Fungi & Forestry in the NY Moors

Scouts at NY Moors 29 November 2014   

We arrived at the Sutton Bank Visitor Centre on a cold and foggy day.  We met Tammy, the co-ordinator of the North York Moors Explorers.  She told us our mission which was to chop down some trees, to make a new footpath and to allow the heather to grow.

First, we went for a walk looking for fungi.  We found quite a lot.  Tammy told us about them and we also had reference books to help us identify them.

We drove in a minibus to the place where we were working.  It was only a short way, but we had a load of equipment to take along with us.  We had our lunch, I was glad I had my flask of hot chocolate!

We got down to work, cutting down some trees.  We each had a folding saw and loppers, which are long handled cutters.  This tree chopping technique is called the notch and Back Cut.  We all worked very hard and finished a bit early.

At the end, we were dancing in front of the Centre webcam while we were waiting for our lift home.  I think we were all tired at the finish, but we had done a good job.

By Luke

Cobra Patrol

First aid hike

Guy, Owen, Finn and I  did a first aid hike on the 16th November 2014. At first we had to do a quiz about first aid. The equipment we needed was a first aid kit, hot drink, sleeping bag, survival bag, emergency rations, compass and a  map.

For the first injury we had to find out what was wrong with the person. He had a swollen ankle and hypothermia . We didn't have to do it on the person we had to explain what we would do.

The second injury was a graze on the head. So we had to check for concussion but there wasn't any. At the injuries there was a judge to take the score. The team in front of us didn't follow the countryside rules because they don't shut gates!!!!! It was organised by the Harrogate and Nidderdale  District Scouts.

The final one of the day was very BAD hypothermia a man had fallen into a reservoir!!!!! To treat hypothermia you look for signs of it like shivering, pale face etc. Then you give them a hot drink and reassure them. If it is really bad they won't know who they are, where they are or even where they came from!!!

There were 10 teams and we came 4th!!!!! The winners were 14th Woodlands.  I am really proud of our team getting 4th place!! WOW!!!!!!!!

By Caolan

(Falcon Patrol)