Scouts : Programme Ideas

Be guided by nature

Finding our way using map and compass can be exciting but what if you had no map or compass and found yourself stranded in open countryside. Nature navigation relies on your skill of observation. Through it you can find your way to safety. This article offers a few suggestions as to how you can find directions without a compass, of course if you are prepared you will not be caught out in open countryside without a compass.

The simplest and most obvious way to find North by the sun is, at dawn, to stand with your back to the sun as it rises in the East. Your shadow will point West. Raise your arms shoulder high. Your right arm will point approximately North, your left arm will point approximately South.

You can then mark a cross on the ground, and use pegs or stones to indicate, approximately, the North, South, East and West positions. You can use the sunset in the same Way. Just reverse the situation, with your back to the setting sun. Your shadow will point East. Your left arm, in this instance, will point North, your right arm South, approximately.

The moon as a direction-finder

Except for a few nights every month the moon, like the sun, can help give you direction. Because it reflects the sun?s light, the moon always points towards the sun, and thus even at night indicates the direction of the sun. Whether the moon is waxing or waning, an imaginary line through the horns of a crescent moon will always give you, approximately, a north-south line.

An accurate way of finding north by the sun.

On a level piece of ground plant a straight stick upright. To get it perfectly upright, use a make-shift plumb-bob - a pebble tied to a length of string.

Using a loop of string and a small pointed stick, describe a circle on the ground, with the upright stick as centre. The loop provides an accurate pair of dividers, and the larger the scale the more the accuracy.

Now mark the end of the shadow of the upright stick with a small stick - or use a small pebble as a marker. In a few minutes you will observe that the shadow has moved away from the marker stick, or pebble. Continue marking the ends of the moving shadow at intervals, until you have a clear arc of markers. This takes time, but it is as accurate as a compass.

Then complete the arc freehand, until it cuts both sides of the circle. The points of intersection of the circle and the arc give you a true East-West line.To find North, simply bisect the East-West line at right-angles. Carefully done, it is so accurate that you can use it to orient a map.

The Wind

Almost every area has what is called a prevailing wind - that is, a wind that blows longest and strongest from a particular direction. Prevailing winds have their impact on trees, among other things on the land. You can very often observe how trees in a given area have been influenced by the prevailing wind to lean in a particular direction.

By observing the direction in which trees in an area are leaning, you can tell from which direction the local prevailing wind blows. If, say, the trees are leaning North East you will find than the prevailing wind blow from the South-West, which is the prevailing wind direction in Ireland. There are but a few exceptions to this general rule - such as with the trees on some of our coastlines.

Other Natural Guides

Nature also provides other wind-influenced indicators. Spiders, for example, do not construct their webs against the wind, so observation of the general direction in which spider webs are laid can be helpful.

Birds and insects almost always build their nests in positions that will protect them against the prevailing wind, so observations of this kind can also help you establish the direction from which the prevailing wind blows. Thus the prevailing wind can in various ways be your guide - and you can learn some more about Nature?s other fascinating ways at the same time.

How trees can help you find your way

We have indicated how many trees become navigation aids when prevailing winds cause them to lean in a certain direction. A study of the trees around you will reveal that they can assist you to find direction in other ways. Concentrate your observations primarily on indigenous trees, because Nature designed different trees in different shapes, with the main object of enabling them to receive as much light as possible.

Here are some pointers that will be useful to you - but understand that these are generalisations; trees are affected by many factors, and you should not jump to conclusions after studying a single tree only, but confirm your findings by observing several trees in the same vicinity.

Most trees tend to develop more foliage on the sunny side. In many species the branches exposed to the arc of the sun, and thus receiving more sunlight, will tend to be branches that are well developed, and that reach out southwards at an angle nearer the horizontal, while the branches on the northern side, lacking sunlight, will tend to grow at a more acute upwards angle.

The tree trunk itself may lean sunwards, slightly. (While the prevailing wind usually causes a tree to lean with the wind, the sun can also affect its angle, as do some other factors). Though not always, mosses and lichens will tend to grow on the North side of the tree trunk, rather than on the Southern, sun-facing side. Note however that mosses and lichens are also affected by humidity- they flourish best where moisture is present.

Using your watch as a direction finding tool.

Point the hour hand at the sun and divide the angle between the hour hand and 12. This direction is due south.