Do tigers prey on newts? Here we all are at Hurlethill anyway, helping out Froglife by digging tiger traps for very tiny tigers.
Getting stuck in.
See? It’s a tiger trap!
Actually, they are test holes to assess how wet the ground is, and how suitable for digging out a much larger pond later on, using a mechanical digger. The small holes allow us to see firstly how difficult the ground is to dig – is it very stony, very heavy clay, etc. In this case, happily for us manual diggers, it was quite easy to dig with few big rocks. The holes are sunk to around 60cm deep, and need to be left for a few days to see if they fill up with water. 60cm deep holes in long grass do present an ankle-breaking hazard for the casual passer by, however, hence the lattice of sticks over the tops of the holes, which make them more visible and less easy for someone to step into.
Glasgow TCV is getting very cosmopolitan these days – in addition to regular volunteer Katerina, from Greece, we have had two Swedish volunteers, Hakon and Janne, working with us on an exchange for two weeks, and Arnaud from Montpellier, France has just joined us for a placement.
Janne exchanges Stockholm for Hurlethill.