose!!! Who would have thought that on my first day I would be doing that but a great experience. Injuries from the day included a right old nip from the male goose (not the one that ended up dead) and a Shetland pony hoof on a hunter welly ouch.

The Ranger there, John has been there for years and is so lovely and you can tell he enjoys what he does and is happy where he is at. The other volunteers I worked with there have been there between 9 and 10 years. Some have additional needs and are so good with the animals, I think its going to be a really valuable experience for me.

Saturday 5th May - Reaseheath Field trip to Weaver Park Way with Dave the ranger for the site but also our lecturer for Habitat Management. We were really lucky with the weather and it was great to see an urban fringe site and the considerations that you have to make about an area where its hard to engage local people in the park and respect it for what it is, Some pictures from the day are dotted around here. There was a good variety of habitats and so many ponds! Great for invertebrates really interesting place!

`


Sunday 6th May - was a super productive day on our allotment. Its just 10 minutes walk or so from where we live and the sun was shining so we made the most of it! We planted some courgettes, runner beans and strawberries and Tom did a fantastic job of planting some potatoes. When I find the labels I will make a note here of the spud varieties.






Saturday 12th May - Field trip to Formby. Another lovely sunny day spent on a Reaseheath field trip. Today we went to Formby to see the sand dunes, understand how they are formed and what management techniques are put in place to manage the dunes and the people that access them. Some of the plants / trees we saw included grey poplar, solomons seal, cranesbil, alder, crack willow. We saw a pond that had completely dried up, probably due to lack of management and how the rangers have managed to strengthen and encourage for formation of yellow dunes near the beach using chestnut fencing and old Christmas trees. Beach combing showed the usual suspects otter shells, razor clams, but found some piddocks and think I may have even found one of those Caribbean beans but it could also be a very old horse chestnut. I think its too small to be one of those beans that floats all the way from the Caribbean with the gulf stream, maybe I'll take a photo and post it here.

Sunday 13th - Another glorious day, which was a little but upsetting as I have an assignment to do, well quite a few actually but despite this I spent the morning up at the allotment sowing some seeds - today I sowed some runners, peas, beetroot and some pak choi as well as some wild strawberries. I pot ashed the fruit bushes and watered in some Swiss chard I planted yesterday evening after thinning them out of some pots in my back yard.

Wonderful Water Voles

Well happy Saturday to you all! The weather improved slightly today after all the rain of the past week and I was so glad of the brief reprieve as I was off out to Mickell Trafford today on some Water Vole Training and Surveying with the Cheshire Wildlife Trust. The training was great, delivered by their Water Vole Project Officer who is hoping to do some indepth surveying on the River Gowy and Weaver between now and October. Apparently the best time to survey is around June when the vegetation isnt too high so you cant see any signs of Water Vole.

Looking for feeding sites and latrines

So some interesting facts I learnt today...

There has been a gradual decline in Water Vole numbers since the Iron Age in Britain but particularly so follwing the Romans (introduction of towns, roads etc) and WW1.

Main reasons for decline: agricultural intensification, reduction of habitat (agriculture and river diverting for flood protection etc) and introduction of American Mink.

The British Water Vole apparently is the only vole that swims / lives around the water, their european relatives have not adapted to water like British Water Voles, and its believed to be a behavioural response to predation, they dont have any special adaptations to be in water (no webbed feet for example) and actually would drown in water if unable to get out after a relatively short time.

They need to eat between 80% and 90% of their total body weight each day!

There was a lot more I learnt but it would fill pages! The second bit of learning was how to survey and then after lunch we headed out to Hockenhall Platts to look for Water Vole. We didnt see any as the river was very high after all the rain, but we did see feeding stations and we did hear one eating (I cant believe how loud it was). We saw a latrine site on the other side of the bank with the help of binoculars. We also saw lots of Field Vole latrines and feeding stations along with rat burrows.

It was a great day and I'm keen to get out and do some surveys and spot a few more Ratties!

Water Vole Feeding Site

Post holiday blues...

