2023 | Christmas Special | China 

Hello Karen and Kit, so glad you enjoyed this video. We have a lot in common. I love how plants bring together people. With best wishes for the remainder of the festive period . Mo and I are heading to the hills (and snow) for a few nights in the teepee, to sit by the woodstove and relax.

Goood evening, Dave. Sincerest apologies for the delay in replying to you. Thank you most sincerely for the kind comments. Mo and I are just back from a winter camping trip with the hot tent and canoe. Trust all is well with you guys and hope you are having a lovely time over the festive period. With all best wishes for the New Year. I look forward to viewing more of your adventures on RU-vid in 2024. Dave and Mo

Hi Big Dave, good to hear from you. Trust you are enjoying the festive period. The China vid was really quite self indulgent and I’m truly humbled that many of my long term subscribers have left such positive comments. It was a great honour to serve in China and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, ups and downs, triumphs and failures. Most of all, I cherish the few friends I was lucky to make, whom impacted profoundly on my life. I was very much the ‘glue’ amongst experts, whether they be Ambassadors, business leaders, renowned scientists, local artisans, farmers or contract labourers, I was somehow allowed to bond them together to form a cohesive team that collectively, did a great thing. I often felt I had more in common with the labourers and was sometimes bemused as to why I was treated as an equal by the ‘professionals’. I was blessed to meet so many truly kind people, and that is the real story behind my modest success in China. I’m honoured that you take an interest in ‘the man’ who films and features in my wee Scottish escapades, and for that I thank you. Stay safe and best wishes for a wonderful 2024. Dave

Hi Dave, thanks for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the vid and hope you hang around for some of my Scottish adventures. I’ve just given your channel a subscription and look forward to checking out some of your vids. I noticed you have some films of hot tent camping, which I look forward to checking out (I’m just home from my own hot tent adventure). Stay safe and all the very best for 2024. D

@@daveoutdoorsscotland2854 outstanding- glad to have you here- enjoy your weekend

Hi Jacqueline, good to hear you and glad you enjoyed the video. I really enjoy seeing Mo in China, where we often have such a different take on things. When we’re in the mountains, in my stomping ground, I can take the lead, but otherwise Mo is usually several steps ahead of me. She might argue that the same happens at home in Scotland :). I’ve not been out with the cameras this year yet, but hope to rectify that soon. ATB, Dave and Mo

Thanks, Martin. Glad you found it interesting. It was a long one! Well done for viewing it all the way through., much appreciated. ATB, Dave

Thank you so much for the kind comments. Very merry Christmas to you. ATB, Dave and Mo

Hello, and thanks for the kind comment. You ask quite a complicated question about my language skills. In truth, I"m nowhere near fluent in Chinese but I can make do and can generally communicate freely for daily life and travel. I also have a very odd Chinese vocabulary, rich in botanical terminology and reference to the natural world but poor in pretty much all other aspects. Added to this, I learnt most of my Chinese 'on the hoof', in various parts of the south-west, mostly in the mountainous provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, which has resulted in me relying on loads of regional colloquialisms leading to the frequent use of fairly obscure vernacular. In short, my language skills are akin to those of a country bumpkin :). I guess, to put it in context of time, I was able to 'get by in Chinese' after only a few months. From that point on, my Chinese has yoyod, depending very much on the duration and nature of my various expeditions. Those involving deeper language immersion invariably created a leap forward, but this was often lost after a period at home in Scotland. ATB, Dave

Very happy Christmas Harry and Helen and thank you for the lovely comments. I know surprisingly little of the Scottish flora, Harry, having only ever studied it as an undergrad to 'tick the box'. The Sino-Himalaya was my professional stomping ground. However, during this trip, I had to drag some of the plant names from the deep recesses of my memory. I guess the adage of 'use it or lose' springs to mind. Was great to rediscover some of those botanical treasure though, bringing back lots of good memories of botanising in my youth. Stay safe. ATB, Dave and Mo

