There is something distinctive about the willow trees around Loch Barnluasgan. Every few metres you come across one which seems to have been sculpted – there is a ridged indent at the base of the trunk and a pile of large wood chips below. Sure signs that the local beavers have been at work.

Next year will mark five years since the end of the Scottish Beaver Trial, a high profile project that re-introduced a handful of beavers to Scotland after around 400 years absence.

The trial’s success resulted in the decision to allow the pairs, which were released in Knapdale, near Lochgilphead, to remain, and two years ago the Scottish Government announced that it believed beavers should be allowed to expand from that area naturally.

Since then, attention on the project may have declined, but the beavers certainly haven’t. This spring, Bjorna, one of the original males and his mate Millie, added three new kits to the population. His family of six on Loch Barnluasgan are among a total of 20 on the surrounding hill lochs.

“Beavers are known as a keystone species, which means that they shape the environment around them,” explains Ben Harrower, of Scottish Beavers. “They engineer impressive structures including dams, lodges and foraging canals and are able to create new wetlands that support other wildlife.

“The trial helped us to develop a lot of knowledge about their biology and habits, and to find out what effect they would have on the environment around them.”

The original Scottish Beaver trial was a partnership between the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Forestry Commission Scotland and the Royal Zoological Society. After several year of groundwork, it began in 2008 with a focus on exploring the effect the beavers would have on the environment. In Knapdale, it found that beavers created more than 13,000 square metres of new wetland and standing deadwood, benefiting a huge range of wildlife.

With their giant incisors and paddle-shaped tails, these endearing vegetarians have had other effects too – providing a boost to tourism by attracting visitors to the region, and giving local wildlife education a new focus.

Both benefits are facilitated by Heart of Argyll Wildlife, an organisation set up by rangers Pete Creech and Oly Hemmings, which offers wildlife workshops and guided walks that have the power to turn passing curiosity into passion.

West Coast Review joined them just before dusk, for one of their last Beaver walks of the 2018 season.

“Beavers are amazing animals, and a wonderful example of the interconnectivity of all living things,” says Pete, who has been involved with the Beaver Trial since its inception.

“They are eco-engineers, opening up areas of riparian woodland, increasing forage by creating layers of woodland, and regenerating tree species via their coppicing activities.”

Understanding the nature of this coppicing answers some of the long-standing concerns about the impact of the beavers.

Their reputation for felling trees had preceded them, but, as the evidence we see around the loch confirms, while they harvest bark and branches for food and construction, and will undoubtedly make an impression on a tree trunk, it is unusual for them to fell an entire tree – most trees survive and thrive long after the beavers have been at work.

Viewing their impressive dam and lodge constructions, and listening to the slap and splash of what might have been a tail on the water, were the closest that we got to a live beaver encounter during our walk, but we were unlucky on that front, as they have been sighted, usually swimming, on the majority of this year’s beaver walks.

For Pete, whose work takes him to the lochside at quieter times, there have been closer encounters. “I nipped down to Loch Barnluasgan one evening after setting a moth trap and within a couple of minutes one of the beavers came up to within a metre of where I was standing.” he says.

Further insight into the beavers’ lives come from night camera footage, which recently recorded the group enjoying a family grooming session, and Bjorna demonstrating his balance as he walked out of the water on his hind legs, using his front paws to carry sticks.

The last few weeks have been particularly busy, as the beavers reinforce their lodge and store food ready for winter. Now, though beavers do not hibernate, they will start to retreat inside, where they will mostly remain until spring.

When the beaver trial began, there was scepticism about the landscape changes they would bring, but experience in Argyll has largely shown these to be positive, and that where work such as dam building brings challenges, it can be managed with the correct tools and approach.

A Government consultation published in October found 83 per cent of respondents were supportive of the reintroduction policy (and the steps identified to mitigate its potential impacts), but though the Government has been widely supportive of the project, those involved believe that support has not gone far enough.

“Beavers need to be given European Protected Status, and there should be clear rules about how they can be managed,” says Ben Harrower. “That would allow them to thrive and expand their range in Scotland and also ensure that where they need to be managed this is done proportionately, humanely, and within the law.”

