Field Notes: Latest Junior Rangers off to a good start

Quinag Conservation Officer Kat Martin shares some recent Junior Ranger activity on her patch in North West Scotland.

So far this term we have joined Rangers at Corrieshalloch Gorge to explore leading guided walks; learnt and practised navigation skills and taken part in creative exploration of peat and climate change up at Glencanisp; enjoyed a visit from North West Sutherland Fisheries Trust to think about waterway health and how it is monitored (including an unexpected eel find, which led to a fascinating story time about their incredible life-cycles and their mysteries that still stump scientists!); helped with rhododendron removal and made it into dead hedges and charcoal at West Edge; and taken part in tree ID and geology theatre on Ullapool Hill. We will be wrapping up in a couple of week's time with a Christmas craft and campfire-brownie-making session, to welcome in a well-earned rest before part two commences in the new year!

Romany and I (pictured above) connected with past Junior Rangers when we attended the Rural Careers Fair at Ullapool High School - and visited by Kinlochbervie and Gairloch High Schools - in November.

Students who'd completed our Junior Ranger course had an advantage when they correctly guessed the items in a Conservation Officer's bag - top of the list of course, was biscuits! 

One teenager paused when I mentioned my job involved looking after a mountain called Quinag. He said he'd visited that mountain and had been a Junior Ranger during the first programme (before my time). He then relayed the many things he'd enjoyed, including the First Aid training, before retrieving his certificate card out of his wallet. Moments like these are truly special and affirming 🙂.

A big thank you to Em at West Edge, National Trust for Scotland’s Corrieshalloch Gorge Rangers Aiden and Daniel, Mandy Haggith of UHI, Shona and Morven of West Sutherland Fisheries Trust, and Ullapool High School, who have supported us in delivering varied, interesting and fun sessions with the 2023/24 Junior Ranger programme so far.

Photographs by Kat Martin.