jan-11 - Lochwinnoch Online

Clyde Muirshiel Regional
Park Round Up of 2010
Happy New Year
The Park Authority and staff at Clyde
Muirshiel would like to wish all
readers the best for a happy and
healthy 2011 and trust you will
continue to support the events and
activities that take place within the
Regional Park. A lot is planned
including 40th anniversary
celebrations for Castle Semple
Country Park, travelling theatre visits,
a classic car rally, photographic
competition plus a wide range of
wildlife viewing opportunities,
outdoor activities and environmental
improvements.
Highlights of 2010
These have included the exceptionally
cold and clear weather conditions at
the start of the year, Castle Semple
Loch was frozen solid for at least 21
days. Office staff got stranded at
Barnbrock with Ranger staff coming to
their assistance in the 4x4 vehicles.
More snow in February especially in
the north end of the Park made access
to the Greenock Cut Visitor Centre
difficult by road for nearly 3 weeks.
Stargazing continued to be very
popular at Muirshiel with monthly
sessions running in conjunction with
the Coats Observatory in Paisley. The
site is ideally suited as there is little
light pollution in the hills, despite
being so close to Glasgow and Paisley.
The arrival of spring brought better
weather, daily opening hours at the
Visitor Centres, the official completion
of the £1 million restoration and
access improvement works on the
Greenock Cut in conjunction with the
renaming of the Visitor Centre, a
Processional Play at Castle Semple as
well as events and activities to
encourage responsible access to the
countryside (Pawsitivity Action Days,
Inverclyde Access Festival, Go
Renfrewshire!).
Staff and volunteers were out on the
hill planting aspen and willow trees
at the Cample Burn as part of the
Juniper Restoration Project.
Countryside Rangers enabled a
‘Black and Ethnic’ group visit, for
many it was their first experience of
seeing and being in the countryside
or of walking on grass since their
arrival in Glasgow more than 2 years
ago. They were so interested in
everything it took an hour and a half
to walk the mile from Lochwinnoch
Railway Station to Castle Semple
with the Rangers.
Seasonal staff (Countryside Rangers
and Instructors) where delighted to
be really busy with school visits for
environmental education activities
especially at Muirshiel where they
had anticipated a reduction in
numbers due to education budget
cuts and the ending of the
Renfrewshire Schools Hop-Out
programme. Outdoor Instructors
worked in partnership with
Renfrewshire Schools throughout
the year to help the Intensive
Support Units retain and develop
children who were having problems
in main stream education as well as
delivering taster sessions and
outdoor activity courses such as
sailing, kayaking, archery, mapreading
skills, raft building and
mountain biking to loads of young
and not so young people from near
and far (eg Perth, Newcastle, Irvine,
Port Glasgow!). In June the Semple
Trail project received £37 000 of
16
stage 1 funding from the Heritage
Lottery Fund to enable fully costed
conservation, interpretation and
access improvement activties to take
place.
The elusive Hen Harriers returned to
the moors and we managed to secure
LEADER funding to provide cameras
to allow live images from the Hen
Harrier nest to be displayed at
Muirshiel – unusually this year the
birds nested late and live pictures
were transmitted, just as the football
world cup finished during July and
into August. The project also included
funding from HLF for information
panels, giant jigsaws and self guided
trail leaflets.
We joined the twittering world and
have been able to quickly report on
Hen Harrier activities as well as other
topical events. Swallowcam remained
popular at the Greenock Cut Visitor
Centre along with Biodiversity week
activities that include Looking for
Lizards, First Steps with Flowers as
well as wildlife displays and reports on
survey work undertaken by Ranger
staff throughout the year. With the
help of volunteers from Johnstone
High School a wildflower meadow,
wetland area and archery site was
created at Johnshill, by the end of
summer there were over 30 different
species in the meadow.
During spring and summer ‘The
Clubs’ (rowing, sailing, kayaking and
windsurfing) based at Castle Semple
Loch enjoyed the good weather of May
and June and were very active with
club nights, regattas and training
days. At the Greenock Cut Visitor
Centre the felling of the conifer
plantation took place, Scottish Power
felled the trees beside the power lines
and our Estate Team had a rolling
programme to clear the rest of the site
with assistance from Rangers and
volunteers who cleared the bashings
and kept the area tidy.
The summer brought a host of
different events and activities,
including the Pound and Pace walk of
the Greenock Cut which raised £405
for Ardgowan and St Vincents
Hospices.
The weekly summer holiday
programme organised by the Rangers
at the Greenock Cut Visitor Centre was
particular popular this year as was the
events organised at Garnock Park,
Seamill and Largs. The zorbs or ‘water
rollers’ arrived at Castle Semple and
resulted in a steady following of
people keen to walk on water. Ninety