• More information: www.scottishbeavers.org.uk http://www.heartofargyllwildlife.org

• Contact Heart of Argyll Wildlife Organisation to arrange for visits and school talks, or to book a beaver walk (these will resume in the Spring).

Did you know…

• Beavers store fat in their tails which get bigger in summer and lose weight over winter.

• Beaver teeth are a yellowy colour because of the thick enamel which contains iron to keep them strong.

• Beavers are sociable creatures and groom each other.

• Beavers have especially dexterous front paws, like hands, for carrying materials. Instead of thumbs they have a semi-opposable little fingers.

• A beaver’s life expectancy is between ten and fifteen years in the wild.

• Adults can grow to around 1metre long with their tails up to another 50cm

Twelve young men in black and white vertical stripes look towards the camera – shinty sticks in hand. Their baggy shorts and collared shirts hint at the 1950s era, and the trophy at their feet shows they have good reason to be grinning – but only a shinty stalwart would be able to tell you that the photo shows Dalmally team Glenorchy, celebrating winning their first big trophy, the Munro shield.

The picture is one of a series posted on the Shinty Memories Facebook and Twitter feeds. Featuring action shots, team photos, and shinty grounds and characters from across the Highlands, this social media activity is one aspect of a project which has a dual purpose – to gather content for a national archive, and to create shinty-inspired resources to help people living with dementia and loneliness.

John Mackenzie, a celebrated Newtonmore player and former president of the Camanachd Association, is the Shinty Memories Ambassador. “I’ve made a great many friends through shinty, and I’m enjoying trying to put a little back into something I’ve enjoyed all my life,” he says.

“I want to encourage folk in the shinty community to form groups to allow those affected by dementia the enjoyment of spending time with friends, sharing memories and and looking at pictorial evidence of the past.”

John gained a particular insight into the impact of dementia through his friendship with another ex-Newtonmore player and Camanachd Association President, Douglas ‘Dougie Dhai’ MacKintosh, who died last year.

Douglas lived with dementia towards the end of his life, and a 2016 BBC Alba documentary showed the pair sharing stories and laughing at old photographs. Dougie would become more engaged whenever talking about shinty, and an interview with his wife Anne, confirmed how important such interactions became for him.

Around 93,000 people in Scotland are living with dementia, including 2,000 in Argyll and Bute.

The brain illness makes it harder to remember, and has an impact on thinking, feeling and behaviour. Those affected can find it hard to socialise – something that Sports Heritage reminiscence groups across Scotland seek to mitigate.

Shinty Memories is part of a national Sports Heritage project which also sees football, rugby, cricket, golf and curling organisations share resources and work together, with Alzheimer Scotland, to build community networks. Of these, the football network is the most established, with groups active across the country.

“We try to keep mixed groups, and welcome anyone who would benefit, because although dementia is a core area, the aim is social interaction,” explains Richard MacBrearty, Football Memories project director and curator of the Scottish Football Museum, who facilitates several reminiscence groups around Glasgow.

“We might start with a video, then we look at cards with pictures of football legends from the past. We sit down and we laugh and we tell stories,” he says. “Some people will just want to listen, but by the end of the session everyone’s talking and everyone’s got a story to tell.

“If you’re struggling to remember last week or last year, that’s a difficult place to be. When you bring someone to a period of time they can remember, by having a conversation about how you got to a game, for example, that empowers them – it gives a person their memories back, and their confidence too.”

Sports historian Hugh Dan MacLennan is one of the project’s organisers, collating and archiving a wealth of material from across the six sports. Though 5,000 images have already been processed, he is keen to hear from anyone who can loan or donate good quality pictures, match programmes and other memorabilia.

“We use the images to create cards, which can be laminated and put on the tables to stimulate conversation,” he explains. “if someone has, or inherits old images which they don’t know what to do with, we can take them, digitise them, and either return them or pass them on to an archive.”

“Our focus at the moment is on the 1940 to 1990 bracket, as that’s the generation that is now living with dementia most often (though it is hitting younger people too). People born in that window are suffering or beginning to suffer, and it’s a frightening thing.”

