Outdoor access event

We took our Display to SCAN's Outdoor Access Fair. Native woods are great places to go for a walk, and we do a lot to encourage this, especially in woods which are near to towns. In the last four years we have helped to deliver over 30,000 metres of footpaths, mostly in Central Lowlands, but also in places like Inverness and Lochgilphead.

Aspen in the snow

Juniper in the snow

Crisp weather in Stratherrick

Aspen through the year

Aspen is distinctive at all times of year.

Some Aspen clones stand out in the autumn, when their leaves turn bright yellow. Seen here with silver birch.

There are at least 3 clones in this shot





Not all clones develop bright autumn colours. Some lose their leaves early, others later. Two clones are visible in this picture taken on 25th September. The one on the left is still in full leaf , the one on the right is leafless.

Felling sycamore

We've been busy all this year controlling invasive plants in Glenurquhart, Highland. The work focussed mainly on Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam through the summer, but we are now removing sycamore from Urquhart Bay Woods. These alder-ash woods are designated as a Special Area for Conservation.

Women with a cause?

We work closely with the Community Woodlands Association, and this is a picture from their annual conference. Here's Lesley Riddoch being presented with one of a series of wooden women produced by Kenny Grieve. He made them for a breast cancer awareness event in Edinburgh, but was not allowed to use them for "health & safety" reasons: Lesley's promised to take up the banner!

Loch Lomond Islands

Scottish Native Woods have a number of interesting sites throughout the country. Here we are getting a boat trip back from one of the islands in Loch Lomond, an SSSI site with a number of important management issues.

A Hidden Gem

When out surveying I came across an old orchard consisting of a dozen or so apple trees. The form of the trees indicated they had a history of good management. However now neglected, they stand unprotected in a field.

There was a heavy crop of apples on all trees, many lying as windfalls for the birds to feed on. A few did make there way into a tasty apple pie!

Who's been eating the trees?

During the autumn we have been checking the new native woodland schemes, like this one planted in the Spring of 2006. The oak, birch and wild cherry or gean are establishing well, protected in the 1.2 metre high shelters.

The shrubs however are not doing so well.

The prickly blackthorn is no defence against the attentions of the local roe deer population who have repeatedly browsed these plants. Management of this site is being reviewed and a couple of years of reducing the numbers of roe deer will allow these shrubs to grow above browsing height. Think of the other wildlife that will benefit; grateful insects who will feed on the resulting spring blossom and the birds feeding on the sloes in autumn. There may even be enough left for your sloe gin!

autumn

Out in the west, many of the trees have now lost their leaves, however there are still a few showing some colour, such as this oak tree, looking like a ghost in among the bare birch trees..





..while just around the corner, this hazel tree is still defying the end of summer: not a hint of colour yet.

PAWS in Central Lowland

Out and about with Simon Lockwood, looking at sites that we hope to start restoring soon. This Plantation on Ancient Woodland Site (PAWS) has areas which are full of sycamore. You can see that the effect on woodland plants during the summer & autumn is still pretty damaging: sycamore casts a dense shade and its leaves can also build up. So if sycamore is the only tree species, a monoculture, this can be less than desirable. We plan to gradually thin out the sycamore, using small scale machinery. This will generate some "carbon neutral" fuel for local use, help native woodland species by letting in more light, and encourage the remaining sycamore to grow, so that there will be more revenue to pay for the next stage of restoration.

Hazel nut

Autumn's fairly advanced in the west of Scotland now. However there are still plenty of green leaves around, and even a few hazel nuts that have escaped the attention of the red squirrels so far.

PAWS for thought....

Much discussion was had amongst foresters and landowners at a recent event organised by Scottish Native Woods and the Woodland Trust on the restoration of PAWS (Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites).

Commencing a more gradual transformation of the site by thinning the conifers will allow native plants in the ground flora to develop as well as remnant old oaks to breathe again.

Hawthorn

A good year for hawthorn in the west of Scotland. Hawthorn is often thought of as a shrub, but this group are more like small trees, and are covered in berries at the moment

Grey squirrels in Fife

Grey squirrels are larger than the native red squirrels, and they tend to spend more time on the ground, so they are easier to spot than the red squirrel in the video on this blog. This one was spotted while out looking at woods where Kirkcaldy children can collect seed as a part of the Growing Up With Trees project. Fortunately the squirrel pox virus, which greys carry but reds die from, has not yet reached Fife.

