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Our John Muir Explorers Award was a children’s woodland adventure! The first person the travelers met on their adventure journey was John Muir himself, who told the children something about his life and adventures. He explained that he wanted to protect the wild environment in National Parks and asked if they might be willing help him to protect our Dartmoor National Park too. He told them that there was a threat to the environment and that he needed them to go on an adventure and discover the hidden name of the threat. The children all agreed to help John Muir and we set off to Dog Marsh, on the River Teign. Once there, the children were given a map and a riddle! Using their compasses, the children led the way over Fisherman’s Bridge….

Scouting carefully ahead the children came upon a troop of Cavaliers! Among the troopers was a younger man called Sidney Godolphin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Godolphin_(poet). Sidney was a poetical young man, who appreciated the beauty of the nature around him. Some of the children had heard of Sidney Godolphin before and they did try to warn him against going into Chagford that day! Continuing on our route, we were very lucky to spot a huge heron rising up from the river and, would you believe it, had left them a note behind it! The riddle led us to a fallen giant, victim of the 2018 drought. There were some strong feelings at seeing such an old tree laid low but hope too in that somehow, it still lives, as there are new green leaves on it. One of the parents remembered sitting under that tree many years ago. It was an example of how changing climate can have a profound impact on our wild places.

The entrance to the Deer Park is well worth the steep walk to it as you discover the magical Dartmoor granite creation ‘Passage’ by sculptor Peter Randall-Page. It was irresistible for us to use this location as a Gateway to a Magical Land protected by a Foxy Guardian! The adventuring children were able to assure him that they were on a mission to protect the environment and, leaving him a present of nature art, were allowed through the gate. There are Fallow Deer in the Deer Park and these aren’t native to our shores but came over with the Normans. They can cause damage to our native young trees and shrubs and there are no natural predators left to keep them in check. Wild wolves for instance have been extinct since the 16thc. We wanted to bring this idea alive for the children and so suddenly they could hear the sounds of growling! Rushing up the path, they discovered a ‘wolf’ tangled in some ‘barbed wire’. They had to work out how to free the poor trapped wolf, learning that discarded man-made objects can be harmful to wildlife.

Continuing on their way, the Adventurers met more magical creatures and enjoyed a brief look at the magnificent hilltop view while more lollies were handed round. Then we dashed back into the shade! Had the day been cooler, we had planned to picnic and sketch up in the ruins and will hopefully do that another day. As we walked back along the paths, we talked about the impact of non-native species such as grey squirrels, rhododendron and Spanish Bluebells, listened to popping seeds and spotted grasshoppers and butterflies. The children put together all their hard earned puzzle pieces. Between them they worked out that the name of the threat to the environment was 'Plastic Litter'! The children put their heads together and came up with a marvelous plan! They knew that plastic needs to be cleaned and rinsed before it’s recycled so they decided to get water pistols to attack the Plastic Litter Monster with! Their plan worked perfectly! We had a lovely adventure and I think that the children will remember John Muir and some of the challenges facing us as we work together to protect our environment. Maybe next year, we’ll have another adventure and explore a new route through the lovely Fingle Woods! We would like to thank the National Park Rangers Wild Tribe, the Fingle Woods Blog, the Woodland Trust, Devon Mammal Group and the South West Lakes Trust for their help and support in running this children's adventure. Photo credits (for all the good ones!) and thanks go to Sasha Jackson at https://dartmoorkin.wixsite.com/photography

In April the YMCA Newcastle M-Power group decided to take on the John Muir Award. We have so many beautiful places to choose from that we took some time to consider which wilderness area to explore. Murlough Nature Reserve - A 6000 year old dune system and an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Specific Scientific Interest. Tollymore Forest Park - With hills, woods, managed forests, rivers and miles of walking trails Donard Wood - The Gateway to the Mournes

We found out that the threatened Marsh Fritillary Butterfly thrives in Murlough, living on the flower of the Devil's Bit Scabious - We went out into Murlough at the start of May and we found the flower, we found the butterfly and we found hundreds of their hairy black caterpillars - unfortunately the only one we photographed is from a different species entirely. We'll have to go back!

We explored a new area of Murlough and enjoyed the range of wild flowers on a lovely sunny day

We went to Slidderyford Dolmen beside Murlough Nature Reserve looking for a geocache. It wasn't there but nearby at the side of the road - but it was fund climbing all over this ancient Portal Tomb or Cromlech.