Day 8 of BTCV Placement - Loch Lomond

Today we were again inLoch Lomond to help the SNH guys with some work on the wetlands.  The areas we'd been working on were now flooded with about 4 foot of water and the places we were working in last week weren't even recognisable. 

To start we had to park and set off on foot about 2 or 3 miles from our original position.  Once ready we set off on a 20/25 minute walk to get to the only accessible part we were working on last week.  Today we had to use the steel chromes to remove the floating grass from the pond.  To start with it was rather easy but as we began to move onto the deeper and essentially more tangled parts it took maybe 2 or 3 of us to remove just one clump.

Once the grass was loose and dragged up the embankment we had to leave it to drain for a while, it was so absorbed with water that it weighed a tonne!!  The blisters at the end of the day show the effort that had to be put in!! ha ha.

After lunch we moved onto another area.  We walked to this plot through a beautiful woodland and some of the boggiest ground i've ever had to negotiate.  The most interesting part was walking over the soft and spongy ground which I soon realised to be spagnum.  This was very interesting as the Langlands Moss area I'm doing just now is being worked to promote spagnum to grow, but I've only seen it growing under the surface of the water in the reservoir.  It was certainly an experience to see what it's like when fully formed.

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Day 6 of BTCV Placement - Loch Lomond SPA

Today we were in Loch Lomond at the SPA (Special Protection Area) to continue on the days work we had done on the tuesday.  Today we were to continue with pulling the cut willow and birch across the pond an stacking it behind the pathway.  Today we had a twist though with a fire going (watched over by Nick from SNH =P) to burn the branches and logs cut from the willow trees.

Through the course of the morning we got the fire going gradually in order for us to use it fully in the afternoon.  We had the lads from Cardonald College with us today which was a great help for us to blitz through the work we had.

The morning started off really well with the sun shining and everyone working away in t shirts.  Me and Ali made some excellent progress clearing a large area away in our section using the rope to drag it across the stagnant water.

We broke for lunch around 1 and made our way over to the tree line across the meadow so we could sit on a large hummock under the sun.  About 20 mins into lunch the rain clouds rolled in and gradually started to drizzle, just when we were packing up the supplies again the heavens opened....lovely start to the afternoon.

By the time lunch had passed the fire was now burning away nicely and we were then told to cut back on dragging the willow across the water and now to bring it to the fire for us to burn it.  The danger of fire was clearly evident when the wind suddenly changed and blew the flames right into Nick's face, he ended up with his eyebrows singed and the front part of his hair missing..was quite funny actually.

By the end of the day it was a great accomplishment to look back and see the areas we'd cleared, gave a good feeling after being soaked all afternoon, ha ha.

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