Reflections.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that the Derwentwater Foreshore project was being inspected for its Green Flag award.  The good news is that the project has been successful.  Go here to read more about that.  http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/GreenFlagAwardSites/NorthWest/Default.aspx?parkID=1347

Friars Crag, Derwentwater foreshore

So it’s congratulations to Naomi and her team for that achievement.  If you are one of the many thousands who have enjoyed the walk from Lake Road to Friars Crag, you will know what a fantastic little walk it is.  If you haven’t done so, you are missing a treat – no matter the time of day or what the weather is!

Evening light at the boat landings, Derwentwater foreshore.

We also have great skies!  (Altocumulus - mid-level clouds at 2000 to 6000 metres)

It’s now the time of year when we begin to have some time to reflect on all our activities and plan for what follows.  An important part of that is to get together with colleagues that we rarely see during the busiest months.  So, we recently had a Rangers’ Day where we shared experiences, lessons learned and ideas.  My contribution was to talk about the new initiatives at High Snab Farm – the sheep clipping, the lambing, the dry-stone walling etc.  These were all popular and we hope there will be more next year.  Diversifying like this is crucial to the survival of hill farming and we are constantly thinking of viable options.

Learn to clip sheep on your holiday.

I came away from the day mulling over an idea being used by the Wasdale Rangers.  They have been using a mountain bike and trailer for some of their work.  It is something I think could work well in Borrowdale when we are doing jobs close to our base that just need small items of equipment.  It’s probably too time-consuming for regular use for the furthest reaches of the valley and, of course, some jobs just need a vehicle to transport heavy equipment.  But I do like the idea of reducing our fossil fuel use where possible.  I also like the idea that we would be more approachable for visitors – chatting with visitors gives us great feed-back.

Another really useful session was on techniques for taking good photographs that we can use on blogs like this or indeed for any of our events and activities. 

It was a good day – lots of ideas and it also renewed the sense of belonging to a team with the same aims.

Hope to meet some of the blog readers soon - maybe at the walk I am leading this coming Friday:
Friday Oct 28^th 10.30 – 15.30:  Autumn Colours and Panoramic Views from Walla Crag, Borrowdale.  Contact: 017687 74649