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Today we worked with Glasgow Countryside Ranger Fiona at the far corner of Pollok Park. The site we chose to work within is often used by younger groups as well as being a home for wildlife so the need for it to be kept clean and free from litter and debris is very important. Keeping the area clear so that plants can grow and to prevent small mamals from climbing into cans, bottles or jars, getting stuck and starving to dealth was at the top of our reasons to get this job done! We divided into two teams with one being led by Countryside Ranger Fiona while the other being led by class lecturer Colin. We found a variety of things as we made our way through the woodland and along the road through the park. Cans, Bottles, Paper, Robber, Metal and much more were strewn across the woodland. As we cleared the area the team spirit grew as the rubbish diminished and the area looked clean once again.

Start of our new projects today. To kick off with, we are building bird boxes that will soon be available to buy. We have also been looking at making bird feeders to go along with them, so we will be building these too, and selling them with bird food in them. We are at the start of exciting times, with lots of outdoors work starting at QHS soon, which our group will be at the heart of. Watch this space for developments! We have also started to look at a mountain bike activity which we are paying for with our half of the money raised from the sale of our reindeer at Christmas. This will give us experience of getting out and exploring different wild areas on the bikes.

I was gifted a book called Journeys with Stitched Birds recently, and it motivated me to finish my skylark stitch-and-share. Only a small stitched bird, but alongside a passage that I loved from John Muir’s The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, about him and his friends spending hours ‘on a broad meadow near Dunbar’ watching skylarks rising. I had always planned to hang this at the Musselburgh coast - where I have heard and seen skylarks for many years, long before I realised that this National Cycle Network route was also part of the John Muir Way. I headed over there today to work out exactly where to put it, and immediately heard and saw a skylark singing over the fields by Musselburgh lagoons – in fact hovering over the perfect post to attach the stitching to, which also happened to have fresh sunflower seeds poured on it. It’s a really popular place for bird lovers, so hopefully John Muir’s description of this little musician will be appreciated. As I cycled off, what I thought was a skylark flew in front of me and perched on the sea wall…but it wasn’t a skylark, it was a snow bunting. My first good view of one and it was properly beautiful. I've added the record to iRecord as part of 'conserve'. I hung a second stitched John Muir quote on the Innocent Railway Path on the way home – also part of the John Muir Way and the National Cycle Network. Both stitchings have signs inviting people to take them home if they like them, and sharing that they are connected to the John Muir Way, and the John Muir Award. These are places I go regularly to spend time outside and in nature, so I’ll be able to keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t become litter. I took my #2minutecleanup bag with me today, but again not much to collect and in fact on route 1, it looked like someone was already collecting litter, as there were small piles of recyclables gathered at regular intervals – a common thing to do on a litterpick…collect the general rubbish first, put the recyclables at the side to come back for. By the time I cycled back it was gone. Thank you, whoever you are.

It has been three years in the making, it's progress has been watched closely by local dog walkers, many of whom stopped to chat to the groups over the years. The trees will not be abandoned but the digging is over, deturfing to give the saplings the best start and not competing against the weeds and grass. One more day should do it, we still have planting to do and maintenance on the previous years work, however there is a new area on the cards for next year. Thank you to the Woodland Trust for their on going support with providing trees.

