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When we were reporting progress of Phase 2 of the Foula Heritage project, we tentatively put forward the idea of a part-time ranger service in Foula as a possible future development.

Our original funders suggested that a Feasibility Study should be done first to establish whether the criteria existed in the island to justify such a post. Foula Heritage asked Tony Mainwood, who was not an islander but knew Foula well, if he would do a Feasibility Study for us.

Tony had a preliminary meeting with members of Shetland Regeneration Partnership. Linda Coutts from the SIC Development Department, and Katie Gillham from SNH.

One of the most helpful suggestions for the Foula ranger service came from this meeting – Linda Coutts suggested that there could be a strong community development aspect to the ranger project which would be attractive to funders.

Preliminary discussions with SNH showed that funding support from them for a ranger post would have to meet 4 essential criteria:-

a. to welcome and assist visitors and give a brief introduction to the island so they can make the most of their visit

b. to ensure visitors don’t conflict with island land use – people’s working lives, fences, gates and stiles, breeding birds, etc

c. to raise levels of awareness of natural & cultural heritage

d. to care for and enhance the natural heritage.

Once again Foula Heritage made a round of funding applications to finance a ranger Feasibility Study. Funding was sought and obtained from Foula Heritage, SNH, Shetland Enterprise, and W&S Community Council and Tony was appointed to do the work in the summer of 2002. He researched the following elements:

· assessing if the criteria exist to support a ranger post

· consultation with the Foula community

· liaison with local and other tourism providers

· consultation with organisations and individuals

· costs of a ranger post

· possible sources of grant for a ranger post

· eligibility for SNH funding

· draft ranger job description

· draft ranger work plan

· recommendations

The results of the Feasibility Study were overwhelmingly positive. Tony reported back to a meeting of Foula Heritage, who were heartened by the findings. During discussion of practical issues regarding employing a ranger, members were concerned about safety issues and they decided Foula Heritage should take out insurance for any ranger employed by the group.

A meeting was arranged in August 2002 with Bill Crook of the SIC Community Development department to discuss the ranger service and the community’s safety concerns. This reassured us and allowed us to move forward.

Foula Heritage invited members of Shetland Re-generation Partnership to a public meeting in Foula on 6^th December 2002 to help plan the practicalities of moving forward. (The Shetland Re-generation Partnership consists of Shetland Enterprise, Shetland Islands Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Crofters Commission.) This meeting was very positive both from the visitors and the community’s point of view, and became a milestone in the process of setting up the ranger service. Why was this?

· The concept of a ranger service emerged from the community itself following on the initial success of the Foula Heritage project and the community’s growing confidence.

· The Shetland Regeneration Partnership was a new cross-agency group which met regularly, and the Foula ranger project fitted their remit very well.

· The Partnership gave us positive feedback on the progress of Foula Heritage so far, and they agreed to form a Steering Group to assist with the ranger project. This gave us reassurance and more confidence, and also a list of personal contacts in each agency.

· The Steering Group became a broad base of potential practical & financial support as we formulated the ranger project proposal to put before funders.

Isobel spent the whole winter of 2002-2003 drawing up the project proposal for the ranger service based on Tony’s Feasibility Study. Writing the proposal was a lot of work, but it was the basis of our 8 different funding applications, and had to appeal to the different emphasis of individual funders, for example environmental monitoring and community development. With help from Jane Thomas of the Crofters Commission we sorted out our ideas under a framework of headings.

These are the framework headings for our ranger project proposal:-

Aims

Objectives

Targets

Longer-term outcomes and added value

Monitoring

Evaluation

Sustainability

Costs and proposed funders

· Aims

To raise awareness of the value of Foula’s natural and cultural heritage both within and outside the island

To increase the socio-economic benefits of sustainable natural and cultural heritage tourism in Foula

To help safeguard the natural and cultural heritage of Foula

To contribute to Foula’s viability by enhancing community cohesion and facilitating sustainable community development.

