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Thank you to everyone for their commitment to the natural world, to the John Muir Trust, to our HE Adventurers and their parents, to De Koffie Pot for hosting our final gathering but, above all, to the woodlands themselves for being such awesome places and to all the life within these generous habitats.

We visited the nature reserve to see how it had changed over the summer and to perform a tree shake. The ranger requested that we enter any interesting finds into Black Countty Ecorecord website. We found a winter moth caterpillar in an oak tree which we entered onto the Ecorecord. We also found ladybird, spiders, mites and caterpillars

'The sun shines not on us but in us' - John Muir. A rather fitting quote as we reflect on our first day with the Vale of Leven Academy Junior Rangers. It was a soggy day but that didn't stop everyone having a great time Discovering the native woodland wonders around Cashel on east Loch Lomond. Loads of autumnal berries on the trees, we spotted Rowan, Elder and Hawthorn as well as loads of signs of animals who share the woodland with us.

Today we conducted a litter pick around the blue trail of the nature reserve, using thick, protective gloves. We were heartened to see only small amounts of litter around the reserve. The worst culprit was cigarette ends. We found more litter near the car park and pedestrian entrances.

“The battle for conservation must go on endlessly. It is part of the universal warfare between right and wrong.” ― John Muir Excellent effort from the Vale of Leven Junior Rangers today - learning about camping responsibly, footpath erosion, Red Squirrel Conservation (we even spotted one!) and then helping to clear the footpaths.

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” ― John Muir We found frogs hiding in the long grasses we were raking as part of the conservation activities for the Vale of Leven Junior Rangers John Muir Award. Many thanks to the team at the RSPB Loch Lomond Reserve, we had a great day and everyone worked very hard.