Caithness Countryside Volunteers

Reiss beach – May ’10

Kirsty MacLeod — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:34:55 +0000

On Sunday 23rd we met at Reiss beach to do a few bits and pieces of work. Sand and vegetation was cleared from the steps, and the hand rail was painted. This now makes the entrance to the beach look a lot tidier. We also gathered a large amount of litter, just from the car park and area surrounding the entrance. The final part of our efforts at Reiss was to try and provide some stabilisation of the sand at the side of the burn where it is being eroded and washed away. To do this we transplanted some marram grass from areas of established dune. We had some funding for this event from the Community Service Volunteers Action Earth, supported by Morrisons supermarkets. Extra funding meant we got juice and fancy cakes, along with the usual tea!

Wildflower meadow – April ’10

Kirsty MacLeod — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:45:16 +0000

On Sunday the 4th we ventured further afield than usual to help Paul Castle in Bettyhill. The Farr Glebe is an important site for the rare great yellow bumblebee, and the meadow was in need of some small scale management. The grass had already been mown so we were raking it up to encourage higher levels of flowering. It was a lovely day which made the work much easier. The usual tea and biscuits in a lovely setting were much enjoyed!

Cetacean training – March ’10

Kirsty MacLeod — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:32:53 +0000

On Sunday the 21st we met at Seadrift for a training session run by Alice Walters, from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. She gave a very interesting and informative talk about the Shorewatch project they are running, and how to get involved. We learnt how to identify different cetaceans from the glances we will be most likely to see in the distance. After some lunch we got to try out the binoculars and other kit. So far my cetacean watching from Wick has proved fruitless!

For more information visit www.wdcs.org.uk

Wildlife boxes – February ’10

Kirsty MacLeod — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:26:03 +0000

We met on Sunday 28th in Seadrift to make some wildlife boxes. We made a selection of bug boxes and worm watching boxes, and these will be distributed around schools for educational use.

Path clearance at Borgie Mains – January ’10

Kirsty MacLeod — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:02:42 +0000

Our first event of the new year was on a snowy Sunday, the 31st. We met to clear gorse from an overgrown path at Castletown. The path leads from Tansfield at the Castletown end, to Borgie Mains. It was a road used by the old quarry located just off the road at Borgie Mains. The track is lined by flagstones, and following it takes you among some great scenery, looking out over Castletown, Dunnet and Hoy. We also spotted a fox making his way through an adjacent field.

There was plenty of snow around but the sun shone for the duration of our work, with a snow shower making an appearance just in time for our tea and biscuits!

For us to be able to manoeuvre our cars around to go home, one brave volunteer reversed on the snowy track all the way to join the road again. It was a joy to behold and after nearly getting stuck in the ditch, she managed to pull it off! Everybody else then managed to leave quite easily.

Trees at Halkirk Primary School – November ’09

Kirsty MacLeod — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:28:39 +0000

We met on Sunday 22nd for our last event of the year. We were at Halkirk Primary School to open an area of trees and make it safe for the children to play in. Up until now the area had been out of bounds for the children on health and safety grounds. Using saws and loppers we cut off the lower branches of all the trees to open up the interior. This has made it much safer and also a lot more roomy so now the children will be able to make use of this extra play area.
It was a lovely day and we had a very good turnout for this event. Tea and coffee was provided for us in the school, along with biscuits, and we also had some home baking courtesy of Kirsty Rosie and myself. All in all a very good morning!

Fencing at Keiss Primary School – October ’09

Kirsty MacLeod — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:01:59 +0000

We met on a very wet Sunday, the 25th, at Keiss Primary School to do some fencing. We were putting up a fence around some ground by the nursery to give the children a separate area to play in. The plan is for it to have a waved, rather than uniformly straight top line. Everybody quickly got wet and cold so we broke early for tea and biscuits to see if the weather would improve at all. It didn’t, but we went back to work for a while, unfortunately not managing to get it finished.

Update – Nov ’09: The fence has now been finished by Dieter and looks very good!

Salmonberry at Tister Farm – Sept ’09

Kirsty MacLeod — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:10:11 +0000

We met on Sunday 13th at Tister Farm to remove some of the salmonberry that is growing in the hedges. Salmonberry is a non-native species that has escaped from gardens, having originally come from the west coast of North America. At Tister some salmonberry has been sprayed to kill it, while on Sunday we were cutting it down and digging it out. It can then be seen which method will be the best for permanent removal. A large amount was removed, with the telehandler removing 4 loads.

Castlehill wildflower planting – August ’09

Kirsty MacLeod — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:41:34 +0000

On Sunday 16th we met at the Castlehill Heritage Trail by Castletown to plant wildflower plugs. The flowers being planted were birds foot trefoil, red clover and scabious. These were being planted to enrich the verges.

Yarrows trail cosmetics – July ’09

Kirsty MacLeod — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:34:31 +0000

We met at Yarrows on Sunday 19th to carry out some repairs around the trail. This included repainting the marker posts to make them stand out again, fixing gates and sorting the flagstones that make up parts of the path. Many of the flags had sunk into the peaty ground and needed lifting out to make them part of the path again.

Unfortunately we didn’t remember to take the photo until most people had left!