Weegie Dirty Weekenders

Autumn projects

2007-10-27T08:58:00.000Z

So far this term we've been over to Pollock country park to help the park rangers with some digging and replanting, and for a weekend away at Gowanbank sustainable community, where we potted trees, got suitably muddy, and had a midnight bonfire!
Both projects were a big success (we even managed to avoid the rain!) and I hope everyone had a great time, keep your eye on the mailing list & project page for upcoming events :)

End of the day at pollock country park

Gowanbank - potting plants by the gingerbread house :)

Relaxing round the bonfire :)

More photos up on the flickr page and facebook group. As ever if you're new to the dirts and want to get involved drop us an email or come along to one of our projects/socials, hope to see you all soon!

Squiggles :)

Project on Sunday

2007-09-28T00:29:00.000Z

Hey everyone,

With everyone hopefully recovered from Fresher's week, it's time for our first dirty weekend of the year :) We'll be heading to Pollok Country Park (in Glasgow) this Sunday (30th) to help the park rangers with whatever work they need doing - find out when we get there!

Meet us at the University's main gates at 9am Sunday morning (bright and early!), getting back into Glasgow for around 5pm. Bring a packed lunch, and as I'm sure you all know it's getting cold in Glasgow, so warm clothing, waterproofs and sensible footwear (wellies/walking boots ideally) are definitely recommended!

If you haven't joined the Dirts yet, or need to renew your membership, the cost is £3 for the year. You'll also need around £3 bus fayre. If you're new to the society this is a good chance to meet people and find out more about us, as well as having a day outdoors.

Finally, if you want to come along please email us (preferably with a contact number) so that we know how many to expect :)

Hope to see lots of you on Sunday!

Squiggles :)

Summer 07

2007-09-11T16:18:00.001Z

This summer, the wildlife garden has been especially wild.

Hope to see plenty of folks at our freshers week stall, in the marquee in the quad from tues 18th - thurs 20th sept, and also at the freshers week BBQ/mini project from 4pm on Wed 19th Sept, there will be food, digging and bats :)

Claire :X

Springwatch in Kelvingrove Park

2007-06-06T19:49:00.001Z

For Dirty Weekenders who are still in Glasgow there is a BBC springwatch event in Kelvingrove Park on Saturday 9th June, 10.30am - 4pm.

"Come along and enjoy close-up encounters with wildlife, meet a BBC personality, enjoy a guided walk or have a go at a range of activities - help naturalize the park pond, create a butterfly garden or build a nest box. Learn what you can do for wildlife in your backyard and volunteer to help."

The Dirts went to a Springwatch event in Hamilton last year and it was ace - lots of interesting stalls and some great freebies!

Check out the website.

There's also an event called 'Aren't Birds Brilliant!' being launched at the Kelvingrove Art gallery on the same day - for more details see here.

Enjoy!

Get in touch!

2006-10-27T08:51:00.001Z

If you'd like to know more, or want to join our mailing list to be kept up-to-date with projects and socials, drop us an email at:
gu_dirty_weekenders [at] yahoo . co . uk

Rain, anyone?

2006-09-27T14:34:00.000Z

On Sunday we went to the wildlife garden for a mini-project, it was my 'first time' with the dirty weekenders. There were 5 of us turned up, which i thought was pretty good considering the weather! First there was a wee tour of the garden for us newbies (very informative thanks sarah!) and then we got on with a load of litter picking, weeding, pond-filling and we chopped off a load of branches and twigs by the compost heap that got burnt in the fire recently.

Rhiannon kindly provided cakes and tea for everyone, but that didnt stop us heading over to Tchai Ovna for more tea afterwards, where it was decided that there ought to be more social events for the dirty weekenders. Perhaps the odd film/pub night?

I had a super/dirty time and i hope to meet more of you at the next project!

Claire x

Wildlife Garden pictures

2006-09-25T13:31:00.000Z

Here are some pictures from our last wildlife garden project...

Claire & Rhiannon enjoying a beaker of tea.

Here we have Squiggles diligently weeding the path.

Jordon digging away.

Rhiannon taking some weeds to the compost heap.

If you go down to the wildlife garden today...

2006-09-22T14:58:00.000Z

You'll find some really cool mushrooms...

Some tasty blackberries...

And a burnt compost heap :(

min-project this Sunday

2006-09-21T14:40:00.000Z

We'll be in the wildlife garden this Sunday, 2-4pm for a min-project. Meet outside the QMU at 2pm. Come dressed for the weather. Hope to see you there!

Dates for your diary!

2006-08-27T12:01:00.000Z

For more information on upcoming projects and socials please join our mailing list.

Autumn 2007
Provisional dates - check back for updates

September
19th (weds) - BBQ afternoon in the wildlife garden
30th (sun) - Day project at Pollock County Park

October
12th-14th (fri - sun) - Residential weekend at Gowanbank

November
5th (weds) - Bonfire night social
11th (sun) - Project
25th (sun) - Joint project with the Edinburgh Dirts at Cathkin Marsh

December
9th (sun) - Day Project

Spring 2008
More projects will be added soon - watch this space!

