Is summer here?

Three of these beauties were on the pond wall on Sunday.  Has summer arrived?

Looking up the strath of the Tay (today)

Wych elm in spring

Wych elm seeds are some of the first tree seeds to ripen. You can see the small round seed in the middle of the round disc. The disc acts as a wing to help the seed disperse.

This tree is only just coming into leaf: here's a bud bursting.

PAWS in Perthshire

Here are some pictures from the Seminar on the Conservation of Plantation on Ancient Woodland Sites that Scottish Native Woods, Woodland Trust and Forestry Commission organised.Above is Scottish Native Woods' Victor Clements, who organised the Site Visits, with Rick Worrell, who did a fine job as the day's chairman.
Tim Hodges, who is the Woodland Trust's main man on PAWS, helped with discussions in the wood.
Simon Lockwood, came north from Scottish Native Woods' Central Lowland Area to talk about ways of minimising the impact of harvesting on sensitive PAWS. He brough along our Alstor forwarder, which attracted a lot of interest.

Birch woods spreading on Invermark Estate, Angus Glens

This birch woodland alongside the Tarf Water on Invermark estate in Glen Esk in the Angus Glens is regenerating nicely, producing a very natural woodland edge that will be good for black grouse and other wildlife.
This is not under any grant scheme. In 2005, several of the estates in the Angus Glens decided that they would fence out deer over a huge area to reduce ticks and hopefully rejuvenate their grouse moors. On the back of this, several of the riparian woodlands are obviously now spreading, taking advantage of the window of opportunity allowed by a reduction in overall grazing pressure to get away in a pulse like this.Native woodlands can expand quickly when suitable conditions arise for them. In this case, the motivation for a reduction in grazing was something else entirely, but this is the result. This just emphasizes the point that all land uses are inter-connected, and changes in policy in one area can have knock-on effects elsewhere. We are sometimes conditioned to thinking that changes in land practice produce negative results, but that is not the case here.

And again.......

And again......

And again......

And again......

Young birch getting away......

Birch woods on Invermark

Many birch woods in the eastern half of the country became established in the mid 1950s when mxymitosos wiped out the rabbit population.......another good example of native woodlands arising by default.

Training training.......

Scottish Native Woods staff attended a "Training the Trainer" workshop in Comrie recently, where we were being trained to train others. Each of us had to prepare and deliver a 30 minute taining programme, and receive feedback from colleagues on how well or otherwis we did.

Taking things in.......

John Parrott giving his presentation

Simon Lockwood explains the Internal Combustion Engine

What has that got to do with native trees.....?

flowers on a sunlit evening

Spring flowers are one of the great delights of our native woodlands, and now is the time to get into the woods to enjoy them. These pictures are from Argyll, which is a bit behind some other parts of the country. Above is the bud of the wild garlic flower: you can see the edible broad green leaves in the background.

Dog violet has an unusual means of spreading seed: ants frequently carry the seed around.

Wood sorrell has leaves rather like clover. They have a peppery taste.

Primrose, the first rose of spring, have been in flower for a while now.


The dazzling white of wood anenome is a welcome sign of Spring

trees on a sunlit evening

Spring is rather compressed this year, with everything happening in rapid time.
Here are some trees in spring mode, starting above with the grey of young rowan leaves, almost like hands opening.
Even at this stage you can see the shape of the hazel leaf as it unfolds and grows

Oak leaves are sometimes very pale coloured in their first days. You can see the oak flower hanging down.

Blackthorn's flower is far more obvious. Normally the flowers appear before the leaves, but this year the leaves are unfurling already.

Alder leaves rather like origami as they emerge.

Craigvinean Forest, nr Dunkeld

Spring is here.......

Leaves are starting to come out now after the long winter......and about time too.

Larch trees coming in to leaf......

Angus Purden rhoddy bashing with us last October

Here is a video of Angus Purden from the People's Postcode Lottery helping us with some restoration work in Flisk Wood AND giving us a big cheque!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tgGEHiVp8Y

New Woodland Grazing Grant launched

Forestry Commission have now announced details of the new Woodland Grazing Grant. Scottish Native Woods played a part in the Argyll based group which did so much to persuade FC to introduce the grant. Here are some of the delegates in Struan Wood SSSI, one of only six sites known to provide a home for the Rannoch Roller moth, an insect that relies on grazed woodlands.
Roseanna Cunningham, Minister for the Environment, provided the political blessing for the day, launching the new grant with some words about the opportunity for farmers and foresters to work together. She's pictured with the press & Nigel Miller, Vice President of National Farmers Union Scotland, and Andrew Barbour, Woods Manager for Atholl Estates.