Conservation Manager, Stuart Benn, tells us how his Big Wild Sleepout went...
I thought you were bringing it!!
It hadn’t been a good start.
We were heading up into the glens for the Big Wild Sleepout when we realised we hadn’t packed the tent! Note for next year – make a list! Anyway, it was too far from home and too late to go back to fetch it so we ended up with the two of us plus dog sleeping in the car - very cosy. From the contented and deep schnufflings coming from the direction of his bed, the puppy got the best sleep!
But, really, it was just a minor inconvenience – we were out there enjoying the evening, night and the early morning and that’s what it’s about. Next day, while the moth traps were getting checked I took a stroll up the glen – first bird I saw was a dipper arrowing up the burn and the second was a golden eagle which I watched hunting for a good 40 minutes. At one point it perched on the highest hill – what a view it must have had from up there.
I even managed to get a pic of it – yes, that thing just to the right of the highest point is an adult eagle!
Maybe we were the only people in Britain to see an eagle on our Sleepout but if you’ve never seen moths or nightjars or stars or meteors or bats or heard an owl or been out at night before then that’s pretty wild too.