Urgent action required!

This last week turned out to be a perfect illustration of how unpredictable events can turn up without warning and need urgent attention.  There were in fact two in quick succession.

One was when a member of the public reported to me a fallen tree across the path in Taylor Gill Force. Taylor Gill Force is situated on the path between Seathwaite and Sty Head, at the head of Borrowdale. When my volunteers and I arrived it was to find that the tree had fallen completely across the narrow path which is a bit of a scramble on the steepest side of the Gill.  As it had fallen, the tree had dislodged some large rocks that were hanging dangerously above the path.  The only way past would have been to scramble over or go under the tree, neither of which would have been safe.

So I set to work with a chainsaw and we cleared the path of the tree and also moved all the loose rocks.  My volunteers did their usual hard work and we completed a really good job.  I was pleased that we had acted so quickly because, barely half an hour after we had finished, a group of young walkers came down the hill and they would have had to negotiate a difficult and dangerous obstacle.  (This is the time of year when we have lots of Duke of Edinburgh Award groups on the fells.)

Obviously we respond as soon as we can to reports of problems that come in but sometimes we need to prioritise.  Is it a faulty gate catch that is inconvenient or is it a damaged gate catch that could cause injury?  It’s great if someone reporting a problem can show us a photograph.  This is a very large area and we do regular checks of paths, fences, stiles etc. but the unexpected can happen so information from the public makes a huge contribution to our ability to prioritise what needs to be done.

My second ‘emergency’ of the week involved Daisy.  Jan had taken her for a training session one evening but arrived back home early with an injured Daisy.  She had returned to Jan after one of her explorations and had a sizeable wound on her leg.  It clearly needed attention so we had to take her straight to a vet where the wound was closed with 5 staples and was bandaged.  

Quite remarkably, it has not slowed her down one little bit and she even came with us up Taylor Force Gill where she bounded up and down the rocks as she always does.

In fact, except for enduring the minor irritation of a plastic bag to protect her dressing, she is carrying on as usual!  Hopefully that means that there will be no long-term effects.

Daisy here.  I cut my leg.  Ah well.  I went to the vet.  Vets are lovely people.