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 – February 2023

This past month we have been taking stock of the amazing future we have envisaged for ourselves when the woods are in community ownership. The WSWG Proposal is a truly exciting opportunity for neighbouring communities around the woods to join together in meaningful action for nature and the environment in a way which directly delivers community benefit to suit diverse interests, abilities and needs.

Winter sun in Taymount Wood glinting off King’s Myre Loch

What has WSWG been doing this month?

The WSWG Proposal is a visionary, courageous and change-making plan put together purposefully to address the reality that the scale of action we need and deserve in transitioning to a sustainable and resilient future needs to start being commensurate with the scale of the social, ecological and climate challenges now so familiar to us all. The Scottish Government has signed Scotland up to working towards a Wellbeing Economy as something which works better for people and planet and the WSWG project intends to be part of that shift by:

  • using the fortuitously (largely) native species composition (Scots pine and birch) to repurpose the woods with nature recovery and community benefit as their primary function
  • improving access and using the woods to deliver community-led programmes for health and wellbeing, culture and creativity, life-long learning, community enterprise and more
  • diversifying income streams through increasing “Living Forest” products and relying less on timber sales
  • allowing the woods to grow old naturally so they can achieve their full ecological potential
  • providing green jobs and supporting existing local businesses and service providers.
Soft mossy carpet in Taymount Wood – January 2023

On 26 January, WSWG Trustees met with representatives of the CATS Panel and FLS as a first step in the evaluation and negotiation process ahead, initially in each of the woods and then at Kinclaven Church Hall. It would have been beneficial to have more time for the site visits, but we feel we were well able to convey the vision and justification for the WSWG Proposal. 

Having got to where we are in the WSWG development phase, active networking to further validate the project and build rigour into its future management continues apace. This included a very interesting and useful meeting in January with Mike Robinson of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society to present WSWG as a prospective stakeholder in the initiative for Perth to become the most sustainable small city in Europe by 2050. We are also talking with a range of existing and new contacts who might be able to assist during this next critical phase. WSWG is also contributing to the Stanley Community Action Plan process as part of a Rural Focus Group.

Gorse and scrub clearance has more or less been completed by FLS at both Five Mile and Taymount Woods, which has opened up the core paths for access again, for which many thanks to FLS and the contractor. As the vegetation had grown vigorously over the past few years, beware of short gorse and birch stumps as a trip hazard, mostly on the verges but in some cases on the tracks themselves. There is also a lot of debris blanketing the verges which will rot down in time, but will be a problem for recovery of the amazing communities of wildflowers associated with the path networks in both woods. The thick mulch will both smother the currently dormant plants and also over-enrich the nutrient status of the soil which will favour the growth of dominant grasses over the more delicate wildflowers. We have begun speaking to FLS to see if anything can be done to mitigate this, but we also hope to find ways in selected areas for WSWG volunteers to help in our wildflower rescue mission over the next few weeks.

Before: core path in Taymount Wood – January 2023
After: same section of core path in Taymount Wood – February 2023

Sadly, both Five Mile Wood and Taymount Wood car parks have suffered badly from littering this winter. On one occasion in January, five bin bags were filled from the Taymount Wood entrance, and it is already needing cleaned up again. It would be good to get a small group together to clear up the current mess at Five Mile Wood too. Interestingly in both woods, there is rarely much of a problem beyond the gates, just in the car park and adjacent ditches. A problem which we aim to resolve properly when the woods are in community ownership!

An upturned bag-load of rubbish degrading in a ditch at the Taymount Wood entrance

Word of the Month

Living Forest products: Plantation woodlands are planted with the purpose of harvesting them for timber. This usually means cutting them down at around 50 years old, which is a teenager in tree terms. Living Forest products are those which can be harvested without killing the trees, such as fruit, nuts, birch sap, plus honey, venison and other forest food products, payments for biodiversity gain and carbon sequestration, bequeathing and tree sponsorship for forest existence, and other creative outputs.

What’s coming up next?

  • We will be rolling out our 2023 events programme soon so watch this space if you’d like to get involved. Our wildflower rescue mission will be one of the key activities.
  • Ongoing CATS evaluation and negotiation process
  • Putting together our Wildwood Steering Group to build management capacity and provide meaningful community involvement and influence in the future governance and operation of the WSWG 2-tier SCIO
  • Fundraising for acquisition and operational start-up

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Previous Articles

Community Monthly Update – November 2024

Our top story this month has to be the fantastic Bush Craft and Woodland Picnic event we had on 2 November in Taymount Wood with Biscuit of Wee Adventures, working in the woodland environment on a “Leave No Trace” basis.

In the morning, nine pre-school to 6 year old children learned how to put up shelters of different shapes and sizes using colourful tarpaulins and strings and ropes.

In the afternoon, thirteen 7 to 12 year olds had their turn, learning about knots and tarpaulins, working out how to tension and guy with ropes and found stakes to angle and raise or lower the tarps. Tree stumps became seats and tables, moss, twigs and leaves became gardens, and so imaginations roamed all day. Frogs, beetles and millipedes were greeted with enthusiastic huddles before being helped out of harm’s way.

Read More »

Community Monthly Update – October 2024

Let’s start with a big thank you to PKC for the great job they have done resurfacing the U38 road from Five Mile Wood car park to Stanley past Active Kids. All done within the scheduled closure period and neatly tied in with a recessed tarmac apron at the car park. So much safer and more comfortable for everybody now the potholes and rough edges are no more.

Read More »

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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