So recently a couple of people have asked me if we are “quieter” in the winter or “what do we do after the breeding season is over?”
Every reserve is different and at Forsinard we have a wide variety of tasks over the winter; including Forest to Bog Restoration, habitat management (such as rush topping), data entry from summer surveys, deer surveys and the list goes on...
I thought as an example I would share my day with you...
It started at 09:00(ish) at the Office. My plan for the day was to head out on the reserve and retrieve a number of “camera traps” from several remote locations. Hopefully you will have seen on previous blogs some of the images that have been record, but I will add some of the latest images soon. The cameras have been out mainly to monitor predators such as Pine Marten, Otter and Fox; but over the winter they will be redeployed to look at other things as well. So all of them need to come back in for a check-up.
Camera Trap being checked during the summer
I left the office at 09:15, after checking out one of our 4x4s for the day, and began the 45 minute drive through the reserve to where I was going to be leaving the truck. The drive is only about 15 miles, but along rough forestry tracks that have been cut through the peatlands it takes quite a bit of time. In the winter these tracks can become quite slippery and icy...not to mention impassable if we get heavy snow.
I reached the end of the track around 10:00 and got together all of my gear. On the drive into the office my own car had recorded the temperature as 3DegC, but with the windchill today the temperature would be much closer to freezing. Working on a reserve the size of Forsinard (Approx 22,000ha) has its own unique challenges and working in the uplands (especially in winter) you need to remember just how remote you are. Leaving the truck I would be spending 4-5 hours out on the open bog. I needed to take a host of gear; Waterproofs, spare warm layer, gloves, hat, GPS, Compass, map, mobile phone, First Aid Kit, survival bag, whistle, lunch, chocolate! water (You would be surprised at how many people become dehydrated in the winter!) and a flask of tea.
End of the track...start of the walk out!
Heading off across the bog I found my first cameras within 20 mins, but the next set involved a long slog out across the bog and up the side of one of the many lochs that are scattered across the flows. What started out as a beautiful day quickly deteriorated into wintry showers blowing across the vast, open landscape. With four cameras down and two to go I had a look at my watch and discovered it was 12:30. Sometimes we work in pairs or as part of a team depending on particular tasks. As I was loneworking today it was approaching my check-in time with the office. A quick text with Grid Reference and a call to say I was ok and I was on the move again to recover the last two cameras. Collections complete, it was time to retrace my steps and head back to the 4x4.
Beautiful moment between wintry showers!
Camera Trap with a rainbow in the background, before the next wintry shower!
I returned to the 4x4 by 15:00 and linked up with our residential volunteers and Claire, our Assistant Warden, who had been out working hard on some regeneration control.
In convoy we headed back to the office and a well earned cup of tea!
Well earned cup of tea...
While out on the bog I had checked the cameras over and so I know that I have approximately 4000 images to check through. Many of these will be triggered by vegetation blowing in the wind, but in among these random images are a selection of really cracking photographs of some of our most amazing wildlife...keep an eye out for some of these that I will post soon!
So although many of our tasks are repetitive, no two days are ever really the same...and we are just as busy (if not more so) in the winter as we are in the summer.