Hey all, well the sun has been shining but there is a grey cloud about my head a bit today...I think I have post holiday blues. After such a fantastic week in Iona its been back home with a bump! Fabulous to be back with Tom and Archie and be walking again over Thurstaston but Island life is lingering in my mind! Anyway despite this and a flat battery on my car this morning I have had an interesting morning at Bidston Hill and Tam O Shanter Urban Farm.

I met the Ranger for the area this morning and I will be volunteering with them for probably the next three months or so every Monday. I'm really excited about going there and I think the ranger was happy for some extra help on a Monday when he is short staffed!

After seeing the hebridean sheep at the hostel I am looking forward to learning a bit more about grazing stock and farm animals in general at the farm along with seeing how much experience I get working alongside the ranger too. The farm has a range of livestock including pigs (who enjoyed a good scratch off me this morning!), sheep, cows, donkeys, chickens, ducks, geese and bees! I don't think they have an up to date management plan so it might also be an opportunity to look at drafting one for my assignment for Reaseheath. So all in all I'm pretty excited.

More information on Tam O Shanter http://www.tamoshanterfarm.org.uk/index.htm

Iona NTS Thistle Camp 12th - 20th April 2012

Well I'm back after a fantastic and inspiring week on the island of Iona on the North West coast of Scotland and what a week it was. I was a co-leader again on one of the National Trust for Scotland's Thistle Camp conservation holidays. We had the most amazing weather for the whole week, we were so lucky. I cant remember a better week for weather in the 6 years and 13 camps I have been on!

So I travelled up first thing Thursday morning from Liverpool to Edinburgh dropped my bags off at the tool store in Charlotte Square, had a quick mooch around town and then met the leader Marcus to go and do the BIG food shop for the trip. There is only a very small and very expensive shop on the island of Iona so we needed to shop for the whole trip for 12 people. This includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea breaks too! So that's a lot of food normally around 4 shopping trolleys and about £300+ for the week. That evening I met up with a good pal Anna and caught up with her at a lovely bistro on Dalry Road.

Friday 13th - Unlucky for some! But thankfully not for me! Look what I met on the way to meet the group in Princess Street Gardens...Vulpes vulpes!

But to be honest he didn't look too good and I worried seeing him at 8:30 on a busy Friday. After meeting the group at 9 at Charlotte Sq we set off on our travels to Oban to catch the 2pm ferry over to Mull and then one last ferry over from Mull to Iona. By the time we got there we were a bit tired. Our accommodation for the week was the fantastic hostel on Iona. A very homely building with fantastic views from the North of the island looking towards the Dutchmans Cap and Rhum in the distance a great place to spend the week and highly recommended for anyone wanting to get away from it all!
Click here for the Iona Hostel Website and John Maclean's blog

The beautiful carved hostel sign

As luck would have it there was a bit of a problem for space which meant that 5 of the group on the first night and 2 on the second had to camp as the hostel was full. Being a huge fan of camping I was so happy to get the opportunity to camp on the island and we only had to get over one fence to go to the loo in the night in the hostel! See picture of tent below!

Our tens from the Kitchen window!

John Maclean who owns the hostel has been a crofter on Iona for 12 years and has a great flock of Hebridean sheep, you can tell they have a bit more attitude than the usual white fluffy sheep you normally see. Apparently their brains are sizeably larger than the average sheep and they have some great horns, they are brilliant. John uses the wool from their fleeces to make blankets and sell them and I kicked myself at not buying a fleece to have a go at spinning myself some wool. Maybe when I am up again another year...

Some of John's Hebridean Sheep !

Saturday 14th April - This was our first work day and we woke to sunshine. Our main task for today was walking over to the marble quarry on the south of the island to prime and then pain some of the industrial machinery that has lay unused since the 1800s. Apparently the quarry was only used for less than a decade but the industrial archaeology is of interest and importance so one of our jobs was to protect it against the sea spray and elements to prolong its life as much as possible. It was a great spot to work right next to the sea and a seal came to join us for our lunch. The before and after pictures of the steam powered machinery are below!

Before the primer and top coat

After

Our lunch stop by the marble quarry

Some of the girls from the group finished off the painting whilst the boys went and hauled boulders about for a boggy bit of ground for one of the pilgrims paths. After work we headed back to the hostel to make the evening meal, we all take it in turns to cook or wash up and it always seems to work well.

