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

Monthly Community Update for May 2020

West Stormont was the name used in medieval times to cover the parishes of Auchtergaven, Kinclaven, Logiealmond, Moneydie, Redgorton (Stanley) and the Murthly portion of Little Dunkeld. West Stormont has been chosen as the most suitably inclusive title for the many communities connected to Taymount and Five Mile Woods today. Working with local people to bring Taymount Wood and Five Mile Wood into Community Ownership
West Stormont Woodland Group

What has WSWG been doing this month?

  • Covid 19 has inevitably slowed down progress with the WSWG project with many members of the steering group understandably diverted to other matters. We aim to pick up the pace in the coming weeks. So please bear with us. We have seen lots of people using the woods for dog walking, cycling and daily exercise, which is great. The weather has been ideal for this and we would love to hear feedback from members and others as to what they have seen and enjoyed along the way.
  • Margaret Lear, has written two more lovely blogs for WSWG over the past few weeks – “Bees, Butterflies and an Old Straight Track” about the north route into Five Mile Wood and “Creeping Up on King’s Myre” about the western approach to Taymount Wood from Bankfoot andAirntully. Members and others receive these directly by email but anyone can read them on the WSWG Facebook page and website. Why not follow in Margaret’s footsteps and cycle tracks and see for yourselves the same delights and treasures she has observed along these.

WSWG Word of the Month – May Blossom

May is the month when blossoms abound, but it is hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) which takes one of its names from the month in which it flowers …. and hawthorns are currently laden with blossom throughout the landscape. The old Scots name is hawberry, but as well as May tree, and in other parts of the UK it is known as the haw bush, the has tree, quickthorn, whitethorn and thornapple amongst others. Like much of our native flora, all parts of the hawthorn have been used by people down the ages for many different purposes. According to “The Scots Herbal – the Plant Lore of Scotland” by Tess Darwin, the blossoms as well as the berries were made into wine and liqueur. And a decoction of hawthorn leaves and flowers was drunk to soothe sore throats and to correct high or low blood pressure. The hawthorn, however, at one time was so sacred that using any part of the tree was considered a violation. This taboo still survives in the occasionally encountered belief that it is unlucky to bring hawthorn blossom into the house. There is room for lots more hawthorns in both Taymount and Five Mile Woods.

What’s coming up next?

What we are looking for is help from you all to keep the connections going between our woods and our community.

1. Help us imagine April in the woods. Stanley Development Trust is promoting local walking routes for peopleto use during the Covid19 crisis. If any of you are managing to walk, run, cycle or ride through Taymount or Five Mile Woods in the course of your daily exercise allowance, please let us all know what you see and hear. Tell us what flora and fauna you see, what sounds you hear, any ideas you have for the woods in future and even any problems you come across. If you can, do send us photos or video clips, even a selfie with a seasonal woodland scene behind, which we can post on the Facebook page and website.

2. Would anyone in our lovely WSWG community with the necessary skills and creative flair be willing to volunteer to improve our website for us? We have so much we would like to add to it about the project but need someone to manage and develop it. Please get in touch if you would be willing to give it a go.

  • Become a WSWG Member today
  • Join the FREE MEMBERSHIP SCHEME on our website www.weststormontwoodlandgroup.scot
    Follow us! West Stormont Woodland Group 
  • Email us: contact@weststormontwoodlandgroup.scot

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Previous Articles

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.

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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

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