One of our HCES-funded events: a Vision PK visit to Taymount Wood
What has WSWG been doing these past couple of months?
On 29 March, the C406 Community Litter Pick did another stalwart job on clearing the verges of litter accumulated over the past year. Several people who live along the road clear the areas round their own homes on a regular basis, but that still leaves lots of verges uncared for during the year. This year, however, we are pleased to report that counter to expectations, there were about 60 black bin bags compared to 72 in 2025. Some have suggested this reduction may be connected to the opening of the Destiny Bridge taking some of the through traffic off the C406. It still amounts, however, to more than a full bin bag of rubbish per week over a four mile stretch of road. The Taymount Wood car park still remains a bad spot for littering and sometimes, as on this occasion, dumping of horrible polluting waste in the ditch pond, although thankfully these problems rarely extend beyond the forest gate. So well done to all the litter-pickers for the work they do to look after our local patch. A big thank you also to PKC for closing the road to keep volunteers safe.
On 7 April we had another fantastic day of children’s bush craft in Taymount Wood with Biscuit of Wee Adventures, working with the children, as ever, on a leave-no-trace basis. In the morning, a small group of pre-school to P2 children and in the afternoon a full-house of 6 to 11 year olds enjoyed sunny hours of shelter-building, pulleys, rope swings, slack lines and creative construction with found materials in the woods, plus almost too many Easter goodies in the WSWG picnic gazebo. We’ll be having another half day session for primary age children with Biscuit on 6 July so keep a look out for the event notice if you would like to book a place on that. We’ll let you know if there might be spare places at the afternoon session for adults too.
With our Climate Café-West Stormont hat on, we have attended several excellent Climate Café and Climate Connect P&K events. On 24 March, a fascinating talk from a US Climate Scientist in the Reading Room at Birnam Arts. On 21 April, a Network Call finding out about the One Home – Blue Revolution initiative. On 23 April, a wonderful Climate Café Convenors Meeting at Burmieston hearing about all the wonderful Climate Café and Climate Connect P&K activities going on in our communities. On 27 April, a Pop-up Climate Café at the Birks Cinema in Aberfeldy before the big-screen première of the recent 10 minute WSWG video ahead of their monthly Climate Movie Night feature film. On 30 April, the Climate Connect P&K Annual Gathering at the Civic Hall in Perth. Just so much going on to raise awareness and take action on climate in our region.
Also on 24 March, we attended the very useful PKC Community Greenspace Community Action and Networking Day, making contacts and gaining advice and information which will be of value in taking forward the Rookery Wood as a community project in Stanley.
Just-in-time (almost too late!) – transplanting of native and domestic fruit trees in Taymount Wood as part of the Stanley Biodiversity Village Project waiting since they had been temporarily sheughed-in last year! We used brashings and woodland debris to build mini-corrals round the trees to help keep the deer at bay and aim to strengthen these into more robust dead hedges in the coming weeks. Here’s hoping for lots of lovely apples, gages, plums, damsons and sloes to pick along the core path in the not-too distant future.
On 10 May, we had a joint early morning birdsong listening walk in Taymount Wood with Perthshire Society of Natural Science www.psns.org.uk . It was a perfect morning weatherwise for 8 bird enthusiasts to listen to the diversity of birdsong, walking through the different parts of the forest and to the edges of King’s Myre Loch, usefully backed up by the Merlin app for identifying birdsong. The list of the woodland wildlife we heard and saw currently stands at 23 species of bird, 3 red squirrels, 3 species of butterfly, 9 plant species in flower not counting the trees, and a couple of interesting ferns including the oak fern. Blackcap and wren, chiffchaffs, willow and garden warblers galore, tiny goldcrests, mellifluous song thrush, sweet siskins and coal tits, tuneful robins, whistley nuthatches, raspy coots and so much more. What a lovely way to start a Sunday in spring.
And continuing behind the scenes, the WSWG board is working towards a future Management Agreement with FLS for both woods. We’ll hopefully soon have info to share with you on that front.
Word of the Month
One Home: “Seen from space, Earth transforms us. What if a single view of our planet could make us realize our chance and experience the interconnectedness of life? What if planetary boundaries became suddenly obvious? Astronauts speak of a profound inner transformation sparked by their time in space. Their words reveal the deep, life-changing impact of seeing Earth from orbit or the Moon. Space doesn’t just change what you see, it changes who you are. Through OneHome, you too can experience this perspective — and awaken the same sense of awe, unity, and responsibility.” Find out about how we could participate in this global project at: www.onehome.org/en/about www.onehome.org/en/blue-revolution
What’s coming up next?
Friday 5 June: WSWG attendance at the Community Woodlands Association exchange visit to Dronley Wood at Auchterhouse to look at their continuous cover approach to woodland management with Dirk Sporleder. Not sure if there are any places left but contact sharon@communitywoods.org if you’d like to find out.
Walks in Taymount Wood with our friends from Vision PK. Dates in June and August still to be confirmed and we’ll be looking for a small band of volunteers to help out on the day. Do get in touch if that might be something you would like to do and we can tell you more about it.
Monday 6 July: More woodland fun with Wee Adventures in Taymount Wood – details will be sent out later.
