My experiences managing a woodland in the Scottish Highlands
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, […]
Autumn’s now in full swing here in Cannich. The glen is turning various shades of golds and browns and the slightest breeze sends flurries of leaves drifting down from the birch trees. Our aspen trees up by the waterfall have turned a bright yellow and the ground below is becoming carpeted in their leaves, which […]
August I started writing this post back in August, when we had a spell of hot weather. Things are starting to feel a lot more autumnal now and that seems like a distant memory but I thought I would still include it: I have been enjoying August in the woodland. The spell of hot, humid […]
Soon after my last blog post, open areas in the woodland underwent quite a sudden transformation into their summer look, with the growth of one plant in particular – the bracken. This plant grows rapidly and prolifically in many of the native woodland areas in Comar Wood, especially in the more open places where there […]
Sitka spruce is the commonest tree in Comar Wood and also the commonest tree in Scotland, very successful but also highly controversial. My feelings towards this tree have been gradually evolving so I thought I would write a bit about it here. Sitka spruce in Scotland Non-native trees have acquired a negative reputation amongst many […]
