Hello again, and greetings from Rouken Glen Park in East Renfrewshire. I seem to spend a lot of time over here; I might as well set up camp and pop a flag up. I love this park; it’s got everything – People, friends of group, history, a boating pond, a walled garden, waterfalls and TREEEES, lots and lots of them. It’s a very special place. I’ve been involved in a a huge funding bid through Heritage Lottery Fund at Rouken Glen and part of this is community involvement so with Carts Greenspace we have developed a new voluntary scheme. This is brilliant and has been really popular, the volunteers get to do a range of activities from conservation projects to archaeology. Its a great opportunity for the volunteers and the park.
Anyway, enough dreaming and on to the fun I’ve been having.
On the 2nd September I was asked to think about a guided walk in Rouken Glen Park to be led by ME!!! I could feel my face drain of all colour and I suddenly felt rather sick! This was a terrifying thought but agreed to take on the task. I decided to talk about the autumn colours that will be gracing the park later in the season. I got to work trying to swot on all things autumn! It was brilliant fun actually, I’ve learnt a lot! Surprisingly I like to show off so I presented my poor friends with bits and bobs of amazing tree facts and the scientific terms for the pigments in leaves over endless suppers. They seemed reasonably impressed after a few glasses!
The date was set – The public beheading would be Sunday 9th October at 2pm – and so it began…
…I loved it! I had a good crowd, not too many, not too little – perfect. The rain cleared up and the sun showed off the beautiful colours of the leaves. We moseyed around the park picking up different nuts and seeds, smelling leaves, lying under trees and using mirrors to see the park in a whole new way. The whole group reacted brilliantly, they all responded well to my peculiar little activities, which were for kids mainly but everyone wanted to have a go. I had everyone looking under their legs trying to guess the height of trees, I also managed to get people to club together and wrap their hands around trunks to approximate the age of the tree. My favourite bit was making a circle in the middle of the park showing how big the fattest tree is in Britain! Our very own beautiful OAK, Quercus Rober, did you know it takes nine adults finger to finger to reach around it! We must have had several onlookers wondering what on earth we were doing, may have looked a little hippie like! Ching ching!
All in all a brilliant afternoon, my confidence has bloomed since Sunday. I have the group to thank for that. Now I’m worried they might ask me back!
I also quickly want to tell you about the Natural Communities trip to Abernethy to visit fellow trainee Alison Greggans. We were soooo lucky; we got to stay in a secret forest lodge with red squirrels everywhere. I was delighted, my first ever red squirrel. We went on midnight walks and helped with the RSPB’s ongoing forest restructuring project. It felt good to be out in the thick of it helping to protect the amazing habitat for capercaillies. What beautiful birds, I must say I never knew they existed until a year ago. They are a bit like a turkey crossed with a pheasant, crazy but beautiful. I feel very lucky to be involved and I will never forget it.
I’m going to use this blog as an advertising spot…On Thursday 20th October I will be holding an event in Rouken Glen Park – BEE WILD! Come and enjoy a load of free activities and talks. There will be lots of fun for everyone especially for all those big kids out there. See you there! (I hope it’s not snowing)!! Whoops, I don’t know how this poster got in here.
Bye for now.