(2 hrs) My aunt is blessed with a large 'back lot' on which she has planted more than 20 trees during the last 40 years, including hawthorn (2 kinds, English and Canadian), two chestnuts (sweet and horse), two kinds of apple tree (King and Macintosh), an oak, a maple, an ash, a rowan, two poplars, several Douglas firs, several cedars, a hazelnut, and two junipers. Plus aspen and maple at the front. There is not much autumn colour yet, except for the bright yellow aspen, and a tinge of red on the maple, but the chestnuts are the biggest I've ever seen, and both apple trees are laden with fruit. I spent an hour exploring, and collecting a basket of windfall apples for applesauce, Later, we walked in the North East Woods and looked at the plants and creatures there. We were mobbed by a flock of chickadees, which have learned that local dogwalkers often bring birdseed for them - it was quite an experience to have wild birds fearlessly flying to my outstretched hand in the hope of something tasty (they were disappointed!) The woods were full of salal, a medium-sized shrub with glossy, leathery oval leaves with pointed tips and white bell-shaped flowers in early spring. It is native to the Pacific Northwest, and its attractive leaves are prized for floral arrangements. In the summer, the clusters of black berries that appear are edible and loved by birds. Salal is drought and moisture tolerant and thrives in a wide range of exposures from full sun to shade). Near the woods, we saw some mysterious large webs hanging from the trees in great profusion. The 'Comox Valley Record' of 28 Aug 2017 said: The webbed nests that are increasingly seen on trees in the Cowichan Valley are likely the result of a moth species called the fall webworm, not tent caterpillars. Provincial forest health officer Tim Ebata said the fall webworm’s nests resemble the more familiar nests from tent caterpillars that are common in the area during some spring seasons, but, as the name suggests, the fall webworm makes nests in the late summer and early fall. We also stopped off on the shores of Comox Lake, used to supply drinking water to nearby towns, and kept a sharp lookout for the bear which had been seen nearby in recent days. I learned how to identify a turkey vulture - it has splayed wingtips and a rocking motion in flight, very distinctive once it's pointed out to you.

(2 hours) Today we travelled to Elk Falls, an area of ancient, old-growth rainforest, where the trees are more than 300 years old. It was a warm day, so a relief to walk in the cool, damp, green shade of the Douglas Firs and Western hemlock, though we kept a nervous eye on the shadows, in case a cougar was lurking. The path leads to a beautiful waterfall (viewed from a slightly scary suspension bridge!) Work is going on in the park to restore the gravel riverbeds which are an important spawning area for the steelhead trout, ocean-going fish similar to rainbow trout which can reach 55lb. Damming for hydro power upstream means the gravel beds have been washed away, so remedial work is now taking place. Back in Comox (the First Nations 'land of plenty' - Ko'moks - see here for more: https://komoks.ca/), we went out after dinner to watch the sun set from the waterfront at Goose Spit. There were seals swimming around in the glassy water, and the glacier was wreathed in clouds - a very calming experience, with nothing but occasional seabird calls to disturb the silence.

(2 hrs) From Comox, I moved on to Victoria, where I took a guided kayak trip in Victoria harbour. It was interesting to see that although the harbour is very busy - between the seaplanes coming into land, the massive Seattle ferry going in an out, and the small yellow taxi-boats criss-crossing, you had to stay alert - attention has been paid to the local wildlife and living in harmony with it. I learned about the rare Garry oaks - only 8% left, clustered on one shore, but protected now. Saw seals, river otter, kingfisher and a grey heron eating eels. Also nestboxes for the purple martin swallow, previously highly endangered but they put up nestboxes away from predators on shore, and numbers have recovered. No whales, sadly, though my guide, Kip, has encountered whales while kayaking further out (choppy today so we didn't venture as far out as originally planned. Wind direction has reversed since yesterday, bringing cooler air but also meaning seaplanes come in right over the inner harbour, which makes for better photos. Kip also showed us an old totem pole which was a hazard to flights due to lack of lights - the locals were eventually persuaded to saw it in 3, despite this usually being forbidden due to each pole being a complete story. The master craftsman starts at the top, his apprentice at the bottom, and by the time they meet in the middle the apprentice is usually competent.

(1 hr) Visited a very interesting exhibition at The BC Museum - 'Sacred Journey'. This was about a project which helps young indigenous people to reconnect with their roots, by creating groups all over British Columbia to build canoes using traditional methods, which are then paddled up the coast to a camp where all the project participants celebrate. Serving as a 'rite of passage' for teenagers who may not have had any contact with their culture, it teaches them indigenous conservation methods and it has quite profound effects on some young people's lives.