West Stormont Woodland Group

West Stormont
Woodland Group

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) SC051682

Join us today to bring Taymount Wood and Five Mile Wood into community ownership

Community Monthly Update – June 2023

We want to start with a big thank you to all WSWG volunteers who helped in the Wildflower and Mining Bee Rescue Mission this spring. Many times more wildflowers have come through along the various stretches of raked verge than would have been the case had they remained swamped by gorse mulch and, as seen in the photo here, mining bees have successfully emerged where the track surfaces were cleared to help them out too. And of course the cleared sections of track make for more comfortable going again for walkers and dogs. Lots more areas still need attention, and we will keep doing what we can when we can, but thank you again to everyone who helped make a difference for nature this spring.

Emergence points of mining bees from underground burrows in Taymount Wood May 2023

What has WSWG been doing this month?

On 13 and 14 May, WSWG held a “Woodland Pick and Mix” Event at Taymount Wood which attracted a small and enthusiastic group of volunteers each day. We pitched the gazebo in the woods near the main entrance as our rest point and undertook a range of activities nearby. Using plastic-free tubes and reusing old plastic tubes, we protected naturally regenerating rowan, oak, a few holly and several previously planted bird cherry saplings from deer browsing. In addition, we planted oak saplings grown on from acorns by WSWG members in winter 2020-21, also protecting them from deer and vole damage with tree tubes. Courtesy of the local community’s PKC-funded C406 Verges for Wildflowers not Litter project, we planted native wildflower plugs and sowed wildflower seeds along the woodland edge. There was also time for some more raking of gorse mulch to prevent it suppressing the wildflowers along the track verges and to further clear the track surfaces for walkers. (Btw, we’d love to know who it was who left their oak saplings for us at the entrance gate! If it was you, thank you and we’d love to know who you are! Your little oaks are now in the ground hopefully to become big oaks in the fullness of time!)

Protecting natural regeneration in Taymount Wood with recycled tree tubes
Protecting natural regeneration using plastic free tubes
Christopher Dingwall taking notes during the recce in Five Mile Wood

On 17 May, we did a recce of Taymount and Five Mile Woods with historian, Christopher Dingwall, in preparation for his talk and walk on the history of the woods being organised as a joint event between West Stormont Historical Society and WSWG in September. At both woods we also saw the pleasing results of our gorse raking activities with widespread dog violets and other wildflower species along the verges and little excavation piles signposting where mining bees had exited their winter burrows. In Five Mile Wood, we added a new species to the WSWG butterfly list – three speckled wood butterflies – and then saw more of them in Taymount Wood a week later. That makes 15 butterfly species altogether.

Speckled wood butterfly sunning in Five Mile Wood 17 May

We also saw our first common lizard in Taymount Wood this month basking on a sunny banking, then scuttling away into the nearby cover of thick grassy vegetation when it saw us. (Sorry – no photo despite best attempt!) Its relatively small size (about 6-7cm long) suggested a juvenile, perhaps from 2022. It was also very dark in colour, almost black. Very young lizards are usually dark, but would typically have become lighter, brighter and more patterned by this age. At this lizard’s age, this dark (melanistic) colouration could indicate an adaptation to living in more shaded woodland habitat, with dark body colour absorbing heat better. Common lizards are protected but sadly yet another native species in decline. This discovery was therefore very exciting as, up to now, WSWG has thought of it as an absent species we could perhaps introduce in the future along suitably sun-warmed, derelict old dykelines. So what is needed now is for our focus to switch to protecting, enhancing and monitoring its existing habitat and population.

On 24 May, three WSWG trustees attended a Funding Roadshow in Coupar Angus organised through the Perth and Kinross Community Planning Partnership at which we met with the Gannochy Trust and also with the Third Sector Interface who are very kindly helping WSWG with various aspects of the CATS process.

In addition to their recent much appreciated annual donation, WSWG received a further very generous community benefit payment from the Highland Community Energy Society’s Littleton Burn Hydro Project at Dalguise. A huge thank you to them for their ongoing support of the WSWG Project.

Good progress has also been made with our CATS Application at a very useful meeting with Forestry and Land Scotland and Scottish Forestry on 30 May setting out the final stages ahead.

On 9 and 10 June, WSWG had a stall at the Community Futures Open Days in Stanley Village Hall as part of the Stanley Community Action Plan consultation process. It was a great opportunity to catch up with many WSWG members and speak to others about the WSWG Project and the West Stormont Connect concept. At the table next to us was Cath Lloyd of the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership, who, amongst other things, was there to promote the idea of Stanley becoming a Biodiversity Village. This idea was well received, with a good number of people` keen to get involved, and so the next step will be to get the ball rolling with a mapping exercise of the village and surrounding area. We’ll keep you posted on this.

