Trip reports

Outdoor Event

Rosie Filipiak

Sunday, 12 June 2011

A small group of five members made the trip up to Inversnaid on the banks of Loch Lomond and met up with the warden, Fraser, and five other RSPB members from the Glasgow and Renfrewshire groups. The first job was to get the boat out, our walk down to the boathouse took us past a nestbox used by a Pied Flycatcher, and the eye-catching male treated us all to a great view. Once the boat was launched ready for pick-ups later we set off along the West Highland Way to the first work area, enjoying some birdwatching en route with Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler and several noisy tit families easily spotted. We'd been tasked with freeing saplings planted a couple of years ago from their tree guards which they had now outgrown - or would have outgrown if the deer and goats hadn't eaten many of them first. The sloping area was slippery with the leaves of bluebells past their best so it was a scramble to get at the trees. Initially there didn't seem to be that many tree guards to collect but when everybody's efforts were collected together there was a big pile - apparently due to the low UV radiation in Scotland the guards don't degrade well so do need to be collected up.

We carried the tree guards down to a small beach ready for the boat to take back to the boathouse. Our break for lunch on the beach was shared with a pair of Red-breasted Merganser which drifted past barely six feet offshore. After lunch we split into two groups, the athletically-minded to tackle an even steeper slope further along the shoreline, the others to do a litter-pick on the shore. Choosing more tree work came with a boat ride along the loch and a scramble up the, even more vertical, hill, worth it though for the great views. After clearing the hillside of guards and taking them back down to the beach there was plenty time for a chat with the other group's members. Transporting the guards back in the boat proved a challenge with those who had opted to take the first ride soon finding themselves spread-eagled over the guards to stop the wind taking them overboard. Those of us waiting for the second lift got the chance of some more birdwatching, Redpoll, Long-tailed Tits, Redstart and Blackcap were spotted.

All in all a successful day - good weather, a little birdwatching and some useful conservation work, all in the lovely setting of the oakwoods beside Loch Lomond.