My experiences managing a woodland in the Scottish Highlands
While Autumn often appears to be a season of decay, the berries, nuts and seeds that appear on trees (and other plants) in abundance point to regeneration and new life. This year the rowan branches were drooping under the weight of the their berries, until big flocks of redwings and various other birds descended in […]
After what has felt like a very wet and windy winter, a milder and calmer spell of weather in mid-February brought an awakening in the woods. Frogs began their somewhat frenzied activity of spawning and could be heard croaking in the pond and ditch. Birds started to make their voices heard. Song thrush, mistle thrush, […]
And that’s another November been and gone. A beautiful time in Strathglass, where we live. What little sunlight we get in November is amplified greatly by the orange-gold of silver birch and larch trees, against the russet of dying bracken and the orange-brown of the oaks. This time of year the local landscape never fails […]
One of my summer jobs has been doing some tractor maintenance tasks – not something I feel particularly confident with. However, practice will help this, so with some guidance and help from Jamie I spent a few hours changing oils and filters. In the evening I took a wander in the wood to restore my […]
With the rapidly lengthening days, the passing of the equinox and the woods filling with birdsong, it was time to wind down the winter’s woodland work. We stopped felling at the end of March and finished extracting the logs by early May, leaving the birds to nest in peace. I’ve been able to spend one […]
On a cold, frosty morning in January the thermometer by the house was reading minus 3. As I walked up the track under the powerlines the mud was frozen solid. However, as I moved further up into the spruce plantation I suddenly noticed that the track here was not frozen and was still muddy – […]
A whole growing season has elapsed since my last blog post. Having toddlers to look after seems to make time fly by! So, in summary: Flowers started to appear. Leaves came. The woodland turned green. Blooms of various shades of blue, white, yellow, pink and purple burst open in their annual sequence over the spring, […]
With the dark and cold of winter comes wood burning season, and lighting the wood burner in the evening is part of the daily routine. However, the use of wood burners and wood-fuel in general has recently become a contentious issue. According to a government survey in 2015, 7.5 percent of households in the UK […]
We’ve been back at Comar Wood for six months as a family of four, after baby Ewan’s stay in hospital finally came to an end last April. As you might imagine, looking after two babies is quite time consuming, so there has not been much time for doing anything in the woodland, let alone writing […]
Life has changed rather dramatically for us since my last blog post. Our baby twins, Ewan and Megan, gave us a surprise by arriving early, on 23rd November. We have been staying in Glasgow (4 hours drive away from home) ever since, due to baby Ewan needing treatment for his heart. Becoming parents has been […]