On 11 June, WSWG had a stall at the Logiealmond Plant Sale at Chapelhill Community Centre. It was lovely to be able to catch up with WSWG members from the area and to have an in-person opportunity to tell more people in the Glen about the WSWG Project and how they can get involved.

Word of the Month

Speckled wood: As the name suggests, this mottled brown and cream butterfly is perfectly camouflaged in dappled sunlit woodlands, where it vigorously chases off any competition for its territory. Various grass species make up the caterpillars’ food plant. The adults feed heavily on aphid honeydew in the tree canopy, choosing wildflowers only in early and late season when aphid populations are low. The speckled wood butterfly has been expanding its range over recent years with warming temperatures.

What’s coming up next?

  • Saturday 22 July 12 noon: WSWG hosting a Picnic in Taymount Wood with Tayside Woodland Partnerships. More details to follow if you’d like to come along.
  • Monday 25 September 7.30pm Stanley Village Hall: talk by renowned landscape historian, Christopher Dingwall, on the history of Taymount and Five Mile Woods; Wednesday 27 September 11am: guided walk in Taymount Wood with Christopher and WSWG.
  • We will hopefully be organising more events in the woods over the summer holidays, so watch this space.

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Previous Articles

Community Monthly Update – September 2024

Latest on Stanley Wildwood (Rookery Wood). You may remember that we dedicated our July Monthly Update to making the case for community ownership of Stanley Wildwood, with subsequent mailouts and Facebook posts to encourage our members and supporters to vote in PKC’s recent public consultation for a community-based future for this small but important woodland in Stanley village. We are therefore delighted to tell you that the Council has reported that 65.6% of respondents in the Stanley postcode area were in favour of a community outcome for the woodland. Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the consultation. WSWG and Tayside Woodland Partnerships are now in discussion with PKC to explore further the option of bringing the woodland into community ownership and management. We will keep you posted including ways individuals and the wider community can get involved going forward.

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Community Monthly Update – July 2024

Something quite different has cropped up for WSWG and Stanley village recently, so we have decided to make it the sole topic of our update this month and a simple appeal to you at the same time. PKC who currently own the 0.56 acre Stanley Wildwood (the Rookery wood) have decided it is surplus to their needs. They have launched an on-line consultation to find out whether the local community thinks it should be sold to a private neighbouring resident as an extension to their garden ground or sold or leased to a willing community organisation. The area owned by PKC is shown in yellow. It has had a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) since 1987. We believe the best interests of the Wildwood and rookery will be served through community not private ownership. Please support our goal by voting for Option 2 in the PKC consultation, using the link shown.

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Community Monthly Update – June 2024

Our main focus this month has been collaboration with all sorts of people and organisations in our ongoing programme of events in Taymount Wood and outreach activity for the WSWG Project. Each and every event has been a source of real joy at seeing so many people benefitting in so many ways from spending and sharing time in our lovely woodlands on a diverse range of activities. Whilst we cannot claim to have beaten the record set in 2019 for our oldest participant at a WSWG event (she was an amazing 96 years old!), at only 5 weeks old a little treasure beat the record of our youngest attendee to date by a whole 11 weeks! How cool is that? Read on to find out more about these wonderful, moving and uplifting events.

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Community Monthly Update – May 2024

We are really delighted this month to start with the announcement that the winner of the WSWG April Photography Competition in the Children’s category is Dougie from Highland Perthshire. His stunning and clever photograph was taken at the head of Loch Rannoch, looking west, on Saturday 20 April. Such a beautiful, calm scene in our precious Perthshire countryside, but just look at the perfect capture of the beautiful splash effect at its heart. A truly super photo.

Congratulations, Dougie. Thank you very much for taking part in this competition and your well-deserved prize will be making its way to you very soon.

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Community Monthly Update – April 2024

On Sunday 14 April, a lovely bunch of people turned out for a WSWG Guided Climate and Biodiversity Walk in Taymount Wood to celebrate the start of the new Perth & Kinross Climate Action Hub (PKCAH) for which funding has been secured from the Scottish Government.

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Community Monthly Update – March 2024

It is a disappointing thing to have to do, but a surprisingly rewarding thing to have done. We are talking about picking up someone else’s litter. We all know Taymount Wood car park occasionally suffers from fly tipping, but it is regular littering which is more of a chronic problem, clogging the ditches, being strewn around the verges, blown into the brambles and nettles, overgrown by rank grass, buried in the soil, or crushed by vehicles if not removed regularly.

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