Review of the Ranger Year 2017
Please click the link below to download and read the Ranger Newsletter for 2017.
01/01/70
Review of the Ranger Year 2016
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Latest News from the Ranger Service
April 2016
This April sees the Ranger Service launch Knoydart Carbon Cycle: Mountain Bike Hire, so visitors no longer need to bring their bikes with them to explore Knoydart on two wheels. We have 10 brand new mountain bikes to suit all sizes (Adults: Specialized, Kids: Frog). Each hire comes with a free helmet, seat pack and lights. We have cargo trailers and child bike seats, also for hire, so why not plan a jaunt and take the whole family with you? Prices start from £8 (Kids) £12 (Adults) and there are group offers available.
Knoydart Carbon Cycle has been funded by Carbon Clever, in association with The Highland Council, with the aim of reducing our carbon footprint. Cycling has a low environmental impact and is good for the body and soul.
In addition to providing cycle hire, Knoydart Carbon Cycle provides Cycle maintenance to members of the Knoydart Community, meaning our bikes don’t have to be shipped off the peninsula for repair…so we are reducing footprints in more ways than one!
For more information contact the Ranger Service: amie(at)knoydart.org 01687 462242 or visit us at the Foundation Display Room & Shop.
Ranger activity archive
April 2012
The season has started well, with lots of visitors enjoying our walks already. If you want to know when the scheduled walks for 2012 are, 
click here.
March 2011
Well, the hottest news off the press is that Ranger Jim is moving on to pastures new. He is going to be concentrating on his writing and photography career, and you can find out more about what he’s up to by checking out his website. Everyone here at Knoydart Foundation wishes new dad Jim all the best with his career.
The timetable of events for 2011 has just been published here on the website, so check it out if you’re planning a trip over the waves (or the hills) to Knoydart. Contact Tommy if you want to book a place on one of the limited-availability Landrover Tours, or if you fancy some photostalking, team building or a tailor-made tour.
August 2010
– Guided walks are going well, with most people happy to pay a £5 fee. We found that asking for donations was producing less than £1.50 per head! As a bonus to families, children are free on all standard guided walks. Click 
here for info on our regular walks and tours.
_ Leaflets and maps: Now on sale is the “Knoydart in a Knutshell for Kids” leaflet. It costs £1, and is designed to get children looking at what’s around them as they walk. This leaflet complements the walks leaflets, and the wildlife booklet, which continue to sell well. Click here to order. You can also order Harvey’s maps from us: we have the 1:25,000 “Knoydart” map on waterproof paper for £11, and the 1:40,000 “Knoydart, Kintail and Glen Affric” waterproof map for £15.
– Wildlife Report: Highlight of the wildlife year was probably the blue tits that nested in the school’s bird box (Jim installed a camera in the roof!) We saw the mother lining the nest with moss, followed by lots of eggs, chicks, and then the fledging. Jim reckon’s it was far more entertaining than regular TV, and the schoolchildren probably agree! In other wildlife news, the following have been spotted: Red-throated Divers, Eiders, Otters, Pine Martens, Sea Eagles, Ptarmigan, Basking Sharks, Dolphins, Bullfinches, Goldfinches, Razorbills, Puffins, Bank Voles, Snipe, Woodcock, and lots and lots of moths (thanks to Andy and Maggy Tebbs for their massive list of Knoydart moths – the list now runs to 210 species!
– Almost fully booked now, we have mycologist Liz Holden coming to give a talk and walk on fungi. Find out what’s edible and what’s not on Wed and Thurs 1st and 2nd September – ring us on 01687 462242 or contact Jim to book a place.
– Volunteers: many thanks to all those who have helped / are still to arrive and give a hand. Our volunteers from George Watson’s college and JMThave been removing rusty fencing wire, cleaning beaches, and star Rohan Beyts even managed to slap some wood preservative on the log-cabin before nipping over to Coire Dhorcaill to do some volunteering there.
December 2008
Jim’s off with girlfriend Claire to the Annapurna region of Nepal, where he is working on a guidebook. They’ve just announced their engagement, so congratulations to them both. While he’s been away, we’ve managed to get a large amount of rubbishto the “mainland” by helicopter (previously collected by Friends of Knoydart and JMT volunteers) – to find out more, check out the beach clean page.
July 2008
Well, we’ve been busy, and so have all the volunteers! We’ve had BTCV up rhodi bashing and ragwort pulling, and some Friends of Knoydart visited Doune for a week for some full-on beach cleaning. Then next week we have JMT volunteers who will be beach cleaning, rhodi bashing, and starring in the film being made by Knoydart’s young people!
The Access Workshop went well – thanks to all who attended.
April 2008
New wildlife booklet and walks leaflets for sale! See the Sales page for more details.
Well, we’ve been happily revamping the Long Beach area over the last few months. See below for some fencing pictures of Tommy…to be followed by Jim’s tree-planting efforts. Thanks to eforests for donating the trees.
Jan 2008
Happy New Year from all of us on Knoydart. Lots of visitors who enjoyed the entertainment, and we even managed to squeeze in a guided landrover tour on the 31st! We’re looking forward to getting our hands dirty over the next couple of months, with works commencing down on Long Beach. Stock fencing,stand-pipe, compost toilet and tree-planting all happening over the next few weeks. Hopefully, by the time the season starts, we’ll have a transformed Long Beach and an “official” camptsite with facilities.
Did you spot us on Countryfile in November? Had lots of comments, mostly positive, thank goodness. Ben Fogle liked the place so much he came back for another visit…
Oct 2007
Well, you can tell we’ve been busy over the summer! Lots of guided walks, and sorting of new walks leaflets (on their way, honest!). We’ve just returned from the Foundation Ranger Training Course at Kindrogan Field Centre in Perthshire, where we met fellow rangers and picked up lots of ideas workwise…
May 2007
Jim and Tommy have been running around the hills vegetation monitoring and deer counting this month. Both activities are crucial for management of the land. The impact of grazing animals on vegetation, and the numbers of them on the land crucially affect the regeneration of plantlife, including native woodlands. If we can reach a population of browsing animals in certain areas which doesn’t negatively affect plant regeneration, we can look towards creating a landscape with an impressive biodiversity.
We’ve also been doing plenty of guided walks which have proved very popular (give us a ring if you want to come along on one, or why not book us for a tailor-made walk).
As well as plans we are both working on (Jim: Land Management Plan, Tommy: Long Beach Plan, Camping Plan), we are also in the final stages of producing a range of walks leaflets so you can go out and explore Knoydart yourself if we’re not available to take you on a walk. Watch this space…
Ranger funding is still fairly sparse, so we have been looking at ways of funding the one position. We have partial SNH funding, but still need to find a way of meeting the rest of the wage costs, plus all the maintenance and equipment requirements the Ranger Service has. We would like to thank Lochaber Enterprise and the JTH Charitable Trust for their recent donations which have helped keep the Ranger position going.
Oh, and we’ve both recovered from the Sound of Rum festival – took a couple of days….
April 2007
Lots of beach cleaning recently, with the local community coming out in force on the 1st of April (some earlier than others due to a hoaxing tip-off from Tim!). And more cleaning courtesy of a dozen members of a youth group who proved remarkably enthusiastic on 11th April, despite the onset of a wee bit of drizzle…
We’ve also been looking after an Italian film crew (who seemed keen to portray Knoydart as a place with no roads), and taken visitors on the first guided walks of the season. Lots of very kind donations, which are appreciated!