· Objectives

To establish a part-time seasonal ranger service in Foula, initially for three years

To create interpretive and educational material on Foula’s rich natural and cultural heritage

To undertake environmental monitoring and conservation management innFoula

To develop the skills base within Foula Heritage and the wider Foula community through appropriate training

· Targets

To produce a series of talks, slide-shows and events promoting Foula’s natural and cultural heritage

To create a map and guidance notes for visitors to safeguard the environment, safety, and local interests

To help develop interpretive leaflets in Foula’s natural and cultural history series

To identify and help fulfil training needs for Foula Heritage members to upgrade their skills

To liaise with others, and participate in environmental monitoring and conservation management

To monitor above targets and produce a report on progress after each season.

· Longer-term Outcomes and Added Value

The ranger project should provide a catalyst for wider sustainable community development

Sensitive management of issues pertaining to improved access

Improved potential for sustainable tourism in Foula

Enhanced natural and cultural experience in Foula through improved education and interpretive materials and activities

Enhanced community cohesion through co-operative working and transfer of skills will have spin-off in other areas

Wider opportunities for development through island exchange and comparison

· Monitoring

The ranger will maintain records of all activities to be monitored fortnightly by Foula Heritage

The committee of Foula Heritage will report progress monthly to the Steering Group

The Steering Group from Shetland Re-generation Partnership will assist Foula Heritage to supervise the work of the ranger

· Evaluation

The ranger’s record of work to be assessed monthly by Foula Heritage against the stated targets and effort adjusted if necessary

At the end of the season ranger work to be evaluated by Foula Heritage and the Steering Committee against the desired outcomes and targets.

An end-of-season report will be produced jointly by the ranger and Foula Heritage committee, and distributed to the community, FH members, the Steering Group and funding bodies.

Evaluation of the three-year ranger project will take place at the end of the third season, and will be compared with Shetland Amenity Trust’s 3-year ranger project.

· Sustainability

The project will be sustainable because it preserves the environmental and cultural resource on which the island’s socio-economic potential depends

Longer-term sustainability is improved through the involvement of primary school-children and young people

The emphasis on sustainability is ensured by 100% community support for the project

The project could trigger other new sustainable developments

Longer-term sustainability is more likely because the project is a self-help one instigated by the local community to help secure their future

If further funding is not secured after 3 years, the wider impact of the project and the skills gained will remain in place, and benefit the community in the future.

· Costs and proposed funders

Elements costed were:-

Ø Advertising/interview

Ø Ranger salary

Ø Laptop computer

Ø Training –Health & Safety, computer skills, etc

Ø Insurance

Ø Contribution to transport

Ø Contribution to protective clothing

Ø Contribution to accommodation

Ø Contribution to phone

Ø Promotion of the ranger service

· Appendices included Foula Heritage constitution, ranger job description, etc.

And that was only the first stage as we gauged initial reaction from 8 different potential funders. Once they read the proposal and gave us a sign of interest, we then had to start on the second big task of filling in 8 different funding application forms, with varying requirements.

But we’d got the bit between our teeth by then, interest and encouragement was coming in from all members of the Steering Group and boosted our confidence. Some of the material we’d already prepared was common to all the applications, some had to be written specially to meet funders’ criteria. We remembered the advice from Linda Coutts earlier in the process about including the community development angle, and we eventually made successful funding applications to the following:-

· Foula Heritage

· Scottish Natural Heritage

· Walls & Sandness Community Council

· SIC Infrastructure Dept (Planning)

· SIC Development Dept

· SIC Community Development Dept

· Shetland Enterprise Company Ltd

· Crofters Commission

We wrote our ranger project proposal hoping we could achieve funding for one pilot year. The funding bodies discussed our proposal together within the Shetland Re-generation Partnership. We were surprised and delighted at their response… Their joint reaction was so positive that they offered a three-year funding package starting 2003 subject to the usual conditions of ongoing monitoring and reporting.

With help from the Steering Group we wrote the advert for the ranger post and placed it in the local press, in the National Job Centre Plus, and through the Internet. From a total of 25 enquiries for more information, 12 firm applications were received, several from international candidates. A rigorous selection process was carried out by Foula Heritage and 4 candidates were invited for interview.

It should be mentioned here that one of the applicants was Tony Mainwood who had carried out the Feasibility Study. He made the proviso on his application form that he only wished to be considered if there was no other suitable candidate, and as a second option would prefer a job-share arrangement.

