Over the last few months some of the trainees at the Giraffe Cafe (an inclusive social enterprise in Perth), have been working towards the John Muir Award. In this guest blog, their Activity and Volunteer Coordinator Michael talks though some of the places in Perth and Kinross that he and the trainees have been exploring.

----

Exploring Perthshire for the John Muir Awards

Lush wooded hills, thick towering forests, abundant wetlands, pristine shimmering lochs, and spirited coursing rivers: Perth and Kinross has it all, and its teeming with wildlife.

Since April, Giraffe café trainees and volunteers have been taking part in the John Muir Awards. This has enabled us to explore some of the extraordinary wild and outdoor places in Perth and Kinross and discover their flora and fauna. In addition, we have turned to our hand to a number of craft activities to create simple ways to help conserve wildlife closer to home.

Where else to begin but with Kinnoull Hill? Our first outing of the John Muir Award was very pleasant. It was made all the more rewarding by Carys from Nature Connects Perthshire. This was an immersive, mindful experience where we explored the myriad textures from the forest floor, plants, fir and pine cones and the trees themselves. We also connected to the sounds of the forest and saw red squirrels.

Red Squirrel at Kinnoull Hill (c) Giraffe Cafe

Similarly, the wildlife at Quarrymill Woodland Park never fails to disappoint having seen bats, dippers, coal tits and many other bird species. These sites are evidence that wildlife is never far from the very centre of Perth; a fact underlined by our repeated sighting of otters, kingfishers, ospreys and seals on our regular walking groups.

Exploring the rewilding project at Denmarkfield after a walk from Inveralmond, allowed to experience a number of different habitats; from the small woodland, the sunny banks of the Tay, arable farmland and recently planted native trees. During our picnic there we listened for the variety of birdsong and learnt the song of the Yellowhammer-“a little bit of bread and no cheese”, anyone?

In June the group visited RSPB Vane Farm at Loch Leven. The purpose of this visit was to observe the efforts on the reserve to create habitats for pollinating bees and butterflies. We were surprised by the variety in bee species and learned to identify a number of butterflies. While there we were delighted to also see lapwings, shoveler ducks and a family of shelducks with ducklings. 

Giraffe Cafe Trainees wait patiently while bird watching (c) Giraffe

We have greatly enjoyed a number of outings to Loch of the Lowes and these visits really allowed the group to discover the significance of the changing seasons. It was a little sad for all the group that the male osprey, LM12, passed away at the beginning of the breeding season. However, we have taken comfort the female, NC0, seems to have formed a bond with a new male and so will hopefully breed successfully again next year. We have also been able to witness other species going through their breeding milestones; from watching the great crested grebes building nests to carrying their chicks on their backs, watching fallow deer mother and fawn drinking from the loch and greater spotted woodpeckers feeding chicks. Lowes is a wonderful reserve that allows you to witness much of the variety of Perthshire’s amazing wildlife including beavers, pine martens and red squirrels.

Another place we have made a number of visits to this summer has been MacRosty Park. We have taken part with a number of wonderful discovery and exploration activities with, again with Carys. She has allowed to engage all the senses in exploring the area and shared her immense wealth of knowledge about the fauna in and around the park. We have also had a lot of fun with creative activities in hapa zome (an ancient Japanese art form based on leaf printing), flower pressing, and making bracelets from nettle stems.

We have also looked to find ways of helping and conserving wildlife at our own homes too. Seed bombs of native pollinators, bird feeders, hedgehog houses, butterfly feeders. These have been largely straightforward activities that we can all do to give the wildlife of Perth and Kinross that little helping hand.

 

Giraffe trainees take a walk on their hunt for flora and fauna (c) Giraffe

---

The Giraffe Cafe is a social enterprise in Perth that provides valuable work experience and training to those facing barriers to mainstream opportunities, as well creating and providing tasty food and drink!