jan-11 - Lochwinnoch Online

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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
January Pines at Misty Law students from Langside College had an introduction to outdoor activities day at Castle Semple in August and Barnbrock campsite hosted its second wedding. In September the Instructors hosted a Disability Snowsport Family Funday for 45 people, this included helpers, carers and clients trying kayaking, canoeing and power boating on Castle Semple Loch. After 32 years of service at Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park, Len Howcutt retired from the Ranger Service, we said a big thank you to him and soon afterwards the same to the seasonal staff – most summer contacts finished at the end of September. The theme for this years Photographic Competition was ‘Biodiversity at Clyde Muirshiel’ a record number of entries where received with the best photographs being exhibited 17 CMRP CS HLF Stage 1 Funding March Exhibition Opening Wee shieling deep in snow Len Howcut retires after 32 years service over the winter months. With the darker evenings a new season of monthly star gazing got underway at Muirshiel, the first evening was a wash out (!), the second resulted in 29 visitors – pretty good given the cloud levels – who knows how many will come along when we get a clear night. With the shorter days, the usual round of paperwork and forward planning got underway. Visitor Centre staff organised what was a popular pre Christmas evening shopping opportunity at Castle Semple, St Andrew’s day marked the arrival of the Regional Park on Facebook – do look for our logo and ‘like’ us, we hope to keep readers up to date with news and events. The year has gone full circle. It started of cold and snowy and could well end the same way. Snow arrived Saturday 27 November, thanks to the dedication of our local producers and the snow clearing efforts by the Ranger Service the Lochwinnoch Farmers Market in December, the fourth of the year, was one of the few markets in Scotland to take place. Christmas Trees have been selling well at Castle Semple as local people came to collect them on foot rather than risk taking the car out in the icy conditions.
Page 1 and 2: Nuisance Helpline Anti-Social Behav
Page 3 and 4: Lochwinnoch Poet Congratulations to
Page 5 and 6: The Laird Who Never Was The son of
Page 7 and 8: Dorchester are rather old hat and,
Page 9 and 10: never cause a detrimental effect to
Page 11 and 12: Diary Dates Saturday 8 Jan - RSPB Y
Page 13 and 14: Save Your Regional Park Excellent N
Page 15: Library and Annexe Action Group (LA
Page 19 and 20: The rink was filled with young and

jan-11 - Lochwinnoch Online

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?