The Foula heritage committee were given information and training on interview process and assessment, and a member of the Steering group from SNH assisted as an external member of the interview panel

Interviews of 4 candidates took place in the Foula School on the 2^nd May, later than we’d hoped as the season had already begun. Members of the community accompanied the candidates on walks over the island as they waited for their allotted time. A decision was promised within 3 days with starting date to be within 10 days.

Foula Heritage came to the unanimous decision to offer the ranger job to the most promising candidate, a lass from Cheshire called Abigail Johnson.

We tried for a week to make contact with Abigail at the address, telephone number, and email she’d given. Eventually we managed to make contact with her parents who told us she did not wish to take up the post. This was a big disappointment, with the season already halfway through the first month.

Foula Heritage held an emergency meeting to try to salvage the situation. Two of the other candidates had not shown well at interview, so the job was offered to Tony Mainwood.

Tony maintained his pre-stated position that he felt the job would benefit from job-share with islanders who had local information and other skills to supplement his own in ornithology and visitor management. He suggested that Sheila and Isobel contributed to a 3-way job-share with him, bringing skills in environmental monitoring, administration, and knowledge of Foula’s unique culture to supplement his own. This would minimise further delay and allow the post to start immediately as the season was already underway.

This job-share suggestion was approved by Foula Heritage, and a detailed explanation and a precise job-share proposal sent to the funders and the Steering group for their approval.

There was a lot of discussion of this unorthodox proposal by the Steering Group, particularly since two of us were on the committee of Foula Heritage who had applied for funding. Eventually they agreed the three-way job-share could go ahead for one year only, with stringent requirements for absolute transparency, reporting and monitoring of the use of public money.

And through default this was the way our job-share ranger service started.

The season was already underway, and we were on our mettle to justify the job-share. The job had been advertised as three days per week, so we divided the ranger tasks under headings with each of us responsible for certain ones – but it wasn’t set in stone. It was a flexible arrangement and we each stood in wherever we were needed. This arrangement was approved by the funding bodies, with each of us to be paid the equivalent of one day per week.

Foula has a strong cultural tradition of welcome and hospitality and we wanted to give every visitor to the island that special experience, no matter how long or short their stay. At least one ranger meets every plane and boat which arrives in the island, and personally greets all the visitors. We ask what their interests are and offer information and advice to help them make the most of their visit.

Right at the beginning we developed a general safety and information leaflet about the island which we hand out to every party. This contains basic information about the ranger service; where the Post Office and Community Nurse and public telephone and toilets are situated; and about access and conservation issues since Foula is covered by 4 environmental designations.

Loganair passengers are often day-trippers with limited time, and Tony started to offer guided walks on the spot if people expressed a particular interest, perhaps to the Sneck ida Smaallie picture, or the big walk over the ridge of the hills. These walks were tailored each time according to the weather, and the abilities and interests of the visitors.

Unusually for Foula we had a total of 4 visits from 2 cruise ships that first May and we were thrown in at the deep end - 40 visitors coming ashore at a time for a few hours. We wanted to give them a good experience so all three of us shared the guided walks according to people’s abilities and interests. Many of the visitors were foreign, some elderly, so we ran relays of lifts to the scenic North End. Peat workings along the side of the road and Foula coloured sheep seemed to fascinate them.

During the summer Cycharters make a trip to Foula every Wednesday with 12 passengers, and the rangers liase with the operator to enhance the visitors experience.

At least one ranger meets the vessel on arrival and offers help and information or guided walks to anyone not wishing to sail round the island.

Another islander and Foula Heritage member Jim Gear accompanies the passengers on the trip round the island explaining the old way of life of fishing and fowling in the high cliffs on the west side. When the passengers come ashore after eating their sandwiches, guided walks were offered according to the visitors’ interests. Lifts are offered to those not able to walk very far.

Some passengers are interested in sea fishing, and go back out to local fishing grounds with Jim and the crew. Every household in Foula can have fish for tea that night! Also the catch provides an extra opportunity for Sheila to monitor the fish stomach contents, another important aspect of the rangers’ work. The rangers accompany visitors back to the pier and airstrip and wave them off in traditional style.

