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I had a fab day a couple of weeks ago helping one of our volunteers David surveying one of the mink raft survey routes as part of the Trossachs Water Vole Project. This project is a continuation of the re-introduction of water voles into the Trossachs area of the National Park in 2008. The National Park are a partner of this really successful project, with water voles now found over 10km away from the original release site, amazing! The water voles still need to be protected from the American mink, and our volunteers help Emily Marshall the Project Officer by checking mink rafts on a series of set routes. We are lucky in the Park to have 3 dedicated volunteer days, so I used mine to see what these routes involved and the fantastic work our volunteers do to contribute to the conservation of this species. It was an early start in Aberfoyle where I met David to set off. The weather was freezing! The views were stunning though with low lying mist and the hills peaking out below. A great day to be out exploring Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. We set off and checked our first raft up at the Lodge in Aberfoyle. The rafts are very clever, floating on bodies of water with a basket containing florists foam covered in a mix of clay and sand they are so well designed. The foam/clay baskets sit inside a tunnel which is on top of a larger raft. The tunnel can be lifted up so you can see inside. The whole raft is tethered to a tree so it doesn't wash away. After pulling in the first raft, we lifted the lid exposing the clay. We were looking for footprints! Mink in particular like to explore dark tunnels, they are very inquisitive! They leave behind footprints. A live trap can be set in a raft in place of the clay if a mink is known to be in the area. As well as mink, other mammals may leave footprints, so there is a lot of detective work involved! The first raft didn't have any prints. Although I was really happy that meant no mink, I was slightly disappointed not to see any prints! Other species include water voles themselves, rats, water shrews and even pine marten if they can reach the raft! I am not very good at telling the difference, but David reassured me this wasn't a problem. The volunteers learn as they do more surveys and anything they don't know, they ask the expert Emily by taking photos. They need to have a coin for size next to the print. The volunteers also replace any broken baskets or florists foam, and add new clay to the rafts, so there is a fair amount of work. We carried on our route around the forest, checking a total of 8 rafts! It is time consuming and I can now appreciate the amazing help our volunteers provide to this important species. Did we find anything? Only a possible field vole! But being in the fresh air, exploring spots of the forest I wouldn't normally get to and catching up with one of our volunteers made it such a rewarding day. And no mink to be found Yay!!

A quick search in the strandline at St Bees revealed 8 smallspotted cat shark and 7 thornback ray egg cases, known as mermaid's purses. Logging these with the Shark Trust Great Eggcase Hunt contributes to a database of Eggcase records and increased knowledge about the distribution of British sharks, rays and skates and can help identify their egg laying areas. The Shark Trust produce good identification guides to these mermaid's purses on their website, app and in leaflet form.

15 Jan 2020. Finding a dead bird on the beach helped me to learn more about and distinguish between razorbills and guillemots. Having seen these birds en masse during their breeding season in the summer when they nest in massive numbers at St Bees head. They are closely related, both black and white and similar size, however the bills are much larger on the razorbill, this can be seen on my photo of the bird leaving the cliff. Seeing the dead bird close up allowed me to distinguish between birds and identify the smaller bill of the guillemot. I was also able to spread the back webbed feet. The webbing helps with swimming to catch fish and also flying control which can be seen in my photo.

15 Jan 2020 I am often down at Parton beach after school pick up and going at similar times has allowed me to learn more about cormorant behaviour as the sun is setting. I have repeatedly seen them flying south in flocks following the shoreline, in stormy conditions I observe them flying lower and in lighter winds they are higher in the sky. They could be mistaken for geese as they fly in a similar v shaped pattern conserving energy flying in groups. I presume they are on their way returning to St Bees head after fishing out at sea. On my earlier Cumbrian coast bivi journey last summer I enjoyed watching the cormorants overhead at St Bees head cliffs.

For the sake of balance (or lack of it) here is the other side of hammocking with a 3 year old! Jon and I had a brief, precious few moments together in our hammock before we gained a little visitor...who is still learning about personal space, has the potential to cause chaos in a hammock and can also be seen being rescued by Uncle Rob following a falling out of the hammock incident! I'm happy to say no 3 year olds were injured during these escapes..

19th Jan. After a bit of a post Christmas, bad weather and tired hibernation we emerged back to Walkmill, again with the hammocks. This time Jon and I tried our double hammocks! The feeling of being suspended, cocooned, womb like, gently rocking. Listening to bird song and having a different view of the trees...gazing up. I can see why forest bathing is 'a thing'. The therapeutic value of not doing anything..just 'being' in nature.. especially wonderful, magical trees. We are called human beings not human doings..yet most value at the moment seems to be placed on doing, achievement, productivity. I found this a great reminder of the restorative benefits of actually just 'being in nature'.