Dead bat

Dead bat, originally uploaded by clivenutton.

Found at my brother's work. It had probaby got trapped indoors, unable to feed. A sorry end but fascinating to see close up and marvel at its superb adaptation to nocturnal, insectivorous flight.

Garden steps

Garden steps, originally uploaded by clivenutton.

I spent some of this weekend finishing the steps I started last weekend. The design is typical of the conservation projects I worked on while completing my FdSc in Wildlife and Countryside conservation a couple of years ago.

A-frame

A-frame, originally uploaded by clivenutton.

This weekend I was out with Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue team, in the Stump Cross Caverns area, to practice hauling casualties from shafts using tripods and A-frames. Some useful learning points emerged particularly when using the A frame. The degree to which the A-frame can be rotated around its base in order for it to be used to "crane" a casualty away from a cliff edge, while the structure maintained sufficient working stability, was especially handy to try out. Also measures to redirect the load and the application of pulley/rope capture systems were good to try out.

As always. it was fun to spend time with good people in beautiful surroundings. A Red Kite flew over, at one point, and on the drive home a female Sparrowhawk swooped across the road in front of the car. The weather was also very kind to us.

Summer work catch-up

Here's a few images and words from my work activities over the summer.

Airedale & Wharfedale  Autism Resource at Lineham Farm

A particularly rewarding day's work was had at Lineham Farm, climbing and cycling with young people with autism from Airedale & Wharfedale Autism Resource.

I spent time prospecting some bike bivi routes for a work project I have in mind

RSPB

Field-teaching for the RSPB has continued to provide very satisfying work, teaching primary school children about habitats, life-cycles, adaptations and food-chains at Fairburn Ings reserve, Castleford.

SkyRide

I've worked for SkyRide and British Cycling, leading adults on local road rides in the Bradford area, encouraging people to take up and continue cycling.

National Citizen Service, Summer of a Lifetime at Herd Farm

I've enjoyed some work with the Leeds pilot of the National Citizen Service, Summer of a Lifetime event working with great colleagues from Learning Partnerships, a Leeds-based education charity. The scheme was supported by the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust and, in Leeds' case, by Jenna Downing - champion in-line skater and all-round good egg and inspiration.  The project was based at Herd Farm, Leeds City Council's excellent outdoor activity centre where the young people took part in challenging activities, community volunteering and learning.

Young people on the NCS Summer of A Lifetime showed persistence firelighting in damp weather.

For some of the staff firelighting is a competitive sport.

Young people completed strenuous, physical work, voluntarily. Clearing paths in Middleton Woods, Leeds.

The youngsters showed enthusiasm, pride and cheerfulness in the work they completed.

One of the most heartening aspects of working on the project was the way the young people overturned many of the prejudicial stereotypes so widely aired in the media in the wake of recent riots.

Duke of Edinburgh's Award with C I Adventures

Working with C I Adventures I coached and supervised pupils from Trinity Academy, Halifax in completing their Duke of Edinburgh's Award, bronze expedition.

Young people completed their bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award in Calderdale

Stoodley Pike on day one of Trinity Academy's Bronze DofE expedition

Other work for C I Adventures has involved teaching young people about the natural history of bats, building bat boxes and erecting them on the Hebble Trail in Halifax.

Contributing to bat conservation in Halifax.

Navigation Training with Lupine AdventureCo-operative

For Lupine Adventure Co-operative I worked with a fantastic group of adults, teaching them how to navigate effectively in the mountains of the Lake District. On day one of the course it poured with rain and I was impressed that they remained so cheerful and keen to learn. On day two we were rewarded with fantastic sunny weather as we explored Scandale.

My notes from the Scandale walk on Day 2

Update - Feedback from the Lupine Navigation Course

"On behalf of the group, I would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ for teaching and looking after us this weekend – a truly positive ‘bucolic’ experience!

You helped to make the weekend a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience for all of us and we appreciated your patience, clear explanation and extensive knowledge which you pitched at just the right level for the group.

