Silver Birch trees

Soon be Xmas.........

Scottish Native Woods will be putting a Xmas card together shortly. Here is one possible picture........no doubt this snow will give us other options as well.

All Is White?

Winter has come early to the North East and tree branches are heavy with snow.

However a splash of colour in this white landscape.....

.....with this young oak which still retains some green leaves.

Tree coring

"Tree coring" provides an accurate guide to the age of an individual tree by extracting a small plug of material, allowing the rings to be counted without harming (or felling) the tree.
It's a really useful way of finding out a bit more about the history of a woodland. Dr Coralie Mills is studying the history of woodland on Loch Katrine, and Alan McDonnell & I went along to give her a hand and to brush up our coring techniques. This large open grown oak has grown fast and is, at first estimate, around 200 years old.




Here's Alan starting the core on another oak tree. This one has been coppiced in the past, and it's growth rate is much slower: first estimate is about 150 years old. Coralie is getting a gps fix on the tree location & completing her record for the tree.

VOTE TODAY - People's Millions - Forest Schools for Fife

The number is 0871 626 8877.  Your vote will count and if we win it will make a huge difference to children in Fife.
Please help by letting all your friends and colleagues know about it.

Forest Schools for Fife

Please vote Forest Schools for Fife by ringing 0871 626 8877 today
Lines open till midnight. Calls cost 10p from a BT landline and could be considerably more from a mobile. Don't forget to also register on the website - http://www.peoplesmillions.org.uk/2010-finalists/stv-central/forest-schools-for-fife-

Thanks for your support

Please vote Forest Schools for Fife

Please vote for Forest Schools for Fife in the final of People's Millions, to be broadcast on STV Central, Monday 22nd November at 6-6:30pm. Lines open 9-midnight on Monday. The number will be published on Monday on our website http://www.scottishnativewoods.org.uk/ and the Daily Mirror.

Forest Schools lets children/young people visit woodlands regularly so that they can learn simple skills like tying knots which helps them build self-confidence, trust, responsibility and emotional intelligence.

We are competing for £50,000 that will be used to let us carry on with Forest Schools, set up a training course for Forest School leaders and buy a minibus so that we can easily transport children to the woodlands.

More info on http://www.peoplesmillions.org.uk/

Winter the noo.......

The majority of leaves are all now gone, and while it is still technically autumn until 21st December, it is certainly feeling a lot more wintery the noo.....

Woodland Trust PAWS visit

Thanks to Tim Hodge and his colleagues at the Woodland Trust for organising a two day workshop in Wales. Carol Robertson & Gordon Gray Stephens from Scottish Native Woods joined a group of people who are delivering WT supported PAWS projects. We looked at the impact of gradual restoration on two sites. We also got a very interested insight into some new research that Tom Curtis has undertaken to show the impact of gradual restoration on a selection of sites from around Britain. WT will be publishing this research shortly. Here are Tom & Tim leading a discussion session



Wales has been hit by the outbreak of phytopthora in larch, so each site visit started and ended with a new forestry dance: spraying footwear to minimise the risk of transferring this worrying new problem. Richard Thompson gets a clean pair of heels.

Coed Felinrhyd is an upland site. These oak trees had been underplanted with western hemlock, and have now been released. This treatment helps to ensure that these native woodland remnants are protected and enhanced. Much of the discussion centred around what the next steps should be. There is reasonable certainty that the initial approach of securing remnant features is correct, however the importance of a site by site approach becomes even more important when deciding what to do next.

We also visited Plas Power, a lowland site, where WT have been thinning stands of exotic conifers, with the aim of manipulating light levels to encourage a native woodland ground flora and the natural regeneration on native trees. Here we discussed the efffect on "woodland specialists" of management which allowed in too much light too quickly. The new research shows that coarse vegetation has an adverse impact on these specialist species. The picture shows some natural regeneration getting away in a thinned stand.

Schiehallion this morning

These two photos taken this morning by our Administration manager, Alison Mitchell.

Mist in Strathtay

Cutest

Cute too

Hope his Mum comes back for him soon

Cute

Winner of the Cute Factor

Autumn Oak leaves in the sun

Riparian Juniper

Many trees and shrubs establish like this dog rose in the midst of juniper bushes. Their seeds dispersed by birds, develop and are protected by the prickly bush from being eaten by deer and sheep.

Wet autumn day

On the ground........

.........wild cherry leaves.

More autumnal leaves

The autumn colours are getting blown away in the west of Scotland, however there's still a bit of green to be seen here and there, as can be seen on this wych elm leaf.

Only a few leaves hanging on to rowan trees.

Downy birch has mostly gone to spectacular yellow, or blown away

Heading Home

The low autumn light highlights the oak trees at the end of the day surveying.

Colourful Fungi

Whilst out enjoying the autumnal leaf colours remember to look down occasionally to discover the colourful fungi around at this time of year.

This scarlet waxcap (Hygrocybe coccinea) was found in an area of grazed unimproved grassland. The Hygrocybe group of fungi come in a range of attractive and vivid colours.

Worth watching where you tread!

Under the autumn oak.......

By Wade's Bridge.............

Still green.......

This oak tree in front of Taymouth Castle is still holding on to its green leaves.