Sunday 15th April - Today was another glorious day and as it was Sunday the girls decided to head off to the Abbey to get a feel of life in Iona and the birthplace of Scottish Christianity. I'm afraid that's as far as my knowledge stretches around the religious significance of the island, but to find out more Click here for the Wikipedia entry on Iona . Whilst the girls went to church and a tea room or two the guys (with my help and advice of course!) headed over to haul boulders again for a boggy stretch of path. It was a tough job as movable boulders are few and far between as most rock is bed rock. Once you have found a rock you then have to pinch bar it out and then heave it around a hill to the bog. What usually happens is the boulder gets stuck in the wrong bit of bog so you need to haul it to near its final resting place, dig out a small amount of bog then put the boulder in place. In the end we got there! see below...

Hauling the Boulder to improve the pilgrims path

It was another hot day and it was really sheltered where the bog was, it was beautiful. I found a Caterpillar during my lunch but as with most caterpillars I couldn't identify it. The afternoon was spend clearing ditches and painting the village benches and gates. See below...

One of the cross drains cleared by the Abbey

Painting one of the gates

After everyone finished work we all headed over to a disused croft to check out some storm damage (there was quite a bit) and then we headed over to the Machair and spent an hour or so relaxing by the fantastic beach on the west side of the island known by the locals as the Machair. We spend a few hours after work relaxing by it on the Tuesday and Wednesday too. But I'm sure you can see why below....

Monday 16th April - Another glorious day spent beach combing a number of coves on the West side of the island. Absolute bliss. I was amazed at the difference in beach from cove to cove both in structure of beach and what you would find washed up. Some beaches were sandy, some pebbles, some crushed shells. Some had lots of kelp washed up, others none, A few photos from Monday are below. About 4 of the group went off to Staffa for the day to see the Puffins. I have been before in June and managed to get so close to these beautiful bird but I think it was a bit early in the year for them to be nesting in April but apparently there were some to be seen in the sea.

Shell beaches

Fantastic pink seaweed to be identified shortly!

I spent two hours on this beach paddling and looking at all the shells washed up

Iona Abbey

Flag Iris - perfect ground cover for the Corncrakes found on Iona

Thrift and lichen (Ramolina?) growing on the rocks on the shore

 

Kelp filled beach

Tuesday 17th April - Today we started work on another pilgrims path which goes by the machair and up hill to eventually reach Columba's Bay. There have already been huge improvements to the paths drainage thanks to an islander who has done really great neat work with a digger creating channels down the side of the path, however there is still some water flowing down the path that needs directing off the path into said drainage channel so our task on Tuesday and for part of Wednesday was to create some water bars that are made across the path. It was quite hard and muddy work - so because of that I absolutely loved it! We split into two groups Marcus took one and I tool the other further up the path. We first had to find appropriately sized large flat rocks around the site which was easier said than done so we had a good supply to chose from when we constructed the water bars. We then had to dig a ditch across the path which followed the flow of water down the path. This took quite a while as there were son many stones. 

The before picture!

Once the ditch was dug we then had to place large stones with a flat side against the downward side of the ditch so they were only slightly higher than the path and flat facing the ditch to help channel the water down the length of the channel. Once there were all in place we had to lay the stones at the base of the channel for the water to flow over. This was trickier than it sounded as we had to watch the gradient but also make sure it wasn't too deep or too shallow. We got there in the end, but I have to admit, one of the volunteers Derek definitely had an eye for it! It seemed every rock he places was perfect and he moved at such a pace he was fantastic! Anyway here are some before and after pictures of the water bar...

After digging out the trench

Some wind battered juniper on the hill alongside the path - fantastic

After all the digging we had nearly finished the water bars and headed down to the beach to watch some spectacular waves coming into shore. The weather had definitely changed but it remained gloriously sunny and we just sat for an hour being mesmerised by the waves at the machair beach. To top it off that evening we had a fire on the beach down from the hostel underneath the stars and the satellites it was fantastic, especially with a wee dram of whiskey! Magical.

