The bear nessecities......

for any ranger are two fold when out working on the Speyside Way.

They happen to be, exhibit A:

A workmate, or dogs body as i like to call him. This is chris (Australlis Blokus) very handy to have around for the heavy lifting and dirty jobs, whilst i umm and aaarrrgghhh and finger wag. Here we are just fresh back from installing a gate up near garvault wood, i did do my fair share of the work, just to put your mind at rest.

Second is this, exhibit B:

My old mate paddy. (Blackus labus, pinus in bottomus, get in wayus, sit on bit of wood you are trying to cut or hammer) amoungst other names. He's always there with me everyday, sharing the great outdoors, we've had many adventures and here's to many more. He still gets more fanmial and people asking how he is than me....not that i'm jealous.

Oh i do like to be beside the seaside.......

One would think that when on a seaside safari event, you would be training your eyes seaward for leaping dolphins, diving gannets and majestic ospreys....but no far from it infact.



Armed with sweep net and i.d charts, chris and plus dogs set out with a band of eager folk to see what the delights of the coastal section of the speyside way could reveal. This section takes you along the old portgordon railway line and through the Spey Bay golf course wood. When the sun finally does come out, grassy rides and glades in woodland are a mecca for insect life. Butterflies, moths, dragonflies and damselflies galour were out showing off their beautiful colours and dramatic fly displays.



The catch of the day had to be this little fella, (caught by chris after a manic couple of minutes with the sweep net on the No.9 fairway).

Its a wood wasp Urocerus gigas. Last time i saw one of these i was sitting down for my lunch in a larch plantation during a harvesting contract and this little fella decided to try and bore into my leg. That isn't a sting, it's an "ovipositor"which the female uses to bore into wood and lay her eggs through.

Well done chris!

If you go down to the woods today...........

..beware of a tiny surprise! Yes with the year forging on regardless the foliage along the Speyside way is teeming with life....some nice and some not so.

My usual daily activity when i get home is for a tick check, first for the dog (because he loves the fuss and a tummy tickle, also as he roams through the undergrowth for most of the day...that's his job),then on myself. These tiny little blighters just sit around waiting for the unwary traveller, dog, deer, ranger to walk by and give them a lift and a feed.

Female deer tick.

The best way to deal with them is to keep arms and legs covered, tuck in trousers to socks, check regularly for them on your clothes, especially after having walked through long grass, braken etc.

When you get home check your skin especially round the groin, armpits, backs of knees anywhere warm with soft skin. For more information about all things ticky check out this website.

http://www.tickalert.org/

Battling on regardless....

"Whatever the weather, we'll whether the weather, whether we like it or not......or so i think it goes. One day its up in the barmy high 20's and feels like the sub tropics, the next day its monsoon conditions....what do you do. Where the apprpriate clothing and then pack every other type of garment in your bag or van in my case.

Whatever the weather, we'll carry on here at Speyside Way Central. There is always something to be done. Just slap on the factor 40 or put on and extra coat and forge on. We're charging our way through the grass cutting along the Way right now, we've already had a mower breakdown, we blame chris but i think it was just years of hard use and it just happened to break when chris was using it.

Our summer events program has started, i took a wee group up Ben Rinnes last saturday in glorious sunshine and had some very impressive views form the top. Check out the friends of Ben Rinnes website to learn more about Morays big hill.


www.friendsofbenrinnes.org.uk