Because the rangers have all their local experience to call on, each walk or sea trip becomes a rich personal description of the cultural and natural heritage of the area, flowers and birds and mammals, archaeology and social history, crofting and fishing traditions. And as we walk or sail round the island, people are intrigued to hear our personal anecdotes and experience of life in the island.

But it’s not all one-way. We gained increasing confidence that first year from the positive feedback from the visitors. Much of this spoke of the warmth of the reception, and how islanders smiled and waved to passing visitors as they explored. People wrote to us when they went back home, sending photographs and promising to come back next year.

We made many new friends, and the island as a whole benefited from the glowing reports made by visitors returning to the Shetland Mainland. Some came back 2 or 3 times, and others sought out and wrote to our funders. This information was relayed on to the community and to our Steering Group via our monthly ranger news updates

One spin-off from this good feedback was growing involvement by the community in ranger activities – islanders spontaneously helped out at the airstrip and the pier by engaging people in conversation when numbers of visitors arrived. By managing our visitors better we minimised disruption to local activities, and protected the island’s vulnerable environmental habitats, while making sure visitors enjoyed their stay to the full.

Dealing with visitors was the public face of the Foula ranger service on plane and boat days, but a great deal of other ranger work was going on between times. Summer is a busy time for us all in Foula, and rangering had to be fitted in with our other work. Sheila, Tony and Isobel met every Friday morning to share notes and ideas, adapting our thinking to what we found as time went on, and making plans for the following week.

Sheila was logging up hours systematically monitoring the seabird colonies and moorland breeding birds, and checking habitats as flowers and grasses blossomed in the long light summer days, and examining fish stomach contents whenever the opportunity arose. Sheila also started writing detailed notes for us for the 4 different guided walks we’d started.

Meanwhile when Tony wasn’t meeting the regular boats and planes, he maintained daily ornithological records of all bird activity in the island. He was continually on the alert to meet unscheduled visits from small boats and yachts, liasing with transport providers, the local B&B and self-catering establishments, and the rest of the community, and maintaining the vital visitor details spreadsheet.

Isobel still had large amounts of paperwork to do. The first task was to learn a desktop publishing programme and create the ranger general information leaflet. A monthly news update had to be compiled, printed, and distributed to every household in the island and to other members of Foula Heritage. Because of the stringent requirements for the job-share, we each maintained a detailed log of our tasks, and Isobel collated these weekly and sent them to all our 8 funders at the end of each month, with a work-plan for the following month. We kept meticulous accounts, and mid-term reports and application forms had to be compiled on time and sent in to different funders in order to secure interim part-payments of our funding to keep us going.

As it turned out we were all logging much more time than 1 day each per week, but we were determined to make a success of the job-share and prove to the funders we were providing good value for public money.

By the end of June our hard work and meticulous record-keeping and reporting, along with the good positive feedback coming from visitors, had convinced all the funders that their decision to allow us to try the job-share was vindicated. Some even went as far as to say that our unique way of working was stirring up a lot of interest.

This led to the suggestion from the funders that we should have a Foula Ranger Open Day in the island in July when there were a lot of visitors staying in the island and fairly regular boat and plane services. We were a little nervous about this, we were still finding our way developing the ranger service and we didn’t know what to expect, or if we could cope. We designed posters and flyers and advertised the Open Day as best we could trying to attract people who hadn’t been to Foula before. We’d set on a Wednesday to make use of all the available transport.

Foula can be very beautiful in the summer and the hills and cliffs are always spectacular, but there was always the thought the weather could turn unpleasant. Boats and planes would be turning up at different times so we planned our schedules carefully and divided the man-power to take care of all visitors at all arrival points. We planned both a variety of guided walks and wet day activities in the school if needed, with a grand finale of all the visitors sharing tea and home-bakes and chat in the school with assembled members of the community. We laid out our archive of 100 years of newspaper cuttings archive, and examples of our ranger leaflets and newsletters, and showed off Foula’s unique patterned fisherman’s froak. We needn’t have worried, Foula worked its magic, and the day was a huge success. We waved off full loads of happy Cyfish and Loganair passengers from the pier and airstrip.

We held another mini Open Day for 12 members of Bressay History Group who chartered John Tulloch one fine weekend and came to Foula for the day. The three rangers met the group and Tony along with islander Jim Gear accompanied them as they sailed round the island. A variety of walks were laid on to cater for everyone’s interests, and a very good day was had by all. This was one of the times that we as rangers benefited a lot from comparing notes with a Shetland group interested in what we were doing.