The project is at a critical stage, with funding and volunteers needed if it is to progress. Organisers hope to recruit volunteers and initiate groups in the Argyll and Lochaber areas, benefiting from the rich heritage shared by teams that include Oban Camanachd, Oban Celtic, Ballachulish, Inveraray, Glenorchy, Taynuilt and Kilmory.

Michael White, from Alzheimer’s Scotland, is a founder of the Memories projects, and believes that the shinty community has something distinctive to offer. “This project seeks to evoke memories and draw out stories, and shinty does that in spades, because the stories are connected with people, with teams, with the villages, and with the journeys to and from,” he says. “Everyone has a box of memories, and it’s our job to find the key that opens it.”

Get involved

• Follow Shinty Memories, plus football, rugby and other reminiscence groups on Facebook and Twitter.

• Loan or donate your old shinty photos and memorabilia to the project.

• Volunteer your time to establish or support a local memories group.

Go to www.sportsheritagescotland.co.uk or email info@sportsheritagescotland.co.uk for information.

As soon as you turn in to Crarae Garden, you gain the sense of arriving somewhere more exotic. Palms and miniature monkey puzzle trees line the driveway, and even the visitor centre resembles an alpine chalet. The impression is enhanced once inside, as you look up to a backdrop of towering trees, and in late spring, the bright blaze of rhododendron.

Crarae, a National Trust for Scotland garden, sits on the banks of Loch Fyne, near Minard. Water cascades down a steep gorge, bordered with vibrant species native to more humid lands, and walking up the garden’s shady steps feels as much like exploring fairyland as scaling the Himalayan Gorge it is often compared to.

There are five way-marked trails, of varying difficulty, though whichever route you take, the gorge is the star of the show. Water is central to everything here, and you hear it constantly, whooshing over the falls, babbling in the burn, or trickling around the edges of the smaller ponds – it certainly adds to the sense of the spiritual, and may be the reason that plants which have failed elsewhere in Scotland thrive here.

One of the delights of this garden is the signage, which, rather than inundate the visitor with horticultural facts, displays poetry, and tells stories about individual trees and shrubs – from the giant Norwegian Spruce that was once Sir Ilay Campbell’s Christmas tree, to the Noble Fir which bears the scars of a lightning strike.

Crarae was created in 1912 by Grace, Lady Campbell (the wife of the 5^th baronet Archibald Campbell of Succoth) a gifted gardener with a particularly useful family connection – she was the maternal aunt of the audacious botanist Reginald Farrer, who spent much of his career collecting specimens in the mountains of Japan, China, and even Korea and Tibet. Today, its good condition owes much to the commitment of the Friends of Crarae, a dedicated group of local volunteers.

While the flame-coloured giant rhododendrons that dominate the landscape are Crarae’s standard bearers, its autumn colours are striking too, with a show of maples, birch and beech. The garden is also home to several champion trees, red squirrels, otters and bats,

Crarae is a favourite with television presenter Monty Don, who says: “This is not a prissy garden, it is wild, untamed and exotic.” Its National Trust status ensures that it is a popular tourist destination, but its set back, between villages location means that those who live more locally can overlook it. It is a shame if they do, as they need only travel a few metres from the Loch Fyne roadside to enter a different world.

Crarae Garden is near Minard on the A83. Adult entry £7.50. www.nts.org.uk

The idea of marking the days of advent with books is not new – it has become popular to give young children a picture story to unwrap on each day leading up to Christmas – but a new book from Camilla Victoria Storm and Nick Simons applies this countdown principle to a cheerful chapter book. It’s a fresh approach that works very well.

Elma the Elf and the Tinsel-Tastic Sled Zeppelin is the story of a little elf with a big imagination, who finds it hard to follow the rules of Santa’s Toy Factory and even harder to please her strict supervisor. When Elma’s inventive approach to rubber duck preparations goes awry, she makes a shocking discovery – children’s letters are going unread and all is not what it seems in the factory.

It’s up to the quirky but determined little elf to save Christmas and fortunately she has support, from wittily-named friends like Pixelf and Thistletoe and the real star of the show, Comet – a flatulent reindeer with toxic talents.

