Below is a list of things you should consider bringing along when you come to volunteer. What you need will depend on the weather, task, etc… If you’re in any doubt, just ask the relevant ranger.

Suitable Clothing – If we’re doing a practical task, like scrub clearance, you’ll need hard-wearing stuff that you’re not precious about (don’t bring your finest Gucci slacks!). It’s likely that you’ll need something to keep you warm.

Sturdy Footwear – Hard-wearing boots for practical tasks, or sometimes Wellington boots if we’re venturing into the wet stuff.

Waterproofs – Every effort is made to book good weather for tasks but it does sometimes rain or get a bit windy. In these instances, waterproofs are the way to go.

Hat – It’s helpful to have your bonce covered should it be cold or beat down with glorious sunshine (which it does do from time to time you know!).

Sun Cream – Yes, seriously. A cooling coastal breeze has often caught folk out and sent them home a gleaming shade of lobster.

Food & Drink – Very important! It can be hungry and thirsty work. Remember extra drink in hot weather. A flask of the hot stuff can be a great thing in the winter.

Ticks are tiny, parasitic, animals. They grow up to only 3mm in length and vary much in their colour. They have eight legs and a flattened body (until it fills with blood but we don’t let them get to that stage!). I think they’re fascinating but most folk aren’t so keen on them!

There are many different kinds of ticks but the ones we need to keep an eye on are the ones that parasitise deer, for they also go for us humans. Some people seem much more likely to pick up tick bites than others, for reasons as yet not fully understood.

Ticks can carry diseases including Lyme Disease. The chances of getting a disease from a tick bite is very low but it pays to take precautions.

It is important to check for ticks on you both when out on the nature reserve and also when you get home. If you find you have been bitten by a tick remove it straight away.

Remove ticks with fine-pointed tweezers or a tick removal tool. Do not squash, burn or whisky-soak the tick. Problems of disease arise when the saliva of the tick is transmitted into your blood stream, which all of the above can do.

To minimise the risk of getting a tick bite in the first place, get covered up and tuck your trousers into your socks.

Highland Council have produced a handy leaflet which can be found at www.highland.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/14961/tick_leaflet.

If the email links don’t work for you it could be because you are using a web-based mail system, like gmail. Then I’m sorry – there’s little we can do about it (although you could re-configure your system to cope). Instead, just copy the link, open your email system, and paste into the To field.

•  a website company, for hosting this website for free, which they do for charities
• for supplying weedkiller for our Giant Hogweed Eradication Program
• for their financial support for our Giant Hogweed Eradication Program
• John Harrison, the ELC Ranger, for a lot of our content which was blatantly copied from his website
• Duncan Priddle, the previous ELC Volunteers organiser, for his inspiration, knowledge and contributions
• Jenny Hargreaves, the current volunteers organiser, for filling Duncan’s shoes
• Dave Oldham, for his long hard slog in setting up the ELCV charity
• Ben Crossman, a friend, for his Javascript expertise