The Shetland educational sailing ship the ‘SWAN’ crossed to Foula in the summer with a party of visitors, and the rangers organised guided walks and special visits for them.

Towards the end of the season the ranger service was being recognised outside the island and the ‘Local Biodiversity Action Plan Walk’ and the ‘Walk Shetland’ organisers on the mainland included Foula in their list of walks. Groups of people came into Foula specially for that purpose and we laid on special routes for them, and treated them to tea and cakes in the school before they left.

One of Tony’s strengths is his ornithological experience, and during migration periods he covers the island recording the birds going through. Right at the end of that first season we had several rare migrants. One was a North American grey-cheeked thrush, and a group of twitchers benefited from the ranger service by visiting the island for a few hours to see it.

But our best accolade of all came at the end of the season when the work of Foula ranger service won a Shetland Environmental Award

When the 2003 season was over at the end of September there was still a lot of unpaid work to do. A full report of our activities and the year’s financial accounts had to be prepared for all our funders, and claims made for the grants which were paid in retrospect. We used the framework of our original project proposal which we described at the beginning, and for our report we explained under each heading what we’d done and the progress we’d made.

We’d only been given permission to run the job-share for one year and we had to attempt to justify that it could continue through the second and third years of our original funding. Our careful recording of visitor numbers showed a total of 680 for the season, 50% more than predicted. Luckily also there had been a lot of good feedback from visitors after they’d left the island. We’d kept meticulous accounts and records, and eventually when all the reports were in, the Steering Group not only gave us permission to continue the job-share, but more than that they were actually starting to see our way of working as an example of good process for other communities.

So in November Sheila and Isobel were invited to make a presentation to the Shetland Regeneration Partnership’s big event in Aith to a gathering of agencies and representatives of voluntary and community groups. We were both very nervous about this, it was Sheila’s first time speaking in public, and our ranger service was still in its infancy. Tony put together a selection of photographs to illustrate Isobel and Sheila’s text, and the combination seemed to work some magic. People were interested and have talked about it long afterwards. That helped to give us more confidence that what we were doing was good.

During our first season we found several things were needed to help us to work more efficiently and to give visitors a richer experience.

· The Tourist Board big board map of Foula at the airstrip had been compiled and installed without any reference to local knowledge, it was almost blank and unattractive, and had mistakes on it.

· The service needed to start earlier in the year and finish later to encompass all the work

· Foula Heritage’s SWOT analysis of the ranger service pointed up issues for attention:- access, big groups of visitors on the road, involve more community members, etc.

· We needed our own customised map of the island to show where the wealth of different places of interest were, and the locality of our different walks.

· We also needed descriptive leaflets of the routes and the interesting details we describe on our walks to allow people to ‘guide themselves’ if they wished. These would be specially useful when there were large numbers of visitors in the island and the rangers couldn’t be everywhere at once.

· During our first years in Foula Heritage we’d collected a lot of folklore and colourful sayings and we needed to put these into interpretive leaflets and share them with the public.

We were far too busy with visitors during the season itself to do much work on these, but we promised ourselves we’d work on them over the winter ready for the following year if our funders agreed the job-share could continue. I might add here we were paid only from May to the end of September that first year of 2003 but we were all totally committed by then, and happy to do what we could over the winter in our spare time to make our service better.

By the end of December our report and accounts were finalised and accepted by all the funders, and the final instalments of Year 1’s grants were paid. We had agreement and encouragement to continue the job-share arrangements into Year 2. The next task was to make a case for starting the season 2 weeks earlier in the middle of April, and finishing after the bird migration period at the end of October. And to do all the formal funding applications for year 2.

Our success in Year 1 and full reports stood us in good stead and the extension proved straightforward. By February we had agreement from SNH for an increase in funding to extend the season by 2 weeks in the spring and 4 weeks at the back end.

We also had an offer from the SIC Planning Department which had supported us all along to provide materials and some funding for new stiles and gates on walk routes to help with access and safety issues. This offer was taken up and approved in time for installation of 8 stiles and 4 gates to take place in the early spring of 2004 in time for the new season.