The idea of a book that is read a chapter a day until Christmas Eve really appealed to the young readers we shared it with – and with witty, cartoony illustrations and anticipation that builds day by day (can they save Christmas in time?) this has the makings of a really popular present.

There is one risk – a little like a chocolate advent calendar, the cliff-hangers at the end of the chapters are so good that they tempt you to just one more page… and you may find that, before you know it, you have gobbled up the whole book and it’s only December 15!

Elma the Elf and the Tinsel-tastic Sled Zeppelin, by Camilla Victoria Storm and Nick Simons, Cranachan

A Wee Bird was Watching follows little Anna and her mother as they journey through strange woodland, seeking food and safe rest despite lurking dangers. It is both a thoughtful and a joyful imagination of how the robin could have got his red breast.

Written by Scottish singer Karine Polwart, this picture book’s lyrical language is as beautiful as its magical illustrations – a wintery story with modern resonance that will bring a glow to bedtime on the coldest nights.

A Wee Bird was Watching, by Karine Polwart and Kate Leiper, BC Books

A yellow soft toy wearing red dungarees is poking his head out of a bag of books. The bag arrives at the home of a little boy, and within moments, the toy is spotted and pulled out for a cuddle. This is Bookbug, the mascot of the Scottish Book Trust’s early years programme, and he’s on a mission.

The Bookbug scheme, which is familiar to young families across Scotland, gives all babies a bag of books shortly after birth, and at other key stages in their early years, and runs song and story sessions in local libraries.

Launched in its current form in 2010, it is supported by a growing body of evidence about the value of sharing books and songs with the very young, helping with bonding and brain development, and building vital social and communication skills.

Despite the scheme’s broad early success, the team behind it felt that Bookbug (who was created by children’s author Debi Gliori) could be doing more to reach the children who needed him most – so they decided that it was time to head out of the library and into homes.

“We know that singing, rhyming and reading are beneficial,” explains Hazel Benzie, Early Years Outreach Manager for the Scottish Book Trust. “but we found that the families that most required the benefits of the Bookbug programme were not always accessing it, so we developed Bookbug for the Home, working with families at home and in community settings, taking small elements of the established Bookbug approach, and introducing it gradually.”

In its essence, Bookbug for the Home is simple. It involves a worker or volunteer visiting a home, and singing a few nursery rhymes and reading a book with the children, and critically, their parents, who can learn the songs and stories, and hopefully see the benefit and enjoyment in sharing them.

But a Bookbug session is more fun than conventional song and story sessions can be, thanks to extra cuddles, an injection of imagination and the inclusion of some clever tools. There are puppets, a lucky dip bag full of little toys linked to songs, and a sheet of sparkly lycra that can become anything from a magic story mat to a trampoline. At the centre of it all is the character of Bookbug himself.

Julie Jardine, an early years worker at Corsehill Primary school in Kilwinning in Ayrshire, has used the approach to help build confidence in families where the children are starting nursery. “For us, it’s a tool to build up relationships and provide support,” she says. “When children find it hard to settle, and their parents don’t want to leave them at nursery upset, I sometimes go out to their house and do a few Bookbug sessions – and it helps them to feel more comfortable about coming in.”

“I normally start a session by going in with a prop – maybe a drawstring bag with Bookbug poking out the top – and just have an informal chat with the parents, and then the child will notice Bookbug, and ask to see it, and from there, we can sit down and start singing. Some parents can be very shy about singing and reading, but over a number of sessions they become more confident and start to join in.”

“I worked with one mum who had suffered from depression and struggled getting out of the house. One day she mentioned that she had liked Incy Wincy spider when she was a child, so the next week I made sure there was a spider in the song bag. By the end of our sessions she was happy joining in. Now she reads and sings with her child and says she has developed a much better bond with him – and she even comes along and helps with Bookbug sessions at school.”

Bookbug for the Home was initially introduced in eight local authorities, and following effective pilots started operating in all 32 this year.