Very merry Christmas to you too. Thank you so much for the lovely comments and so glad to hear you enjoyed the video. Hope the weather is being kind to you in Aberdeen, lots of snow over the high ground later this week. ATB, Dave and Mo

Merry Christmas, Joan. Hope you are having a lovely day. ATB, Dave and Mo

Hi John, very merry Christmas to you. I'm glad you enjoyed the film. It was a real indulgence to record my memories and upload to RU-vid. I'm humbled that folks are actually enjoying my ramblings and are kind enough to comment. I miss my work life at the station terribly; my former colleagues, my wee room, my plants, my loyal (and disobedient) dog and 'my' mountain. It is good to take a backwards glance now and again but also important to enjoy the here and now. I'm guessing it is dark and damp in Sheffield today, as it is here. But, there is snow in the forecast for the north, so Mo and I need to load the packs and let another adventure unfold. ATB, Dave and Mo

Wonderful Dave, yes it's mild and very damp here today, unusually warm for the time of year, yesterday it blew a gale and brought trees down but that's past. It's not just the people that appreciate such good work and reply that are kind, as much as the creator...it actually made my Christmas day! (Well, that and Dads army 😂). You maybe should come down and take a look at the Peak District some time, it's on my doorstep. It's got a special charm and character all of its own, inbetween Sheffield and Manchester. The high moors are very bleak and atmospheric, there's rare flora and fauna, Merlin, Goshawk ( in the woodland valleys), Golden Plover, Hen harrier, mountain Hare and of course the famous Grouse! Cloudberry grows in certain area, it really is a very special place. Thanks Dave, merry Christmas to you and yours.

@@johnd8538 You’ve given me food for thought there John. There are so many beautiful parts of England that I’ve yet to explore. You paint a wonderful picture of the Peak District. All the best to you and yours too. D

Merry Christmas 🎄

Merry Christmas, have a wonderful day. Dave and Mo

Merry Christmas to you both. Martin

@@smoggiewalks578Merry Christmas 🎄

@@smoggiewalks578 Merry Christmas, Martin. Snow in the far north over the next few days.....teepee time. ATB, Dave

Good morning, Andrew and a very merry Christmas to you. The car is all packed and we are just about to head north. Look forward to answering your questions when we get back. D

Hi Dave. Hope you and Mo are well and have enjoyed some of the winter between the storms of late. I thought it was only right - though it may not be an opprtune time to do so - to return to a couple of questions on this video from a month ago re your fabulous trip. At Mr Duan/Dwan's farm you mention the porous limestone rock, which I'm assuming prevents the meadows from being flooded in the heavy rains. With that, it must have been terrible to work and navigate these slopes in the rainstorms? Also, viewing your incredible work, was there not always that niggling feeling that after all the toil from you and the team, everything could be burnt to a cinder? I say this, as you mention seed propagation of the pines cones, etc can only come after forest fire. I just thought, all the tagging of bushes and the risk to paths and structures, if fire took hold in the forest. It looked absolutely tinder dry when you were there in the video, but also must have been bone dry in many of the seasons you were on site, so to speak. One thing that I found apparent. You really could have your heart in two places, one in a Scottish glen/loch/mountain while retaining the richness and diversity of China at every moment in your homeland and vice-versa. That of course would also apply to Mo, I'm sure. It was a really worthwhile upload, as being a channel viewer for a while, it gave me insight into the enormity of the projects you were both involved in overseas. Congratulations! One final thing, Eric Liddell, the great Scottish athlete and son of a missionary was born at Tientsin (Tiajin) in the NE of China. Not sure if this is a different province, but was curious all the same. Anyway, done a few upland walks of late, but not nearly as much as would like. Cheers for now. @@daveoutdoorsscotland2854

@@voicezful Hi Andrew, this requires a fuller reply than I can manage tonight. I’ll have a go at answering your questions over the weekend. Mo and I are recovering from a heavy bout of the cold, but are thankfully feeling better now. More soon. D