Links

2006-08-27T11:50:00.000Z

Dirty Weekenders is affiliated to:

Green stuff at Glasgow Uni:

Other green groups:

More green stuff you should know about:

Wildlife Garden Project - August 2006

2006-08-17T12:21:00.000Z

Last night a few of us met in the wildlife garden to give it a general tidy up. We dug in the edges of the pond, did a litter pick, cut back some of the undergrowth around the compost bin and cleaned some graffiti off the noticeboard. Unfortunately we couldn't fill up the pond but we plan to go back one lunchtime next week to do this. The garden looks great at the moment, really green and wild.

Here's a photo of some of our keen gardening team (l-r - Lisa, Alex & Craig). Judy and Jon were along as well but ran away as soon as I got my camera out.

We have lots of tasks to do in the autumn when semester starts, including working on the woodland area and some of the raised beds. Watch this space for more info.

Bird box clearing and bat box making

2006-05-23T11:05:00.000Z

Over the past year we’ve been doing lots of work in the University Wildlife Garden, our very own little bit of wild-ness in amongst the concrete and tenements of the university. The garden is a haven for native plants and wildlife. This year we’ve been doing some work to make birds and bats feel more at home in the garden.

On January 23rd four of us braved the cold weather to clear out the bird boxes in preparation for spring. At that time we had four bird boxes in the garden. Only one of them had a nest in it, but we realised this was because one had only recently been put up, and the two others weren’t well secured to the tree so were swinging around all over the place – I wouldn’t want to live in something so insecure, and I doubt a bird would! At a later project we secured the swinging boxes to the tree, so hopefully this time next year we’ll find a few more nests in the boxes.

Following this, on the 15th of February we had a mass bird and bat box making session in one of the seminar rooms of the Boyd Orr building. The university joiners had kindly supplied and cut untreated wood (thank you!), which made things a lot easier. In total we made 6 bat boxes and 4 bird boxes. The bird boxes have now been put up in the wildlife garden, and a representative from the Clyde bat group will soon be coming to the garden to put up the bat boxes. Bat boxes need to be specially positioned, and as bats are a protected species in the UK, only specially trained bat experts can touch them.

(pictures: top left - bird box in the wildlife garden. top right - Scotty the monkey putting up a bird box. middle - completed bird boxes. bottom middle - the Dirts making bird & bat boxes. bottom - how not to hammer in a nail)

Committee 2007 - 2008

2006-04-27T12:06:00.000Z

President - Rhiannon Breed
Secretary - Claire Leman
Treasurer - open
Social secretary - Andrew Kellard
Publicity secretary - Laura Brennan
Tools & equipment coordinator - open

Wildlife garden committee chair - Claire Leman

To contact any of the committee, or to get more involved, drop us an email..

Elections for the committee are held at our annual AGM at the end of the spring semester. We're always looking for new people to get involved in the committee so it you'd like more info about what's involved please get in contact.

Welcome...

2006-02-22T11:11:00.000Z

Welcome to the new Weegie Dirty Weekenders blog. Look out for information on our projects, socials and weekends away and for John Muir related discussions.

For now, please visit our website at http://www.weegiedirtyweekenders.org.uk/ and take a look at some photos of our recent activities at http://www.flickr.com/photos/weegiedirtyweekenders/

Hope to see you soon.

Who are the Weegie Dirty Weekenders?

2006-01-27T14:59:00.000Z

The Weegie Dirty Weekenders are not a Glaswegian introduction agency but in fact the Glasgow University Conservation Group. Whether you want to gain valuable conservation skills, see more of Scotland or help preserve our beautiful wild areas, then Dirty Weekenders is for you - as long as you don’t mind getting your hands dirty you’re always welcome!

We spend our weekends doing practical conservation in and around Glasgow, ranging from path maintenance to dry stone dyking, rhododendron clearing to mural painting. Past activities have included rhodey bashing at Clyde Muirshel, a weekend project with Gowanbank community and a weekend away at Brodick Castle on Arran.

We’re also involved in the University’s very own wildlife garden; we’ve been working on some of the raised beds and have put in a new pond. There are also opportunities to get involved with the management of the garden by joining the Wildlife Garden Committee.

How to get involved...

Alongside our conservation projects and residential weekends, we also have regular socials, usually on a Wednesday evening. You can join at any project or a social - have a look at the projects page or you can join our mailing list for full details.

What does it cost…

Membership is £3, but its value is priceless! Your membership fee will contribute to insurance and general running costs.

John Muir Award…

The John Muir award recognises and celebrates conservation work throughout the UK. You can sign up to take part in the John Muir Award through Dirty Weekenders. See a member of the committee for more details.