It is delivered by early years and nursery staff, health workers, and volunteers and targets a variety of families, including those where children or parents have health or development issues, where they have been affected by imprisonment, or where English is the second language.

In Argyll and Bute, the scheme was introduced in 2014, largely through volunteers with the family support charity Home Start. Monitoring showed that, though it was on a small scale, the project had a clear impact, with eight out of a sample of 12 families involved reporting that they had increased the amount of singing that they were doing at home, and six out of 12 reading more books.

Interviews with families who had taken part give a further flavour of the scheme’s impact, and show that it is as much about relationships as literacy. “The kids are better behaved at bedtime,” said one parent, while another commented. “Bookbug brings us closer.”

“You don’t have to be able to read to share books.” observed a volunteer who had introduced Bookbug in a family in which the father could not read. “Dad wants his son to be able to read, so I reinforce the role that he can play in just sharing books with his child…He was amazed at how much his son engaged with his books.”

Edinburgh-based research consultancy Blake Stevenson has been following the Bookbug for the Home project since its inception three years ago, observing its benefits on a broader scale. Its April 2015 evaluation, noted “clear evidence of impact of Bookbug activities in the home on families,” with 93% of early years professionals involved observing a positive impact.

Now that the Bookbug for the home scheme is operating across Scotland, the focus is on ensuring that it reaches those who need it most, with plans for local authorities to further involve partners (such as those in the third sector) and to provide training so that that more people, including foster carers, community child minders, and health visitors, can deliver its unique song and story sessions as part of their work.

Bookbug has many high profile supporters, from its patron, Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson, to Scotland’s former Chief Medical Officer Sir Harry Burns, an expert on the early years. Perhaps the best known enthusiast of the scheme is Dolly Parton, who is a passionate campaigner for literacy, and contributed a song to the latest Bookbug toddlers CD.

Typically direct, her analysis (given in a recent video message) gets to the core of what the research, and the programme itself, is all about: “If every kid grows up with a book in their hand and a song in their heart,” she says, “then there’s a pretty good chance that their dreams will come true.”

• For more information see www.scottishbooktrust.com/bookbug
• This article first appeared in 2016 on www.positivelyscottish.scot

 

There are plenty of tourist attractions which claim to offer hands-on history, but walk among the stone ruins, thatched cottages and steel-roofed barns of Auchindrain township, and you feel that the past really is just footsteps away.

The living museum, on the A83, a few miles from Inveraray, consists of the homes and farmland of a community who lived and farmed here for centuries – until the last resident left in the 1960s. It is Scotland’s last surviving example of a joint tenancy township.

 

The majority of buildings at Auchindrain were built in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, and they vary from crumbling ruins, to long-houses (split into a section for people and one for livestock) and cottages that have been perfectly preserved. The landscape tells its own story, from a stone fank on the hillside used for sheep gathering, to the plots where potatoes, oats and barley were grown.

What’s entrancing about this venue is how literally it takes the definition of ‘living history’. The wandering sheep and chickens are the same types of livestock that would have been a fixture in the 1800s, and while the houses are furnished (beds are made up and there are plenty of household artefacts on show) the absence of labels and display boards creates the sense that you are just stepping into a lived-in home. (Information is available in the visitor centre, and on tablets and a site guidebook which are provided on entry.)

Considering how complex farming history can be, this is also a really family-friendly attraction. Children will love exploring the rooms and out-buildings, and running about over bridges and ditches outdoors. Ours were particularly fascinated by the sleeping arrangements (“How many children slept in that bed?” “Did they really share their house with a cow?” and everyday items like the three-legged stool, hot water bottle and potato masher.

In addition to the permanent fixtures, there is always something going on at Auchindrain – from the farm and maintenance work (often undertaken by students and volunteers) to demonstrations of local skills and traditions.

It is worth checking ahead if you’re planning a visit. On some Saturdays Auchindrain hosts demonstrations of traditional spinning, waulking and singing, from the costumed Inverclyde Waulking Group – they are a treat to watch, and if you’re lucky, you might get to join in. It doesn’t get more hands on than that.

– Auchindrain Township, near Furnace, www.auchindrain.org.uk.