@@voicezful Good morning, Andrew. I have a few moments, between coughing and sneezing, (this cold that Mo and I have picked up is reluctant to leave) so I'll endeavour to answer a few of your questions. First point, concerning the limestone terrain, is a really interesting one. The lower slopes of the mountain are clad in pine, oak and rhododendron forest. In those places not disturbed by human activity, there is a rich ground flora. Many of the plants are clearly acid lovers. The reason for such an abundance of calcifuge taxa on a limestone mountain is quite simple. Since the last ice age, the vegetation on the lower slopes of the mountain has evolved through several clines; successions where each one has deposited an ever increasing amount of organic matter. This decomposition layer has built to such an extent that there is now a deep (acid) organic soil, which, in many places, overlies an alkaline mineral substrata. The organic layer supports the calcifuge vegetation. It is not uncommon to venture upon limestone outcrops within the rhododendron forest, and these, without exception, support populations of calcicoles (alkaline loving plants). So, acid AND alkaline lovers cohabiting on the same slope, but with their roots in different soil types. In terms of water movement, the upper reaches of the mountain are prone to flash floods, yet, the sponge properties of the lower hillsides generally prevent this from occurring (providing disturbance from man is not too serious). During my fieldwork, finding adequate sources of drinking water was often a major challenge. I had all the major seeps well documented in my notebook and knew where even the meagrest drip, drip, drip, could be found emerging from the limestone strata. Sadly, there were also a couple of incidents of loss of life on the mountain, caused by the flash floods, especially within some of the major drainage channels, which lead eventually to the Yangtze River, a few thousand metres below. The gorges tend to be very steep, hence fast flowing, with narrow, near-vertical walls, making escape all but impossible. Many were characterized by 'steps', which had to be abseiled or climbed, depending on the direction of travel. These steps could change from 'dry' to 'raging torrents of water' in a very short space of time. The mountain required an extra degree of respect during the rainy season, not only because of flash floods but also due to frequent rock falls from the crumbling limestone cliffs. The question of forest fire is very complex. We took steps to mitigate the risk of fire at the station. In terms of the wider habitat, there was little we could do. The pines are serotinus and the oaks sclerophyllous, clearing indicating a fire ecology. I'm not an ecologist and, therefore, not really qualified to comment in any significant depth. However, my observations were that the fires moved fast, burnt with fairly low intensity and generally only killed stressed or diseased trees. Regeneration after fire appeared to be fairly fast, the flames enabling a restorative process within the forest when considered on scale, although localised damage could be severe. A personal observation on the fires of Europe (2023) is that alien invasives (especially Eucalyptus and Acacia) played a major part in the proliferation and intensity of these conflagrations. Alien invasives are a fascinating topic and, I'll stick my neck out here and say that they pose a global threat at least equal to that of climate change. Back to Lijiang: As 'our' forest matured and diversified (a natural process speeded up simply by removing much of the human activity that had previously created/influenced this secondary forest), the habitats became more 'fireproof', simply because they were richer in species, formed a deeper sponge layer and generally held onto more water within the system. The organic layer within this maturing forest was particularly important in aiding the rapid decomposition of woody waste, shed from the tree and shrub layer. Until partially decomposed, this material is essentially fuel for the fire. Well, I've rattled on for a while. Hope you find this helpful. Your questions are certainly stimulating and thought-provoking. It's been a while since I last discussed such topics and it was fun to revisit parts of my mind seldom used these days. ATB, Dave

Thanks Dave, your reply was just as equally fascinating and I'm grateful to you for taking time out to answer my questions. Thanks again.@@daveoutdoorsscotland2854

Merry Christmas, Karen and Kit. Thank you so much for the very kind comments. My career, like most others, had its fair share of ups and downs. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in China, immersed in the mountains and far away from the trials and tribulations inherent within academic institutions. It was a great honour to serve and I was so well rewarded through friendships forged and experiences shared. Hope you enjoy the second half. ATB, Dave