Community Monthly Update, June 2021

Acorn update! Just one month on, look at the change in our community-grown oak seedlings! This photo, contributed by Carolyn MacDonald of Aberfeldy, shows four of the ten seedlings she has grown from acorns provided as part of WSWG's Little Acorns project. Her daughter, who is a primary school teacher in Perth, is growing another in her classroom, which we hear the children love. Really good to know so many people are enjoying being part of this project.

What has WSWG been doing this month?

Sorry for putting this top of the list but WSWG is still looking for a treasurer to join our new board. It’s started to hold things up so please do get in touch if you can help.
Tayside Biodiversity Partnership’s 21 Days of Nature Challenge – this was a wonderful thing to have been part of in May for anyone who signed up. So much fascinating information about so many aspects of our wonderful natural world, starting with hedgehogs, trying out No Mow May, hopping onto frogs, toads and other pondlife, our beloved badgers, swifts, butterflies and bees, a trip to the seashore, flying away home with ladybirds, waking to birdsong, a walk in the woods, up trees with the red squirrels, then snakes alive, bugs galore, mushrooms and much, much more. Some endangered, others not. And the simple message that every flower counts. Celebrating the UN Day of Biodiversity on 22 May too. Such a delight and such a treat to share in so much wonder. Well done to TBP and PKC Biodiversity Ambassadors for putting this amazing compilation together.
This month, Margaret Lear’s blog “Little Pictures, Big Pictures” gave us a real close-up look at our “Gap Site” in Five Mile Wood. What Gap Site? Nature is working miracles here! Go and see for yourselves or look out for our Summer of Nature walks and come along then.
Thank you also to everyone who contributed the huge number of comments in the WSWG Community Consultation Survey. So many, though, that we’re still working through the hundreds and hundreds of them to ensure appropriate inclusion in our overall Survey Report. We’ve also been poring over postcodes to be able to give special emphasis to the views of people living nearest the woods in the Stanley and Bankfoot community council areas. We will do our best to publish the full report for you this month!!
On 23 May, WSWG volunteers joined in the C406 Tackle Litter Group’s community litter-pick by clearing up the rubbish at the Taymount Wood car park and woodland edge. They gathered four black bags of gunk, a large pair of curtains in the ditch-water, an old TV, and more. Forestry and Land Scotland agreed to pick-up various bits of old fence-wire debris to complete the job …. for now. Along the 2.5 miles from West Tofts to Ballathie, the C406 group collected a total of 30 black bags in all. (Who? Why? What a mess! Well done to everyone who helped clean it up.)

*Litter and flying tipping collected from Taymount Wood Car Park during the C406 community litter-pick 23 May 2021*

Word of the Month

Summer solstice: The summer solstice is when the sun is highest in the sky and daylight hours the longest. This year it falls on Monday 21 June, a day later than its most common date (as was the case in 2020), although it can be any date between 20 and 22 of the month. The summer solstice marks the start of summer, which lasts until the autumnal equinox, landing this year on Wednesday 22 September.

What’s coming up next?

Our “Summer of Nature” Programme in Taymount and Five Mile Woods in recognition of huge support in the Community Consultation feedback for managing the woods for climate and biodiversity, nature walks, environmental education and biodiversity surveying and recording:

BeeWalk Survey Scheme and Butterfly Transects – surveying transects for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Butterfly Conservation from June to September. Your chance to take part in national bee or butterfly surveys and adding to our knowledge of the wildlife in Taymount and Five Mile Woods at the same time. No specialist skills required. On-line training or other support will be given to help with ID. Email us if you’d like to join in or register direct with the relevant organisation. These surveys can be done on your own but can be a nice thing to do with the family or a small group of friends.
IRecord App – an easy way for you to record the flora and fauna you see whilst walking, running, cycling or chilling in the woods. Can be done informally at any time.
Bird-spotting Walk in Five Mile Wood* as part of Swift Awareness Week – Saturday 10 July, 10.00am – 12.00pm.
Information Walks* – join members of the WSWG Steering Group to chat about WSWG Proposals for the woods. Taymount Wood, Sunday 18 July at 2.00pm – 4.00pm Five Mile Wood, Saturday 31 July at 2.00pm – 4.00pm Taymount Wood, Saturday 7 August at 2.00pm – 4.00pm Five Mile Wood, Sunday 15 August at 2.00pm – 4.00pm

See the ‘Summer of Nature’ events page

* Covid limits of numbers may apply.

Community Monthly Update – March 2025

March 12, 2025

Our ongoing priority this month has been working through the steps involved in submitting our revised funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), including another very useful Teams meeting on 28 February with Lauren Arthur, our NLHF Engagement Officer. We have been using our Vision Refresh Report from Nikki Souter Associates to inform the shape and scope of this new application where we are approaching NLHF as the main funder in bringing Taymount Wood into community ownership. As this involves material changes since our initial Expression of Interest was approved by NLHF in 2024 when we approached them as a prospective lesser funder, we will shortly be resubmitting our revised Expression of Interest to them. If accepted, we will proceed to submitting what we see as a very exciting Phase 1 funding application as soon as possible.

But meanwhile, can you guess what this is a photo of? See our Extra Word of the Month below for the answer.

Community Monthly Update – February 2025

February 12, 2025

This has been another month where behind-the-scenes admin has somewhat outpaced community stories or new milestones to lead on, so we will instead begin with a celebration of two natural highlights of the WSWG year so far. For most of us, the Aurora Borealis used to be a rare sight in Scotland, needing us to travel to the northern isles or northern Scandinavian for more reliable and impressive viewing. But recently, the Northern Lights have been much more active over the UK, both locally and even down to the south coast of England. Here are some shots taken of the skies above Taymount Wood around the turn of the year. Our second natural highlight is that Taymount and Five Mile Wood came through Storm Eowyn’s 90mph winds remarkably unscathed, both a joy and a relief to us all. Forestry and Land Scotland have carried out priority tree clearance to keep forestry tracks open. Thank you to those WSWG members who reported windblown trees across the core paths.

Community Monthly Update – January 2025

January 23, 2025

It’s been a deliberately quiet month for WSWG over the Christmas period so instead of a summary of what we’ve done in the past few weeks, our focus this January is on wishing all our members, supporters and wider community a Happy New Year, and then musing, with the help of a few uplifting photos taken this week, on how beautiful our woods are when draped in winter sunlight, frost and mist and what a stroll in nature can do for our spirit and wellbeing at this time of year. So, if you can, make sure you enjoy this treat for real with your own walk in the woods, whatever time of year it happens to be.

Community Monthly Update – December 2024

December 19, 2024

At this extraordinarily hectic time of year sometimes it’s rewarding to grab a cup of tea and take time to reflect on just how busy we’ve all been. Treat yourself to 5 minutes off and come down memory lane with WSWG for a photo montage of our Woodland Year. And it has been a busy twelve months for WSWG with lots of events bringing a wider range of people to the woods than in previous years, and even more going on behind the scenes in pursuit of our shared goals for our woods, wildlife and community. You can look back at all our Community Monthly Updates on our website to remind you of all the activities and connections we have enjoyed. We hope you have an amazing Festive Season and look forward to seeing you again in 2025. In the meantime, here are a few WSWG photos from a highly enjoyable 2024.

Community Monthly Update – November 2024

November 14, 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.

Community Monthly Update – October 2024

October 17, 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.

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 2021

What has WSWG been doing this month?

Word of the Month

What’s coming up next?

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