It’s been a hot sunny week here at the Falls of Clyde, kicking off with a busy bank holiday Monday. We’ve been doing a variety of jobs this week, from office work, getting creative with 30 days wild, to a hard days path digging, we’ve had great weather and views to go with it all.

Our week started with a beautiful bank holiday, the sun was out for us all day bringing along lots of visitors. The whole reserve was busy with people exploring the trails and visiting the Falls. We also had lots of mini wildlife detectives taking part in our self-guided “live and deadly” trail, solving clues along the boardwalk to figure out the culprit of a wildlife crime in their booklets and receive a certificate and badge.

Wednesday saw Lori and I visiting the Scottish Wildlife Trust head offices in Leith for an induction day. We learnt about the Scottish Wildlife Trust and their various projects, such as: Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (did you know that some areas of Scotland are a haven for red squirrels, and have remained free from grey squirrels); The Living Landscapes; The Living Seas Project; The Scottish Beaver Trial (Beavers used to live in the UK 400 years ago but were hunted to extinction), and many more.

On Thursday we got crafty making hanging mobiles from pine cones, leaves, feathers and twigs we’d foraged from the reserve. We also created some new wildflower signs for the new flowers we’ve found springing up along the boardwalk recently, in particular Russian Comfrey. We identified a patch of Russian Comfrey by the Tree Nursery, it’s pink-purple bell-shaped flowers help to tell it apart from the Common Comfrey.

Friday was an exciting day as we had a corporate work party volunteering with us from Scottish Enterprise as part the Volunteer Week (http://volunteersweek.org/). The team came up to help us remove the surface of a section of path near the walled garden. This is in preparation for another group from Scottish Enterprise coming in on Monday to resurface the path. We were hard at work with mattocks, shovels and spades to remove the top two inches of earth, and with bow saws and loppers to remove the maze of roots. It was hard, hot work, but it is amazing to see just how much you can get done by having a whole team working together.

Jess Dewhurst – Assistant Ranger, Scottish Wildlife Trust

Help support our vital work and join us today!