In the new year Isobel started creating a series of interpretive leaflets using material we’d gathered the first years of Foula Heritage. This is where new computer skills came into play. These leaflets included bairns’ rhymes, local sayings, weather lore, and one on the popular Puffin which lots of visitors asked to go and see.

Following from the interpretive leaflets Isobel adapted Sheila’s text and chose photographs from our growing archive to create 4 attractive walks leaflets with maps of the island and the walk route inside. This was a lot of work, and printing them off was time-consuming and used up our printer ink very fast. Two of our funders, the SIC Planning department, and Community Development department, made a handsome offer to print large batches of leaflets for us on more sophisticated automatic machines. This was much appreciated and we had supplies ready for the coming season.

One of the less obvious aspects of our 2003 ranger work had been Sheila’s systematic monitoring and recording of sea and moorland breeding birds, and general island flora and fauna and habitats. Glasgow University recognised Sheila’s contribution to their ongoing work and awarded her an Honorary Fellowship, and this in turn led to Foula Heritage ranger service being asked to undertake the 2004 annual seabird monitoring programme in Foula for SOTEAG, the Sullom Oil Terminal Environmental Monitoring Group – and to be paid for doing it. This would be more work for Sheila, but certainly a feather in our ranger caps!

In early spring of 2004 we followed the same pattern as before filling in all the application forms for year two of our funding, and by the middle of April we’d had liaison planning meetings with funders and had sent out a community newsletter with all our news and plans. Tony had arrived in the island and was monitoring bird activity, we’d started our new visitor spreadsheet, and we were all set to go.

Then we had another major setback – due to unforeseen personal circumstances Tony had to leave the island and it was doubtful whether he could contribute any further to the ranger job-share that season. It was a serious blow, and Isobel and Sheila had a long frank discussion about if and how we could manage without Tony. We’d both learned to be tough and resilient during many hard times in Foula. We were determined not to allow the service to fold after we’d come so far, and we didn’t want to let standards slip in any way. But we had other commitments and seasonal work which put constraints on the time we could put into the ranger service, and we’d each have to cover 50% more duties.

We identified the areas of work Tony had covered, mostly meeting and greeting visitors at the pier and airstrip, the guided walks he led for day-trippers, and the ornithology. We consulted with our parent body Foula Heritage, and the practicalities of how we could cover all the duties in a slightly different way were thrashed out. Isobel rearranged other work and would meet the planes and boats and welcome visitors. The new detailed self-guided walk leaflets proved invaluable and allowed single and small groups of visitors to have an enhanced experience without a ranger accompanying them every time.

We received offers of help from members of Foula Heritage to help Sheila cope with larger groups of visitors wanting guided walks. These were still flexible, and arranged as and when the need arose to fit with Sheila’s other jobs. And this is where our early community information and involvement work paid off. Two younger members of the community agreed to do some training and shadow Sheila on guided walks and learn the details. They would chat to visitors about their own personal experiences which was one of the features that gave visitors so much pleasure, and at the same time take the pressure off the single ranger trying to cope with larger groups.

And other members of the community voluntarily helped out in all sorts of ways when they saw we were under pressure – they would help out with lifts and other work to release the ranger at busy times, they helped us at the pier and airstrip with large groups of people, and were pro-actively welcoming and helpful to visitors they met out and about in the island.

Early in the 2004 season the Foula ranger service led special guided walks to contribute to the Shetland-wide Local Biodiversity Action Plan weekend.

It was perhaps lucky that the May cruise ships didn’t land large numbers of passengers in the island in 2004 because of insurance issues, so that reduced the pressure on the rangers but we were conscious it would reduce our annual visitor totals.

And so the 2004 season proceeded much more smoothly than we’d anticipated. Sheila and Isobel had to be very disciplined and organised about dividing their time, covering all the duties, and logging their hours. But with help from the community when it was needed we soon got into the swing of it again, and of course we were much more confident by this time.

The Ranger Open Day in 2003 had been a huge success, and we felt that if we held an Open Day once a month it would concentrate visitor numbers and ranger effort into an organised period of time. So we arranged and advertised Open Days in June, July, and August to coincide with numbers of residential visitors in the island, along with plane day-trip days and the visit of Cycharters.

