My experiences managing a woodland in the Scottish Highlands
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 […]
Two days of persistent rain followed by a spell of warm sunshine brought a feeling of lushness to the woodland last week. Wandering through the open areas of the wood on recent sunny mornings, I sensed a sudden intensity of growth and life. Abundant greenery, together with prolific flowers, and all buzzing with thousands of […]
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 […]
I can’t complain too much about having to distance myself here at Comar Wood because it’s what I often do much of the time anyway! Life here hasn’t really changed a lot in the last couple of weeks and at least spring seems to be going ahead as normal. I thought for this post I […]
There is a feeling of spring in the air. The woods are suddenly full of birdsong – song thrushes, mistle thrushes, robins, chaffinches, various tits and even a blackbird today. The ditch is full of frogspawn and croaking frogs. However, it’s still early and the woods remain in winter mode. Much of the vegetation has […]
As you may have gathered from the management plan post, the main initial operation in Comar Wood is thinning of the Sitka spruce. I am pleased to say that this is now underway! Progress has been slower than I’d originally hoped because my time has been a bit limited recently. However, I’ve managed to find […]
All of the land above Comar Wood is managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS, formerly known as Forestry Commission Scotland). Their land extends west up Glen Affric, of which they manage a large part. They are currently updating their ten-year management plan for this area and as part of the process they are obliged […]
A woodland wander in early December took me past the Comar Wood holly tree, which seemed to make a good topic for a Yuletide blog post – so here it is. As far as I am aware, there is only one holly tree in our wood. It’s on a steep hillside amongst birch trees in […]
I find the month of November a very satisfying time of year to be in the woods. During the November that has just ended I have been trying to think exactly why this is. It has something to do with the sense of withdrawal and dormancy, plants and animals retracting for the winter. The visible […]
