free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
I do hope WH does not mind me posting on this walk, despite never having followed the exact route around. As the route was added today, I thought it would be a warming (and extremely self-indulgent) experience to look back on the time I spent volunteering at Baron's Haugh with the RSPB from November 2014 - August 2015. I promise any future reports from me wont be as soppy (for the time being!)
A bit of backstory: I had finished my final year of school in May and, having failed to secure the place at university which I had wanted, I instead enrolled briefly in a college course (which would take me to the course I wanted anyway). After a month of attending, I had doubts about the course and what I really wanted to do in a future career, despite enjoying the class. Instead I left and began my unintended gap year before my next course began. I was living 30 miles away from my school in Glasgow with parents - the only places I really visited all year were Baron's Haugh every Thursday and my work most days - 5 minutes from the house.
I think it's best to go through the photos I have from as linear a perspective as I can provide - they only show a small portion of the whole park, which is really quite vast and diverse in it's habitats. Most of my photos are taken on film as I had a bit on an obsession at the time and have been meaning to get back into it again.
I trundled along on the first day, getting an early train to Airbles to arrive for 10am. I met one of the volunteers as I entered the park.
The BMW I passed every morning on my walk over:
A shed lined with House Sparrows, who always clustered around a very eccentric house:
The entrance to the park in Autumn:
And in Winter:
Trees to the left as you enter:
After the car park, you would take your first right to enter the W side of the park. The first left after that takes you up to the volunteer meeting area.
Mike Clarke, RSPB CEO and Dennis, taken on my first ever day. I ended up in an article afterwards!:
My first day consisted of chopping and burning Rhododendron while the warden Stephen applied chemicals to the stems. I was given an amazingly warm welcome - the volunteers were like a big happy family and I got to know them all very well. I could go on for hours about all the different experiences I had while I was there but there's only so much time in the day (or night).
Assuming you go straight on down the road as you enter, you'll end up passing a few houses and then a graveyard on the left.
Dog at house:
Gravestone (one of the oldest I have seen):
You'll then turn to the left and eventually over a small bridge:
Going left takes you up to the top of the site, but right takes you along a wonderful path and and then to the Clyde. We once spent a whole day replanting saplings that had been ripped out by delinquents at some point during the week.
Looking back from the other end of the path:
It was along this riverside that we worked a good portion of the time, although I never ventured into the path at the far end. The path collapsed into the river a few months before I left and it was an interesting job trying to get the wheelbarrows around to the other side.
Lunchtime in winter from behind the river:
There is a great variety of amenities within the park - the river walks, Dalzell House, the marshland, the 4 hides, the Japanese garden, the cow fields, the meadows beside the car park and the far W side of the park to name most. There was only one day I ever went outside of volunteer days, just to take photos and it was equally as pleasant. There were quite a few things I achieved CV-wise during my time there: brushcutter license, fence installation, hide painting, litter pickup, invasive species removal - the list goes on.
Japanese Garden:
A leaf on one of my last and favourite days:
Unfortunately these are most of the pictures I have of the haugh but I would advise anyone to go there and experience the park from themselves - it might take a few visits!
It is just about impossible to put into words how beneficial volunteering at Baron's Haugh for me. I was a neurotic, anxious, impulsive and generally friendless individual before I began my work there. The warden and other volunteers allowed me to come out of my shell as it were, and their endless positivity made them a joy to talk to. Thursdays turned into my favourite day of the week despite the early mornings. I also got to experience a black grouse lek with the warden picking me up at 4:30am to go to one of his other sites at Mauchline and countless sunny days basking in the sun on our lunch break. It is difficult to know what sort of person I would be right now had I not taken part in volunteering there. My final day with them was a Saturday at Lochwinnoch, where they had all signed a card and bought me a cake - I was so overjoyed!
Unfortunately, I learned that the warden had tragically passed away earlier last year and I had a hard time acquainting myself with the news. It was his endless selflessness, genuine interest in other people, approachableness, friendliness, work ethic and love for his job that made him such an influential person, and without doubt one of the most amazing people I have had the pleasure of knowing.
I could go on for hours about experiences I have had at Baron's Haugh (particularly those about nature), but I will instead leave you with my lacklustre poetry I wrote a couple of years ago about my time there:
always silently do you enter
regardless of season
whether encased by music
or better
down the road
a wall is disguised as a pond
an unnecessary gate requires your traversal
and prevents you from looking up
further down onto the path
ferns escape from dead trees
and a woodpecker does the opposite
as you walk on a bed of leaves
round you curve onto the stones
up to containers and the wardens throne
a delightful man weathered by work
surrounded by a family you don't yet know
idle chatter slowly begins
before the plan is told
and the wheelbarrows are filled
with an unspoken reluctance
onwards we parade
some of us sluggish
and some of us lively
in a dynamic charade
we reach our destination
and grab the apparatus
then disperse so far
that youre left with yourself
and nature
the tranquility of the sunlight
the aroma of the vegetation
and the calling of the waders
is quickly cut short
as you power up the strimmer
a diesel contraption
that destroys what you love
but it must be done
when push comes to shove
the balsam looks up
through your visor
as its stem is cut
and becomes no more an intruder
throughout the afternoon
a massacre occurs
but we halt for lunch
by the riverside to murmur
the sky is warmer
and the day is shorter
so the wheelbarrows are reloaded
and pushed back to slumber
through the trees we wander
the light dissolved by leaves
the way back
is always harder
after a seat
equipment is restacked
and shoes are swapped
you converse with your family
and say that you're off
the rest leave in cars
but you leave on your feet
past the gate
and onto the street
only once a week
do you get this chance
to leave your confines
and enter the haugh