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 – May 2023

This month has truly shown us the wide and widening reach and appeal of the WSWG Project to bring Taymount and Five Mile Woods into community ownership. We have carried out volunteer action for nature and walkers in both woods, engaged with the Highland and Strathtay Stronger Communities Network, participated in an Earth Day event staged by Perth and Kinross Council’s Climate Change and Sustainable Development Team, hosted a student visit from SRUC Edinburgh and Aberdeen and received a further annual donation from the Community Fund of a local community hydro scheme. Read on to find out a bit more about these and other WSWG activities of late.

SRUC Student field trip to Taymount Wood, 9 May 2023

What has WSWG been doing this month?

Wildflower and Mining Bee Rescue Mission latest: Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 April saw our 7th and 8th raking sessions to clear gorse debris from the delicate trackside habitats as part of this valuable action for biodiversity in our woods. We estimate that so far, give or take a rest or two, around 160 hours of raking by 17 brilliant WSWG volunteers has rescued about 900m of track and verge, both sides, in Taymount Wood (about 30% of our target area) and 300m of track and verge, both sides, in Five Mile Wood (about 10% of our target area). As well as benefiting vulnerable flora and fauna, removing the large gorse debris from the path surfaces has also made walking a great deal more comfortable for people and dogs. In addition, many small pools have been raked out in the ditches to recover open water for the benefit of breeding amphibians and other wildlife. We’ve made a great start but this rescue mission will be ongoing so that we can do as much as we can over time. There is still time to save more wildflower habitat this spring, so if you would like to help, please come along to Taymount Wood this weekend – see below for more information*.    

On Saturday 22 April, WSWG participated in the Earth Day Market organised at Perth Civic Hall by Perth and Kinross Climate Action. It was a great day with lots of community groups, environmental organisations and eco-conscious businesses showcasing their activities and many members of the public coming along to find out about and express their support for the huge and concerted effort going into climate action in our area.

WSWG Stall at the Perth Earth Day Market on 22 April

WSWG attended its first meeting of the Highland and Strathtay Stronger Communities Network to strengthen existing relationships and establish new links for future partnership working, particularly in the Healthy Living, Life-Long Learning and Creativity and Culture themes of the WSWG Window on the Woods Vision.

On 9 May, WSWG hosted a site visit by around 30 students from SRUC Edinburgh and Aberdeen who are undertaking honours programmes in Wildlife and Conservation Management, Environmental Management or Rural Business Management. As part of a field trip to Perthshire for their “Multi-Purpose Woodland Management” module, we were able to tell them about our vision and plans for the woods and about the challenges and opportunities of the CATS process to bring our woods into community ownership. What this visit and other recent networking has flagged up is real scope for significant future partnership working with the academic sector and we look forward to developing this under the Life-Long Learning, Forestry and Ecology and potentially other themes in the WSWG Vision.

Many thanks indeed to the Highland Community Energy Society for a further annual donation to the WSWG Project from its Littleton Burn Hydro Project, near Dalguise. The contribution their regular donations have made to the development phase of the WSWG Project has been extremely helpful and very much appreciated indeed.

And finally, the Barefoot Woodland Wanderer’s Blog brought us another lovely seasonal story – “Song of the Fox”. If you missed it, here is the link again.

Word of the Month

Earth Day: An annual celebration at the spring equinox, usually 22 April, that honours the achievements of the global environmental movement and raises awareness of the need to protect Earth’s natural resources for future generations. Its 10 core issues are: Advocacy; Climate Change; Conservation & Biology; Education; Energy; Food & Agriculture; Green Economy; Green Schools; Recycling & Waste Reduction; Sustainable Development. Source: www.earthday.org

What’s coming up next?

*WSWG “Woodland Pick and Mix” Event at Taymount Wood from 10.30am–3pm on Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 May. Come along and choose which activity you’d like to help with: “Protect a Wild Tree” – tubing broadleaf tree seedlings and saplings to protect from deer; “Little Acorns” – planting out oak saplings grown from local acorns by WSWG volunteers; “C406 Verges for Wildflowers not Litter” – planting wildflower plugs; “Wildflower and Mining Bee Rescue Mission” – raking gorse mulch to expose wildflower seedlings and clear tracks for walkers. We’ll meet any early birds at 10.30am in the Taymount Wood car park, but if you’re coming later, just walk up the main track until you find us. We won’t be far away and you’ll be very welcome. Dress for the weather, wear sturdy footwear and protective gloves and bring some refreshments to keep you going. We have a small stock of tools which you can use but if you prefer to use your own, please bring useful tools such as grass rakes, garden spades or lump hammers for knocking in tree stakes.

WSWG is participating in the Stanley Community Action Plan process and will have a stall at the Open Days on 9 and 10 June where we will promote the plans for Taymount and Five Mile Woods under community ownership both in itself and in the wider landscape-scale context of West Stormont Connect. Tayside Biodiversity Partnership will also have a stall promoting the idea of Stanley as a “Biodiversity Village” to join the growing list of local towns and villages choosing to go down that inspirational route, such as Blairgowrie, Guildtown and Invergowrie. The Stanley Swift Project will also feature on the day. Save the dates and come along to learn about and vote for what actions our community should be taking for a thriving and sustainable future.

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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.

Read More »

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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