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Earlier this year, I became really interested in geocaching and over the summer holidays, found 50 caches all over Scotland. Geocaching is a fun and interesting way to explore new and familiar places, with over 3 million sites globally. The ones pictured are larger caches but they can be as small as a thumbnail with a tiny rolled-up log inside and I found ones of all different shapes and sizes over the last few months. I spent my birthday close to home, walking up to the Black Linn waterfall and finding the cache there (image 1) - which I had discovered before when I was little but never while actually knowing what it was! Inside I also found a trackable - a small toy that travels the world through geocaches, this one (Karma Dillo/Karmen) came from Los Angeles and had travelled all across North America and Europe before ending up near Kinlochard. Later in the holiday, I dropped her off near Aberfeldy to help her on her journey (image 2). I also found one at Juras Rock (image 3), which I found while on a walk from Kingsbarns to Crail (a section of the Fife Coastal Path) when on holiday in St Andrews. I also walked a few different sections of the Rob Roy way which has geocaches galore (image 4 is one example). Among the other places I found caches in the holidays were in the Cairngorms NP (where I found another trackable), around Lochan Spling in Aberfoyle and in the Peak District when I went with the National Park in October.

On June 6th, I participated in a Junior Rangers bat survey night in Balmaha, we learned a lot about different bats and their nature and - perhaps after dressing up as one (image 1) - I discovered I was really interested in them. So, over the summer holidays, I borrowed a bat detector from the national park and conducted several bat surveys on different days, times, and seasons. The first evening we went out was late July when bats are very active mating and preparing for hibernation - they are one of only 3 fully hibernating animals in the UK (the others being dormice and hedgehogs). With the bat detector at around 45-50kHz, we walked around different paths near Kinlochard and down to the loch for just under an hour. I counted 35 bats although there is potential for double counting. For the next few outings, my results were very similar, though as I was gaining knowledge about the species, I began to be able to identify that most of the bats I was hearing were Soprano Pipistrelles, a common bat that when detected at 50Khz will have a short, sharp clicking sound that evolves into a wet slapping sound when the frequency is increased. In my time out, I also detected common pipistrelles and think I heard a Daubenton's bat down by the loch. I also participated in a bat detecting night at the David Marshall Lodge in Aberfoyle, however, it was very wet and we found no bats. As the summer ended and autumn began, I began to detect fewer bats as they went into hibernation until when I last went out, in mid-September, I only detected 8 bats (all soprano pips). I found that there were many factors affecting bat's activity, including temperature, time, weather and season, however, in general, Kinlochard has a thriving population of bats. Unlike when I went on holiday to Laggan in the Cairngorms and only detected 1 bat on a night with perfect conditions. Due to the nature of the activity, I only have one (very blurry) picture as evidence (image 2) but hope my new knowledge and results are sufficient otherwise.

While on holiday in Laggan in the Cairngorms National Park, we went on several walks to explore the area. On the first day we went on a loop around Pattack Falls (where I found a geocache, image 1) and then aimed for the deserted village of Druim An Aird, although we took a wrong turn so didn't make it to the village it was a lovely walk all the same, looking onto the Corrieyairack Pass. On the second day, we walked from Garva Bridge over the grand River Spey (image 2) to Melgarve bridge (image 3) - two well-known landmarks along General Wade's Military Road. And finally, we walked up the hill where popular early 2000s TV drama "Monarch of the Glen" was filmed and at the top was Pictish Fort "Dun-da-Lamdh" (image 4, where again, I found a geocache)

From the 4th to 6th October 2019, I went on a LLATTNP Junior Rangers Residential to the Peak District with other Junior Rangers from 6 different national parks across the country - the Cairngorms, LLATT, Peak District, Pembrokeshire, North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales. It was the first meeting of UK National Park Junior Rangers and over the weekend, we took part in a variety of practical activities and discussions about the future of NP Junior Rangers. After a 7-hour train journey, we started off the weekend by participating in an activity ran by the young volunteers from Pembrokeshire, making paper with wildflower seeds (image 1). We then had a choice of what 3 main activities we'd like to take part in during the weekend. I chose to do the walk up the highest hill in the Peak District National Park (Kinder Scout, image 2), do tree climbing with a tree surgeon and do a practical conservation task fixing tree guards on a newly planted native woodland near where we were staying. On the Saturday night, we gave a presentation on what we do in our park (image 3) and listened to what the other groups did for inspiration. We then had a group meeting with everyone there, discussing projects we could all undertake to improve Junior Rangers across the country (image 4). The results of this included exchanges between National Parks, a conservation competition, how to recruit new members and get more National Parks to set up Junior Rangers. It was an amazing weekend with memories that'll last a lifetime and it was an honour to be a part of. It was such a special experience to be able to meet so many amazing people from all over the country and know that wherever we came from, we all had our passion for nature in common.

We explored the nature reserve noting the changes brought about by autumn, like the golden leaves. We heard buzzards and saw squirrels burying their nuts.

An Autumnal exploration of Harcourt Arboretum.

20.9.19 We went into the orchard at Grove and collected apples. the good apples went to the greenhouse where we stored them in trays, the windfalls and smaller apples went into a bag for Miss Warden's ponies. We then carried out bark rubbings on a big tree in our school grounds. When weeding our tyre beds in the greenhouse area, we also came across some potatoes planted some time ago.

We helped prepare for the Grove Garden App launch at Shiell St Community Garden by laminating the QR codes and the numbers and letters needed for the grid. We then went to Shiell St and measured up the grid lines and put in the markers ready for the primary school visit the next day.