In the beginning.... there was MUD!!!

The winter tends to go at a slower pace over here on the Isle of Mull. Hibernation takes hold and Camas staff are mere shells of their summer selves. But the daffs are coming up and the preparation for the new season is beginning. Before we know it we will be welcoming new and familiar faces off the bus. Last week we welcomed are new resident’s Abbi, Fran and Sophie to join Avril and Jon down the track. It’s been a jammed packed week of induction, training and getting to know each other. This obviously involved lots of laughing, singing and general frivolity.  We also headed on over to the Holy Isle (Iona) to get to know new residents running the Abbey and MacLeod centres. We were welcomed with many a scone, cups of coffee and a small amount of delving into our personalities via the medium of the Enneagram. Turns out we should get on just fine (well done us). 

So the team;

Jon is still heading up the team as Coordinator.
Sophie who many would have met last year as a volunteer has taken the role of Creative Programme worker, her experience ranges from sculpture to dance psychotherapy.
The lovely Abbi is our new Resident Gardener bringing loads of knowledge acquired during 2 years of growing goodness in New Zealand.
Fran is our new Activity and Expedition worker, bringing a broad range of experience of leading groups throughout the UK from Wales to the North West Highlands, on sea and on foot.
The sparkly Avril continuing her second year coordinating activities.
 

Yesterday we had fun digging a drain. It quickly turned into a very gooey, rock n mud soup. But the work seems to be paying off as Abbi reports that the drains are flowing and the ‘soup’ has settled to reveal silt. 

The hens appeared briefly for a photo shoot. In truth they thought there was food being served, on their plastic platter (spare piece of guttering). 

At the mud fest, there was much laughter and reminiscing. As kids, mothers would hose some of us down after muddy biking adventures. The offer to re-enact this wasn’t taken up. The day ended washing equipment in our conveniently full flowing stream, just outside the garden.

  Avril & Sophie

2014 Get away Weeks for Individuals

Details are over there ... on the grey bit

under pages

click it!

Bird Watching in the Garden for RSPB

Today was the day of the rspb bird watch all over the UK. I took part, alone. I wrapped up, found a recycled kneeling mat from the poly tunnel and perched under the shelter of the pavilion gable end. But before i did that I did feed the chickens! a strategic move, I scattered the delicious offerings across the lawn toward the pile of rocks by the silver birches and in front of the willow dome. Suddenly every bird in the Camas woodland garden shot out towards the food. This had a double intention ( not to kill two birds with one stone!) I wanted to tease the timid hens out of their coup while the weather was holding out and a bit of sun shone through. So they trooped out clucking and pecking at the seed.

I sat and counted and watched in amazement as common garden birds darted here and there to get a meal. The hens just clucked and pecked, whilst Robins collided. Black birds sort of flew low and horizontal if they flew at all, running in and out of my central focus. It began to feel like I was watching a dramatic dance show. Birds swiftly exchanged places and perches. 

Amongst the counting there was a hail storm. We had a great storm in the night, thunder and lightening, it has hailed on and off since. One of our phones blew, again this winter. Well the birds I wonder how it was and is for them? I think they are very grateful for the food. So what did I count over an hour? 3 male black birds, 3 female black birds, 2 male chaffinches, 4 female chaffinches, 4 robins and 4 Dunnocks, a bird I have only just become aware of. A little brown bird. 

It was funny sat watching quietly. The hens came near and a couple of them eyed me up quizzically. I looked beyond keeping a keen eye on the main stage. I saw Robins dive bomb each other and chirp warnings to stay away, but man was I amazed and chuffed to see 4 robins all at once! I believe it is rare to see two at the same time. A robin and a dunnock came with in one metre of me, eating the seed there for a while, the robin seemed to weigh me up to, angling his head, eyeing me.

I am very glad I took part in this rspb research. It encouraged me to spend more time in the garden, get to know the birds that live there and them me! and then have something I'm excited about to share on the Camas blog. I can imagine probably only the twitcher folk have read this far! 

Thanks for reading! Happy bird watching!

Sophie

Stormy days at Camas

As winter closes in around us, the days on the Isle of Mull become colder, wilder and windier. Today however seems to be the coldest, wildest and windiest we have seen all year. It also happens to be the day we are expecting 5 interviewees to arrive down the track.

This week we have been preparing for interviews to fill the 2 resident posts that have been advertised. Because of this we have all been keeping a close eye on the weather, wanting to make sure our 5 hopefuls will be able to make it over on the Cal Mac ferry from Oban. The report stated wind would be gusting up to 76mph with a steady 40/50mph throughout the day. Not to forget a little bit of hail and snow thrown into the mix. Not usually conducive with ferry’s running to schedule. However the wind was due to drop a little by 4pm so we have remained optimistic during the day. We are still waiting in anticipation for the arrival of 1 out of 5. The others, unfortunately due to wild weather all over Scotland have had postpone arrival until tomorrow.

