Kinclaven Bluebell Woods
Recently acquired by the Woodland Trust, Kinclaven Bluebell Woods is well-known for the bright blue haze of bluebells that pop up in the woodland every year and is a popular destination for locals and tourists. It also has spectacular oak trees and wildlife including red squirrels, hedgehogs, bats and deer!
The 125-acre woods are also surrounded by 79 acres of grassland, which were originally covered with 30 000 trees until the 1950s. The Woodland Trust are keen to reinstate these trees to protect the land and encourage more wildlife to come back to the area. That is why they are holding regular tree planting days; a task which will take many months to complete.
If you would like to learn more about the Woodland Trust’s tree-planting efforts and how you can help, please visit woodlandtrust
Our day
Over the course of the week, Scotland was battered with strong winds and heavy rain, so we were a little apprehensive about what the day will bring. Fortunately for us, we were lucky to have long spells of sunshine and no rain, although there was a chilly wind on the exposed hills.
When we arrived at Kinclaven Woods, we were met by 30 other enthusiastic volunteers. We were guided through the woods by Woodland Trust volunteers to the field where we would be tree planting for the next few hours.
After a short tutorial in how to plant a tree, we grabbed our gloves and spades and got stuck in! There were a few species of trees to plant and fortunately for us, the ground had already been loosened by machinery to make it easier for us to plant. Although, the land had a lot of stones and rocks, which proved to be tricky to navigate around with a spade!
The process of planting a tree is fairly simple:
- Dig a hole just deep enough for the roots of the tree
- Place the young tree into the hole and fill the hole up with soil
- With your foot, apply pressure around the tree to remove any air bubbles in the soil
- Put a short piece of bamboo right next to tree to act as a support
- Place a plastic tube over the bamboo and tree to protect it from the elements and wildlife
After a few attempts, we became increasingly efficient in the whole process and the manual labour kept us warm in the wind! In just a few hours, the Timberbush team managed to plant around 30 trees, and all the volunteers combined planted approximately 500 trees!
It was a great success and solid start to many more tree planting days. We really enjoyed spending some time in the fantastic woods and appreciate being invited to participate.
This is just one of many things Timberbush Tours does to contribute towards conservation efforts. We are extremely proud to be awarded a Gold Award by the Green Tourism Business Scheme and would encourage others to take part in conservation schemes.
