Saturday 27 April 2024.

Looking for wildlife — Image by Megan

The tree planting was successful today. 10 volunteers from the Maryburgh Men’s Shed and the Maryburgh Community Woodland Group arrived at 10:00 am today armed with spades and hammers. After, Megan explained that the new trees had to be planted as required by the Tree Preservation Order and the Highland Council Woodland Officer. The 19 new trees were to replace the 19 trees felled last year to make the community woodland safe. Megan had previously marked the tree planting location with white tape, she gave an explanation of how to go about planting the new trees and the best way to fit the tree protectors and stakes.

Tree planting — Image by Megan

After the instruction, the group started planting the new tree saplings in the designated area. These areas were chosen as there was very little canopy cover and the new saplings could take advantage of the light when growing.

The trees were donated by Christies of Fochabers and Cheviot Trees. The biodegradable tree protector tubes were from NextGen. The Community Woodland Group is very grateful to all the volunteers who took part and the donations from the various companies involved.

Rubbish Collected during tidy up — Image by Siobhan

With over 20 trees planted, the volunteers then replaced their spades and hammers with black plastic bin sacks and litter pickers supplied by the Highland Council. Again they split up into small groups and headed off to collect any rubbish left in the woodland. After a thorough search of the woodland, the volunteers returned with the bags full of rubbish. This consisted of empty beer cans, wrappers, dog poo bags, some full of dog poo and disposable vapes, even a champagne bottle along with other waste products. The only thing that couldn’t be collected was all the fresh garden waste dumped in the woodland.

Clearing the footpath — Image by Megan

Finally, the small footpath between Birch Drive and the old Brahan Estate drive was cleared of weeds. This is the footpath between a property in Birch Drive and the small patch of isolated community woodland.