Once again with help from trainees and members of the community these Open Days were a resounding success, with walks and special visits arranged according to visitors’ wishes. We organised visits and lifts to the churchyard and ancestors’ homes, walks to see coloured Foula sheep and Shetland ponies, and special flowers and plants. And once more the tea and cakes and heritage material in the school at the end of the day were much appreciated.

But other interesting things were about to happen. The proposed new electricity scheme for Foula required an Environmental Impact Assessment. The valuable scientific monitoring work done by Sheila as Foula ranger had been recognised, and Foula Heritage was asked to be the umbrella body for Sheila Gear to undertake monitoring of habitats along a proposed hydro pipeline and bird breeding and flight paths in the areas of possible wind turbines. This put more pressure on our ranger time management but we coped.

Another fascinating development in 2004 was the arrival in Foula of an archaeology student from Sheffield University doing her Masters on the archaeology of Foula. Foula folk know the island like the back of their hands, and part of the early work of Foula Heritage had been faithful measuring and recording of Foula’s multitude of archaeological sites on special official data recording sheets. This early work came right into its own, and Sheila was able to show the student where all her recorded sites were, and the student gave the rangers and Foula Heritage the benefit of her knowledge and training offering ideas and information for interpreting the sites. This was a very valuable exercise all round as Foula’s archaeology had never been mapped - we learned new things about our island, and the student benefited from our local knowledge. Next year we hear Sheffield University will lead archaeological exploration of a round house eroding on the edge of the shore at the North end of the island – the first official archaeological dig in Foula

We also had 2 visitors from Norway who were writing about the work of Einar Seim who had spent time in Foula in 1938 and 1948 researching Foula dialect and place names and customs. They brought in copies of the detailed map of placenames, and the precious diaries Seim had kept on his visits. The rangers drove the visitors around and showed them the places where Seim had lived and worked. That was a very rewarding day for us, we gained masses of new information for our archives.

During the summer of 2004 the rangers were approached by the Policy Unit of the Shetland Islands Council to contribute to a CD of ‘Good Practice’ they were compiling. It appeared that our presentation to the Shetland Regeneration Partnership had not gone un-noticed, and officials were starting to think that the process of co-operation with agencies we’d used and our unique way of working was worth recording and passing on to others. So on a fine summer’s day Isobel and Sheila were filmed at the beautiful scenic north end of Foula describing what we’d done.

The Shetland educational sailing shop the SWAN crossed to Foula in the summer with a party of visitors and the rangers organised guided walks and special visits for them.

And so the 2004 ranger season passed in a whirl of activity. We improved all the things we’d done the first year, and were more organised and better at it…. Welcoming visitors, guided walks, Open Days, environmental monitoring, monthly newsletters and reports to the Steering group, maintaining visitor spreadsheets, accounts, and endless paperwork. We coped with all sorts of exciting extra activities with help from Foula Heritage and the community.

In fact our setback at the beginning of the season had some positive results – we now had two young island trainees involved in our ranger work, and Isobel and Sheila had been catapulted into coping with unusual duties, and our skills and confidence had grown as a result.

And in September 2004 Tony’s personal circumstances changed and allowed him to return to the island and help with the final 6 weeks of ranger work to the end of October. This helped enormously with visitor management during the bird migration period and relieved pressure on Sheila and Isobel to deal with other seasonal work. He also installed many more close the gate and cattle hazard signs to help with visitor management.

We had three mentions of our unique ranger work in various publications in the autumn of 2004. Scottish Natural Heritage’s Annual Review contained an article on the Foula ranger service as an example of good practice and included some of our photographs. The Shetland Regeneration Partnership 2003 report described our presentation and used one of our photographs as the only illustration in the whole paper. And Shetland Island Council’s Community Learning and Development Strategy described the ranger service as “Good practice in community achievement …” and used 4 of our photographs in the document.

So that’s where we’re at right now. There’s much still to do, each season brings out new needs and new ideas. We’ve another year to go in the current package of funding, but in 2005 we have to produce an in-depth 3-year assessment of the entire process against our original aims and objectives. After that we’ll see….

Foula Rangers (2004) Sheila Gear, Isobel Holbourn, Tony Mainwood

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