We found you to be very personable and thorough and particularly appreciated your willingness to be flexible to ensure we got the most out of the weekend – even if you did insist that we went off that very inviting, well worn ‘brown’ path and climbed up through the more difficult bracken!  Are you absolutely sure we couldn’t just have taken that path?!?

We have all come away inspired and motivated to try out our new found skills which is testament to your excellent tuition!

There was nothing we could think of that would have improved what you did except we would have appreciated you sorting the weather out on Saturday!

Thanks again, we all hope to meet you again sometime.

Best wishes

Cathy"

Sunshine on Stoodley Pike

A great day supervising bronze DofE candidates on their qualifying expedition.

Interesting things...

...to me at any rate. Rocks, cones and artefacts packed up and ready for moving.

Scoping

Checking out routes for bike bivi trips is proving a wonderful reacquaintance with some trails I've not ridden for a while.

Location : Address not available
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Web-footed friend

Seen while out scoping bike bivi routes round the Washburn Valley.

Prospecting

Routes for BrightAire Bivi Bike Trips. In East Wood, Otley.

Clam bridge, Wycoller

From a sedate walk round Wycoller with the Mrs. A lovely relaxing wander visiting Atom, a panopticon on a nearby hillside and a local nature reserve at Colne. A complete contrast to the previous day when I was lashing round the mountainbiking trails at Whinlatter and Grizedale Forests

CPD catch-up

As part of my memberships of a number of professional bodies I'm required to record my continuing professional development.  There's been rather a lot lately. Here goes...

• 5 & 6/3/11 - Navigation, orienteering and a moorland day walk round Ogden Water with bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award candidates.
• 8/3/11 - Teaching route cards with bronze DofE award candidates.
• 9/3/11 - My observation of teaching and learning at Leeds City College (grade 1, outstanding).
• 10/3/11 - Attended the inaugral meeting of Bradford Wheels for All cycling group.
• 15/3/11 - Teaching tent pitching, stoves and nutrition with bronze DofE award candidates.

Indoor tent pitching practice

•  18/3/11 - Night micro-navigation exercise with Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association.
• 19/3/11 - British Cycling level 1Ride Leader award training.

British Cycling Level 1 Ride leader certificate

• 21/3/11 - DofE bronze award route card teaching.
• 22/3/11 - DofE bronze award expedition preparation teaching; country code and emergency procedures.
• 24/3/11 - DofE Expedition Supervisor's training.

DofE Expedition Supervisor certificate

Phew...

Amongst this I also managed a walk in Swaledale with friends, some mountainbike guiding to help in the production of a new South Pennines mountainbike guide and a restful anniversary weekend away with Mrs BrightAire.

Kisdon Force, Swaledale

Whitby harbour pier from our weekend away

Teaching observation and Duke of Edinburgh work

When I'm not working or playing outdoors I work as an IT teacher at Leeds City College. It's one of the biggest in the country.  This week I was observed as part of the college's regular process of quality assurance. Observation, for me, is always a little unsettling in practice and a lot of work in preparation. It was quite gratifying to find that the hard work had paid off. I got a grade one, "outstanding" assessment.

Earlier in the week and last weekend I've enjoyed working with students at Trinity Academy in Halifax training them for their Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition. As well as a great afternoon's orienteering at Ogden Water and a fabulous early spring sunshine walk in the Calderdale there has been some classroom work. Students created a giant map and worked very hard, after school on Tuesday to create route cards.

Trinity Academy students survey their domain

Rhubarb, Moonraking and the Hill of the Winds

Odd stuff since last weekend.

A visit to the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival and to the forcing sheds of E Oldroyd and Sons. More photos here.

Slaithwaite (say "Slawit") Moonraking Festival was the next port of call on Saturday evening. More photos here.

Finally, today was probably my most enjoyable "day at the office" so far this year. Working for WildWays Adventure I took a group of youngsters for a walk up Pen-y-Ghent, "Hill of the Winds", one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks. The weather didn't disappoint!