Woodfair at Perth

Dropped in at the Scottish Woodfair while passing Perth on Friday. It was good to meet Ross Angel, who has recently set up as a woodworker in Argyll, and is using timber from the Argyll Gree Woodworkers stockpile. Had a chat with a number of other stall holders too, including Eoin Cox, Woodschool, Nick Marshall, Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers & Dave Macintyre of Var Scotica. Then it was time to move on to a meeting in Fife..

Rowan berries

Autumn's definitely on its way when the rowan berries are as red as this. It's been a good year for rowan in west Scotland.

John & Victor counting fish

In a rather industrial setting, John & Victor have just come out of the public viewing area of the Pitlochry Fish Counter. We had been in Pitlochry to talk about riparian woodlands and how we could do more to manage this important part of the habitat upon which salmon and trout depend,

Video- Squirrel in Birch

Red squirrel at play in a birch tree.............

Squirrel in Aspen

We mainly associate Red Squirrels with pinewoods, but they spend a lot of time in broadleaves too. Squirrels harvest fruits and nuts in autumn to store for the winter, and hazel nuts are a favourite. Here's a squirrel in an aspen tree in Speyside.

PAWS

PAWS, or "Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites" are a priority for Scottish Native Woods. Around 30% of our native woodlands were planted up with North American conifers at a time when Britain's forestry was driven by strategic requirements. Now that we have a better understanding of the value of native woodland, many of these PAWS are being restored. Here's a solitary oak tree that is just surviving in among the conifers. I came across it while discussing PAWS restoration on a tour with partners from the Woodland Trust and the Forestry Commission.

An old oak tree

This is one of a number of veteran trees that a wee group of us had a look at recently. We were looking for ways of identifying trees which had been pollarded in the past, and testing a scoring system that would allow people to estimate the likelihood that a tree had been modified by man. This oak tree scored highly, but what actually happened to it in past centuries will remain a bit of a mystery. Peter Quelch's scoring system will help surveyors and foresters: he introduces it at the annual Native Woodland Discussion Group History Workshop.

An old oak tree

This is an Atlantic Oak Tree: in the clean air & mild, but damp environment of the west coast the bark is hidden by a mass of other plants that co-exist with the oak tree. Argyll & Lochaber's woods form Scotland's own rainforest, temperate, rather than tropical, and some of these lower plants are extremely rare.

Aspen Root Collection from Ancient Woodlands on Deeside

Aspen (Populus tremula) is a key native species, currently occurring at low levels within Scotland's native woodlands. Aspen supports some unusual and specialist flora and fauna including a number of species with critically low UK populations in need of emergency “first aid”.

Expansion occurs most commonly through the growth of suckers from the roots of the parent tree in areas with good light conditions and where the suckers are protected from the hungry mouths of deer, rabbits and livestock.

Future large scale expansion in aspen relies on the identification and propagation of suitable local provenance planting material based on a wide genetic mix.

In spring 2008, 1 to 1.5 metre sections of aspen root approx. 1" diameter were collected seven trees in three ancient woodlands on Deeside by clearing the surface vegetation to locate the tree roots and cutting suitable sections with secateurs. After collection the surface vegetation was replaced to regrow.

To prevent then drying out the root sections were put in a large plastic bag for transportation back to the tree nursery in Kingussie were suckers from these root sections will be propagated to create a new generation of aspen trees.

New Director

Here's one I made earlier

This is what it should look like when it's finished. This beam will be used with the others for use in making a permanent building for the Air Cadets.

The trees used are from the local wood, and the space they have created will allow native trees and wildflowers to flourish.

Working with Fife Air Cadets

Our Lowlands Area Manager works with the Fife Air Cadets. Here he is supervising the use of the "Wood Mizer" a petrol driven woodsaw, ecologically designed so that it minimizes the waste wood as it cuts the log to a beam.

Pupils are learning to bee kind

You call this work? This is what our Community Education Officer gets up to.

Here he is with children from Lochgelly South Primary, who are planting wildflower seeds in order to attract the poor demised bumble bee. As part of Scottish Natural Heritage’s Bio-diversity week children at this school and eight others in Fife, planted Knapweed (a thistle) Foxglove, Poppy and Cornflower. These flowers were once commonly associated with our native woodlands.

