Explore like a local - Oly Hemmings

Living, Working & Exploring in the Heart of Argyll Oly Hemmings Wildlife Ranger, Argyll Beaver & Wildlife Centre www.argyllbeavercentre.co.uk HOATA: Hi Oly, tell us a little about your background; what brought you to the Heart of Argyll and what do you do now?

OH: I am so pleased that I ended up in the Heart of Argyll. It was more chance than planning, but I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else now.

My partner and I had been looking for jobs and a place to live together for some time since both graduating from the same university. We first moved in together down in Hampshire but knew very quickly that it didn’t suit us. We both loved the walking/camping holidays we had each taken over our younger lives in Scotland and decided that was where we wanted to move to. After looking at a place in Fort Augustus, we then came to an interview in this relatively unknown area to us – the Heart of Argyll.

I remember bursting into tears on our way home declaring that I desperately wanted to be here and nowhere else would do! …. Luckily for us we got the jobs and moved up in December 2002 and roots are now firmly down. I love wildlife and being out in the environment.

After the end of my time as Education Ranger with the Scottish Beaver Trial I cofounded Heart of Argyll Wildlife Organisation with Pete Creech. We wanted to set up a charitable social enterprise to showcase the amazing wildlife of the area and encourage people to visit and explore. We now run the Argyll Beaver Centre which acts as a visitor information point for the area, it has natural history artefacts, a wildlife viewing hide, interactive displays and kids activities (plus possibly Scotland most beautiful compost toilet!).

The organisation offers regular beaver and other wildlife themed guided walks, holds moth mornings, seashore safaris, talks and activity days and much more.

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Living, Working & Exploring in the Heart of Argyll We also provide wildlife themed lessons on site or via outreach to local primary schools. I’m so lucky to be working here in a job I really love, it allows me to spend most of my time being paid to do the things I’m passionate about – showing other people how much fantastic wildlife we have here.

HOATA: You obviously spend a lot of time-sharing knowledge of our incredible natural world, what’s your least favourite plant or animal and why?

OH: That’s a good question, as people usually ask what my favourite species is, and I always struggle to answer.

Hmm although I’m really not keen on spiders, I think I have to pick an invasive nonnative species, I’ll go for the New Zealand Flat Worm.

Probably a strange one to pick, but it’s a relatively unseen enemy of our native wildlife.

It appeared in the UK in the 1960s being accidentally carried in the soil around the roots of specimen plants coming into this country. Since then, it has unfortunately spread to become common throughout Scotland, the North of England and Northern Ireland. It is predatory worm which has eaten huge numbers of our native earth worms which not only has detrimental consequences on the health of our soil, but also threatens the populations of our native earthworm eaters like hedgehogs and badgers. It’s really hard to kill off too as it can lie dormant for long periods where it has exhausted its food supply.

HOATA: You have a long weekend off; how do you spend your time in the Heart of Argyll?

OH: Any long weekend for me definitely includes getting out and about in our amazing wild places. There’s nothing I love more than throwing on my running pack and getting out exploring some new hill trails with my running partner, Pete and my beloved jog-dog, Balti. It’s so satisfying putting in the effort to get to the top of a hill, sit and have a snack admiring the view before running down again jumping rocks and splashing in bogs!

If I’m not exploring on my own two feet, then I’ll be out sharing the wonderful scenery with my larger four-legged partner, my pony Boots. We have some fantastic forest tracks we can use for leisurely flat walks or a good canter to blow the cobwebs away.

As it’s a long weekend, I’ll probably also include a cycle ride; road/gravel bike or mountain bike, we have it all here. I can cycle on single track road for miles along stunning coastlines, explore quiet forest tracks or head to the Fire Tower Trail for some technical mountain biking fun.

IslandAdd Bridge at the Crinan Canal

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Living, Working & Exploring in the Heart of Argyll Of course, all cycle rides must include a café stop, and we are spoilt for choice here with café’s but my personal favourites are the amazing Polly’s Coffee Stop on the Crinan Canal, a must for an unusual experience of amazing cake and a cuppa served from a fantastically converted horse trailer where we then sit watching the boats that come through the canal locks.

Then there’s the equally amazing Lucy’s in Ardfern, and the Smiddy in Lochgilphead where the best lunch food is served to satisfy a hungry cyclist and fuel the rest of the way home.

Even if it’s raining, a short walk in our more sheltered Atlantic rainforests would feature on my weekend, the scenery is atmospheric and moody when the sun isn’t shining, and there are always the smaller things to look at – the local cup and ring markings always stand out better when they are wet.

Rock Art at Cairnbaan

HOATA: What piece of advice would you give to visitors?

OH: If you plan to come here for a day trip or a long weekend, then make a plan to return for at least a week! There really is so much here that you will want to come back again to explore further.

HOATA: What’s still on your bucket list for the area?

OH: Being more of a land lover than a sea person, I still haven’t really explored some of our coastline, so I would really like to try paddle boarding or take a short boat trip to some of the local smaller isles to see puffins or watch the sea eagles fishing. I really feel that living here, there aren’t enough days in the week for all the things that I want to do!

HOATA: Just for fun, what question should I have asked?

OH: What is the quirkiest thing you have experienced living in the Heart of Argyll?

I love explaining to friends and family that don’t live here how we have the Screen Machine visit us every few months.

It’s an articulated lorry that travels around remote rural areas in highlands and ‘unfolds’ into a medium size cinema with surround sound and comfy seats.

It’s a brilliant experience and makes a fun and memorable night out.

The Screen Machine, Scotland’s Mobile Cinema www.screenmachine.co.uk

HOATA: Thanks Oly! 3 www.heartofargyll.com