Maiden Castle and Harkerside

The weather's been a bit uninspring of late, or at least at the times I've been able to get out in it. Frustrating. So, today, with the mountain leaders' motto "If it aint raining, it aint training" in mind, I decided to visit Swaledale.

I was keen to visit Maiden Castle and take in Harkerside, a modest hill near Reeth.

Maiden Castle is thought to be an Iron Age hill fort but its position is so defensively weak, with dead and rising ground in the vicinity, that its function remains enigmatic.  The misty, damp conditions heightened, for me, the sense of history and mystery. Notes from Julian Cope's Modern Antiquarian website here.

Ditch and banking of Maiden Castle overlooking Swaledale

Harkerside, in common with much of the local moorland, has been historically worked for galena, lead ore. This activity, together with modern grouse shooting, has resulted in a network of cycleable tracks through picturesque heather moor and sometimes strange industrial landscapes.

I must come back with my bike someday and visit Dales Bike Centre. Closed (winter opening hours) when I turned up for coffee and cake. :-(

A couple more photos here.

The Duke of Edinburgh meets Joe

On Saturday I travelled to Goole to take part in training as a Duke of Edinburgh's Award Leader.  There were youth-workers, teachers, instructors and prison officers from all over the Yorkshire and Humberside region in attendance.  I was there with colleagues from Creative International Adventures for whom I start work in March.

One of the training activities involved inventing a young person; drawing a pen portrait of their likes and dislikes, interests and background then considering the barriers they may face and a programme which may suit them.  Interesting to note how my younger collegues heaped problem after problem onto poor Joe Bloggs. Merciless!

It was impressive to hear how prison officers from HMP Doncaster aimed to introduce the award to young prisoners in their care; how they balanced the need for punishment with the prospect of rehabilitation.

Any how, here's my certificate. I'm now an accredited DofE Leader and I'm really looking forward to helping young people gain their award.

Holy moley

It's been a busy one since last week's aquatic 1st aid course. Aside from the day job, I've:

• Spent a day mountainbiking at Gisburn Forest, riding the red and black graded "The Eight" route including the Slab and Hully Gully sections.
• Met with people at Creative International Adventures in Halifax and have agreed to work with them delivering the Duke of Edinburgh's Award in the Calderdale area.
• Brought colleagues on board at Leeds City College with my AspireCamp project. An outdoor activities residential retreat to encourage career planning and progression.
• Watched a couple of good films, 127 Hours and The Reader.
• Moved our house moving plans on a little, and
• Took a walk in the Yorkshire Dales where I came across this sorry sight.

Culling moles seems such an unecessary activity these days.

Update - 7/2/11

I've since read a bit more about the issue of culling moles and there are some sound reasons why culling occurs.

Mole hills can:

• Cause damage to farm equipment (eg. mowers)
• Cause contamination of silage with soil which reduces its nutritional value and can communicate diseases
• Encourage growth of thistles which reduces the nutritional value of the sward.

Justification is a different matter, I guess. Depends of on the scale of infestation/problem and whether alternatives exist. One of the sources I looked at had this to say:

"...while most farmers perceive Moles as pests, the damage which is attributed to them is slight on the great majority of farms. Control of Moles was none the less common and widespread..."

The question remains, in my mind, that if the damage attributed to moles (by farmers) is only considered slight, why the common and widespread culling? Maybe the damage is slight because of culling? Maybe logic is only part of the answer?

References -
http://tinyurl.com/4wdf5zh
http://tinyurl.com/497u5hx

Not waving...

I spent today on an aquatic 1st aid course at Bradford and Bingley Canoe Club delivered by Helen Underwood of Underwood Training.

As is typical, when outdoors people get together, there is a good deal of black humour around the subject of injury and death. Hopefully, however, if we are ever confronted with a situation where our 1st aid skills are called upon we will not be found wanting.