Needless to say, trying to concentrate on tasks to do around Camas today while all the hoo haa of who’s going to make it and what’s going to fly away next has been going on has been very difficult. The storminess arrived during the night and kept the majority of the crew here awake. In bed I thought I could hear tiles flying of the roof above me. Turns out that wasn’t the case. What I may have been able to hear was:

1.      Wheel barrows flying towards the sea (no wheel barrows harmed)
2.      Tiles coming off the roof of the other building
3.      The peat stack vacating its usual residence
4.      The orange boat moving a few meters to the left (on top of Lizzy’z kayak!!)
5.      2 sheds moving off their platforms
6.      The door coming off the chicken pen
7.      Saddest of them all Jon’s canoe heading down the gully towards the salt marsh (it has not survived its escapade).

However there is a silver lining! Due to this stormy night aligning with a spring tide there were large amounts of sea weed left on the lawn this morning. Perfect for being scooped up and wheel barrowed to a beautifully cleared lazy bed in need of some sea weed. Thanks to Elaine (our helpful guest this week) bed number 7 has been weeded and but to sleep for the winter.

So, although concentration levels have not been high, with all the mending and moving of flying things it has been a relatively productive day.

Sustain Yourself

I can’t let this new addition to our programme…. A week of…. Sustaining yourself. Go by without comment! It was so well enjoyed by everyone who came!  A new kind of week, maybe and really exciting for all of us because it had visitors booking in from all different youth groups, and some who’d never been to Camas before. It was amazing that in one short week – everyone had got to know each other so well, and looking back we’d done so much!

Each day started by visiting a quiet place around Camas, and then going into a reflection (of course) and activities. We extended the kayaking to right out in the bay (visiting the mysterious Jarassic Park cove….. ok not all of our wildlife and geological facts were strictly scientific) but finding out lots about lichens, seaweed – true bits- too. We planned and enjoyed a beautiful walk and wild Camp at Tireragan. We designed and voyaged the ENORMAraft.

Contemplating the task ahead....

Someone needs to be rescued......

And We are the ones to do it....Together...

Hurrah!

But..... someone seems to be sabotaging the effort to stay dry.....who rocked the boat?

Which everyone wanted to crew, but no one wanted to paddle… what was going on there? At least the fair maiden on the shore by the … explosives house eventually got rescued and brought back to safety. There was also Cooking (with chili’s), dance movement, yoga, an afternoon of poetry…… 

 

I definitely noticed people being so tired out that they were asleep on the common room sofa, and people enjoying it so much that they came back again… to volunteer their work for Garden week.

Some comments as you left  (lifted from a facebook conversation…where else?!)

On our way back home, wish we could of stayed at camas had a fab week didn't want to come home!  

Had an absolutely smashing week guys, thanks x

Got back safe after another amazing week, you truly do know how to make camas feel like home to all. Thank You,  already planning on volunteering for next year.

What a success! Thank You to everyone for getting on so well with each other and joining with such style.

Community Kids

Another year where the Community kids came to Camas. They felt at home and had a lot of fun, rediscovering the place, playing their favourite games and doing their favourite activities.

The kids also taught us some new things. One was how to weave bracelets, another how to play Irish snap - a card game all of us enjoyed.

Unfortunately we couldn't go camping at Market Bay this week because the weather didn't let us. Instead we camped on the lawn outside the Camas cottages. After a camp dinner, we had damperbread. You prepare damper bread by rolling it out. Then you take a stick, wrap the dough around one end and bake the bread in your campfire. Usually you can get sweet or salty dough. This time some of the kids and James had fun in the kitchen adding spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla to different batches of dough. To be able to recognise which one you were eating they also dyed the dough purple/red, green and blue.

And they lived happily ever after. See you next year...

Storm and lightning

This week GK Experience came to Camas. Some of the kids had already been on expedition with Avril and were glad to see her again.

During their stay here at Camas, we had some mad weather!

During one of the kayak sessions it started to thunder. This made the atmosphere quite exciting. We continued even when it started to rain. We were wet anyway... It was a quite spooky session on the water. Towards the end there were flashes of lightning. That's when we made our way back to the shore.

While the kayakers just got wet in their already wet wetsuits, the climbers were trying to stay dry in the group-shelter. Probably the very first time that it had to be used. They played games and had hot chocolate while waiting for the rain to die down.

Another highlight of the week was the camping trip.
When Jon took the boat back to Camas, he was suddenly surrounded by dolphins. Later in the evening, we went up on a little outcrop and watched the sunset. Just then the dolphins reappeared and jumped into the sunset.

We also went on a short trip to Iona just to go to the ceilidh. During the boa ttrip (on Mark Jardin's boat) one of the leaders entertained us with campfire songs.