 

Fantastic waves crashing on the beach

Wednesday 18th April - Today was a mix of tasks. Again another gloriously sunny day! First we headed up to finish off the water bars which only took about an hour to complete by packing stones in behind the stones to stabilise them and tidy up the site. The finished water bar below!

The completed water bar!

Rubbish from the wee cove

We then headed over to Columbas Bay to do a quick litter pick. We headed there for a brew and then we split off into two groups. I took the larger group over to the smaller cove just east of Columbas Bay and luckily we took plenty of bin bags as we collected a depressingly large amount of plastic bottles and rubbish that had been washed up on the shore. It was really sad and eye opening to see how much rubbish there was. On first inspection it just looked like a usual stony bay with a few washed up damages bits of rope, lobster pots and buoys but on closer inspection there were hundreds of pieces of rubbish. See below for just what we managed to collect in about half an hour.

The cove where we litter picked

 The other problem with Iona is rubbish removal. There is only one large public bin on the island and anything else that is to be taken off the island by the council has to be paid for so the NTS get charged for anything additional that needs removing. I personally think this is awful, surely it is doing the island a favour but I guess when you in get into discussions like ' who owns the island?' NTS and what are their responsibilities versus the council (and community members) then it all gets a bit more complicated.


After the litter pick we headed over to the marble quarry to finish some painting. A group went to finish moving the rubbish back to the van and collected some sand that was needed for Thursday's tasks and the rest of us headed over to another boggy bit to lay some new stepping stones. The amazing Derek once again excelled prising rocks off hills and shifting them through bogs. However I'm very pleased with my contribution which is the rock that is two rocks away from the one Stuart is standing on! See below...

Our new bog crossing point!

After all this excitement we headed back to the machair to watch the waves then headed back to hostel where I made a rather fantastic apple crumble. I tried the deconstructed approach where I cooked off the crumble separately - it worked and people had seconds and thirds!!! I was very honoured!

Thursday 19th April - Our last proper work day and full day on the island. Again a day full of sunshine and cracking views. Today we worked in two groups. First we all carried cement, water and sand up to the cairn on duni hill. This was quite hard going but the steep bit was short and sweet luckily and at the top we were blessed with some fantastic views.

 A group cemented the cairn and another group which I lead headed down towards the abbey to improve the drainage on the path into the village and collect pebbles from the beach to grave the area by the kissing gate. The views were spectacular whilst we worked and I was really really happy with the improvements we made to the drainage. We removed some of the grass that had grown over the gravel path, cleared, widened and extended the drain above the path and cleared below the path.

Area of path drained in front of Abbey

After lunch and a walk to get an ice cream (it was hot in that sun!) the whole of the group head over to Moll Farm to clear away some storm damage before the croft gets tidied properly and re-let by the NTS (if anyone is interested its beautiful croft and has a great position meaning you can see both sides of the island from the croft. Since it was the last day most of the group walked back to the hostel along the coast and packed. Marcus and I made three giant lasagnas and we fed all the group plus the hostel owner, 2 hostel staff some other of the hostel guests! It was a great evening and it was sad to think the week was coming to an end. Marcus and I both got lovely thank you cards from the group which was really touching and we got the place ready to leave for the 9am ferry.

Friday 20th April - Our last day on Iona and time to travel home. I woke early so headed down to the beach at 5:55am to watch the sun come up over Ben More from the beach by the hostel. It was fantastic and was so glad I did it.

Then all there was to be done was to move everything into the van say good bye to John and head to the ferry. We got the 9am ferry from Iona to Mull and were waved off by some of the islanders doing a Mexican wave on the pier which was such a laugh. We spotted an otter on the way to Craignure. We dropped off some of the volunteers in Craignure and caught the 10.55 ferry to Oban, left some of the volunteers at Oban and drove down to Edinburgh. Marcus and I unloaded the van, caught up with Jon (one of the other paid thistle camp leaders) and then I headed off to catch my train home.

I was met at Lime Street Station in Liverpool by my fabulous Tom at 10.15pm. After 14 hours worth of travelling, 2 islands and 2 countries I was pooped and ready for bed. But a fantastic trip and one I will remember for a long time to come!