Much of the session focussed on the many ways one can drown. It's not simple. A number of factors come into play which influence the treatment and survivability of drowning casualties:

• Dry drowning
• Fresh water versus salt water drowning
• Secondary drowning
• Hypothermia and the role of the mammalian diving reflex

The lightness of spirit with which we discussed this made me think of Stevie Smith's poem "Not Waving but Drowning" which, on one level, is about how a fragile front of jolly bravery sometimes masks the more sombre facets of existence. Perhaps a degree of delusion helps us to swim boldly out into life's current, avoid its undertows and fulfil our potential.

Any road up. Get yourself on a first aid course. You never know when you might need to bring someone to shore. I highly recommend Helen and Underwood Training.

Using my head

Woahhh, thwack, crunch, unghhh, oof, ha ha ha!

It was in a fit of giggles that I ended up in a heap in a brambly ditch on Thursday's night ride last week.

Thursday night's mountainbike route. Look out for that tree

In a continuing effort to purge a lingering cold, I'd set off up Altar Lane. Pausing at the top to recover I met  a group of local bikers and together we explored the cheeky trails on Harden Moor.  Descending through St. Ive's I misjudged:

1. My speed
2. The adhesive qualities of my front tyre
3. The frictional properties of muddy pine needles
4. The proximity of a tree

Bang. There I was in a ditch having used, first, my left shoulder and then my head to stop myself against a particularly unyeilding larch tree. My helmet (a 6 year old, budget Giro Indicator) had certainly done its job as I was almost completely unscathed while the helmet's cradle had snapped, absorbing energy that otherwise would have been borne by my head.

Helmet showing minor damage to the shell

Snapped cradle means a replacement

Three days later my body is still a little stiff and bruised but thankfully my cerebral qualities, such as they are, are still intact. My new helmet's a Giro Hex.

Bradley Wood, High Ropes Training 2

Today I attended a training course at Bradley Wood Scout Campsite. The aim was to teach us how to use the high ropes structure with groups in safety.

This is what greeted us out of the gloom on arrival.

High Ropes Structure at Bradley Wood

The structure has three elements. From left to right:

• Jacob's ladder - logs suspended horizontally at increasing distances from bottom to top. A team work activity.
• Balance features - inclined log, horizontal log and high wire with "monkey ropes".
• Leap of faith - pole mounted platform with trapeze.

We completed elements of the structure (to get a flavour of what our clients experience), belayed one another and carried out rescues (using a Petzl I'D device, which I'd not used before) from high on the structure.

Escapable traversing belay system

Belaying involved using chain or cable ground anchors (tied in with a clove hitch), an escapable belay loop and a Petzl Grigri device.

Later the day warmed up (slightly) and it was fun to play on the structure and catch up with colleagues from Bradford Met Adventure Activities Development Unit and Wild Ways Adventure.

Shooting the breeze under Jacob's ladder

A quiet one

Christmas is often a time for doing very little, hooking up with friends and family; some reflective and relaxing "down-time" at the end of a busy year and time for planning what to do with the new one.

This Christmas has been more inactive than usual due to a cold. That said, I wasn't entirely idle. Of course, like everyone else, I got out for walks with friends to enjoy the snow. I made a special effort to haul myself out of my sickbed to see the lunar eclipse on December the 21st, the winter solstice.

The moon at the start of its eclipse. From my bedroom window.

More photos here.

I got out to do some birdwatching, the highlight being 2 bittern at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve.

In a final effort to undo some of the damage caused by too much food, drink and slothfulness, and on the shaky advice of a friend  that a cold could be "driven out", I entered my first cyclocross race in Round 9 of the Yorkshire points series at "Todcross", Todmorden.

I was delighted not to have come last in the vet's category, racing for Bradford And Bingley Canoe Club, and to finish before members of some illustrious cycle teams and Here Come the Belgians.  I was less happy to be coughing violently for the next 2 hours. Results here.

This is video of the senior's race. Take it from me that 'd have been off the back in the first 30 seconds.



Footage courtesy of James Lyon and  manchestervelodrome.

Feeling better now. Thanks.

Animal signs

Found this hole and whole and eaten spruce cones under an ash tree. What left them there?

Location : Eccup Ln, Leeds LS16 8,
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