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Ranger Greig introduces Holly to Holly and we can't decide what is brightest, the welcome winter sun or Holly's massive smile and enthusiasm! We made our way through this amazing environment wondering, wandering and asking as our two fantastic Countryside Ranger Guides took us on our nature adventure. Bamboozled by Bamboo and left puzzled at the question 'Does Nettle Soup Really Sound Like a Good Idea' we learned and laughed throughout our investigation. Some of us mentioned the colours that were on show and like with many of our winter adventure we longed to come back when winter sits in a previous chapter and the pages of spring and summer start to turn....

We thought we would add an extra section to our story this week as there is simply too much to share. Daffodils and Crocus framed by a fallen tree while Bluebells an Explosion of Spring Flowers bided there time ready to enter the fray. Thanks to our Countryside Ranger Friends - We couldn't possibly do this without you!

Week 9, the penultimate week of our rowing experience. A cold but busy day at the loch today. More straight line timed races today, with Ellie maintaining her unbeaten record on the loch. Around us, the ducks were putting on a fantastic show , and a lone swan kept coming over for a look. There is currently a Kingfisher in the area too, but we were not lucky enough to see it. Next week will be timed races around the loch, a big step up from the sprints! The Kinghorn Coastal Rowing Club have been fantastic as ever, helpful and supportive and we have enjoyed our time with them. We are all looking forward to a great morning on the loch next week to finish off the programme, and have invited members of school Senior Management Team to come and share the experience.

One of our Environmental Conservation students asked if he could do more litter picking. This week Dan became a member of the Friends of Saltwells Nature Reserve litter picking group. He did a great job, working as part of the team to do a thorough job of litter picking around the Mushroom Green area of the reserve. Thank you to Martin of FOSNR for enabling Dan to join such a proactive group of conservation volunteers. Well done to Dan who has clocked up an extra 2 hours towards his JMA in addition to his weekly session.

This week for the Explore challenge, our group practised identifying trees by their twigs in Saltwells Wood. It is a good job we like a challenge! Luckily we had our Woodland Trust, Nature Detectives Twig IDials to help us. We looked at opposite and alternate bud positions, bud colour and other clues including the presence of flowers and thorns. Our list of tree species was: Ash, Hazel, Horse Chestnut, Lime, Alder, Sycamore, Holly, Field Maple, Oak and Beech. The female pinky red flowers of Hazel were very beautiful but easy to overlook. Hawthorn was a slightly easier species to remember for the football fans amongst our group as it is the name of the football ground belonging to local team West Bromwich Albion! This was a very challenging activity but we have some potential botanists who passed their tree identification assessment when they returned to college. A big thank you to Emma, Assistant Warden at Saltwells NNR for leading a very enjoyable walk around the woods.

Today saw us being hosted by the Cairngorm Rangers at the station in Glen Clova. The group had the opportunity to have a look at the scale of the Cairngorm National Park and it's diverse landscape, from sheltered glens to full Arctic experience. The Ranger station is packed with information and the Rangers were keen to share. The original idea was to investigate a site of water vole activity in Corrie Feehttps://www.nature.scot/enjoying-outdoors/visit-our-nature-reserves/corrie-fee-national-nature-reserve , however they were having a bit of a snow day and any evidence would have disappeared under a blanket of snow . This did not deter the group and they experienced weather that would have made a Polar Bear put his big coat on. As John Muir experienced the power of nature by tying himself to a tree, you have to be in it to experience it. The group saw Red Deer, where they should not have been and left the Rangers to report. They also saw tracks from Fox, Otter and Pine Martin. Everyone was back safe after a roller coaster of a ride back to school. Thank you to the Rangers in Glen Doll see you next time. Must remember to include barf bags next time.

The snow was falling once again as we worked with our Glasgow Countryside Ranger Friends at the rear of The Burrell Collection in Pollok Park. Clusters of snowdrops sat in thick swathes of white deep in the Pollok Woodland. With the help of Linzi and Fiona our mission for today would be to 'carefully' remove and divide some snowdrops from the woodland to the rear of the Burrell as we start to add to our Burrell Forest Canvas.

Working as a team with the eyes of the Burrell resting upon us we divided and positioned the snowdrops before bedding them in and making sure they were secure. Our fantastic Countryside Rangers Fiona and Linzi talked us through the process in a way that allowed us all to understand and appreciate exactly what were doing and why! They added to our task by allowing us to transplant some Bird Cherry Whips which added to the 'Picture' we were trying to create together. Colour was all around us with Scarlet Cups piercing the snow drop whites falling all around us and small green buds whispering their way into life like splashes of green paint on our Winter Springtime Canvas.