Frogwatch

No doubt about it now, signs of spring are all around, Crocus, Daffodil, Snowdrop, bluebell shoots and of course ....frogs by the hundred taking advantage of almost every drainage ditch and puddle. The puddle where this picture was taken had nothing in it last week, now there are over 100 frogs and is completely covered in frog spawn. I'll be keeping a close eye to see how this develops over the coming weeks so please join me on Frogwatch (or start your own at a puddle near you!!) .

Any plans for Sunday 28th March?

No, then why not join CLANN, St Mun's Primary School and the FC Rangers for a Sport Relief Event. Starting at the West Bay park there will be a 1 mile run along the promenade and back and a slightly longer 3 mile event for those who want to stretch their legs a bit further. Watch this space for times and details.

Hope to see you there, if not see you around the forest.

Going Live!

After more than a year of hard work by the team and a lot of much appreciated input from local people, the new Dunoon's Forests web pages have gone live this week.

Check them out at www.forestry.gov.uk/dunoonsforests and please let us know what you think.

These vibrant new pages will enable visitors and locals alike to see exactly what the forests that stretch between Dunoon and the southern end of the Cowal Peninsula have to offer, whatever their area of interest. These pages will be regularly updated so if you happen to have any photographs that you have taken on your trips into the woods and would like to share them then please do send them to us.

Those of you who have been out and about this week will have noticed that the higher trails have been difficult to access because of the snow(again!) but the lower trails such as those at Ardyne are beginning to take on a real spring like appearance. In fact we've had to trim & thin quite a bit at Ardyne ready for the season ahead.

No Cuckoos as yet but I have heard much Woodpecker activity and had a really quite close encounter with a large female buzzard who swooped down to grab a small mammal of some sort not less than 8ft from me.

A good forecast for the weekend ahead so hopefully I'll see you in the forest.