Woodland monitoring at Creag Loisgte

Yesterday afternoon I took a closer look at this Atlantic oak woodland, which has moulded itself around the main A83 road just on the Inveraray side of the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar. Scottish Native Woods have been helping Ardkinglas Estate to manage this woodland for 10 years now. If you're travelling down the road, there's a built path up into a area of young woodland just behind the Tree Shop, and a route for the more adventurous (and active) walker into the mature woodland that you can reach from the first laybye past the Oyster Bar.

an unwelcome visitor in the laybye

Parking in the laybye, I noticed a couple of unwelcome guests: himalayan balsam in the foreground, with Japanese knotweed in the background. Both of these plants seem to be well adapted to moving along our roadside verges, and are spreading along the A83 with some enthusiasm.

Help finding your way in the woods

We've used these Forestry Commission tags to mark a rough route back to the Oyster Bar: they're on 4 foot high posts and you should always be able to see the next one. Otherwise you can just take a wee walk up into the wood

Help with the deer fence

Native woodland regeneration schemes like this one frequently rely on deer fences to stop deer from eating the young trees. This can make walking difficult! Here we've provided a way in for walkers, and if you look to the left there's a wee panel to allow the dog through too. Beyond you can see the oak trees that make up this part of the woodland

woodland ferns

These unfurling ferns are a fabulous feature of spring time in Argyll's native woodlands

young ash trees emerging

When herbivores such as deer, sheep and cattle are at the right level (too few can be as bad as too many!), then young trees, such as the ash in the photo can grow to become the wood of the future.

Hide 'n seek

This hide was put up so that we could limit the number of deer inside the exclosure. We can see that it's done it's job because it's disappearing in a mixture of birch, ash, oak, alder, hazel willow & bog myrtle.

emerging woodland at Creag Loisgte

The hide's still useful, and it also gives us a view up the hill. The site is not "wall to wall" birch, but includes valuable areas of open space, as well as a real mix of native woodland trees and shrubs, gradually becoming more open as it moves up the hill.

Scottish Native Woods May 08 Staff Meeting

Our quarterly staff meeting this spring was held in the north-east, hosted by our North-east Manager, Carol Robertson. Here, Carol is seen in discussion with FCS Woodland Officer Steve Brown from Grampian Conservancy in Huntly. Steve was outlining his role with FCS in helping with mapping and identification of our ancient trees.

To enlarge any of these photos, simply click on the image.

You're so tall, you're so tall...........

New Communities and Education Officer Chris Childs in deep discussion with Fundraising manager, Dianne Laing.

Giant Hogweed

At this site, Scottish Native Woods had organized the removal of non-native sycamore, and the spraying of the invasive plant species Giant Hogweed. This plant has escaped treatment, so some follow-up action will be required here.

Wellheads Farm, Huntly

This is Wellheads farm at Huntly, another Scottish Native Woods North-east site, where establishing native woodland habitat networks has been the key theme. In this picture, you can also see Brown Hill, a commercial plantation forest managed by Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES).

Riparian Woodland Planting 1

Trees have been planted here to provide a habitat network linkage between the native woodland fragments higher up with the native woodlands further down the valley on the Deveron. The tree tubes are planted at an average 3 X 3 metre spacing, and they will prevent browsing from roe deer, as well as rabbits and hares.

Riparian Woodland Planting 2

And looking down the same watercourse.......

Brown Hares

We saw a huge number of brown hares today, enjoying the fresh spring growth on the grass fields. These fields are in organic conversion, and there is a lot of rough grazing around as well, so habitat for hares is very good. Luckily, all our trees are in tubes......

Holly

Holly stands still just long enough for the camera to focus on her. Well done Holly, a VERY well behaved little doggie.

Recording information on Ancient Trees

FCS Woodland Officer Steve Brown outlines his recording sheet for collecting information on our ancient trees, in this case, a line of ash trees. Steve is seconded from FCS to the Woodland Trust to help develop this project, and he took time out this morning to show our staff how information was collected, and how we might help in the course of our normal work. Thanks go to Steve and FCS for hosting part of our staff meeting today.

Interpreting an old alder wood on the River Deveron floodplain

Scottish Native Woods director Gordon Gray Stephens outlines the difficulties in interpreting the past history of some of our older native woodlands. This looks like a very old alder coppice stool, but it might not be........ Northeast Manager Carol Robertson and FCS Woodland Officer Steve Brown nod in agreement.

Simon Speaks

Central Lowlands Manager Simon Lockwood explains his thinking on modern machinery, regeneration and woodland grants schemes, and the world in general....

Domestic Arrangements

Accommodation for the trip was provided at the bunkhouse at Drummuir. Here, Simon illustrates his prowess in the kitchen (while Alison and Gordon really do all the work). New boy Chris looks on in amusement. What has he let himself in for........??