Course: Large Scale Woodland Creation and Biodiversity / Habitat Management

Join us for our eighth Climate FORTH Environmental Skills Session at Dumyat, Stirling

Climate FORTH - Contractor Environmental Skills - Dumyat, Stirling - Large Scale Woodland Creation and Biodiversity / Habitat Management.

TCV in partnership with Climate FORTH are delivering a series of 8 on site environmental skills sessions to build skills, confidence and experience in habitat management techniques that deliver climate adaptation and mitigation.

This workshop series is aimed at contractors, land managers and people looking to move in to the environmental sector.

All events in this series are standalone events covering different topics/areas, you do not need to have attended previous events and you are welcome to attend multiple.

Our eighth session will be held at Dumyat, Stirling hosted by the Future Forest Company.

In this session we will discuss:

Large scale woodland creation and tree planting:

• Site visit – Dumyat site history and overview
• Woodland creation planning – constraints & opportunities – access routes – technical skills needed.
• Large scale tree planting, species mix across pockets and associated climate adaptation and mitigation.
• Community and stakeholder engagement – current involvement and objectives
• Policy, procedure and partnerships with governing bodies
• Deer management – tree protection against predation

Biodiversity / habitat management across wider estate:

• Grassland management and livestock grazing for species diversity
• Wetlands restoration
• Wildflower planting
• Endangered species - Northern Brown Argus, Sticky catchfly and more!

Future Forest Company and Dumyat

Future Forest Company (FFC) acquired Dumyat Estate in 2021. This 480ha hillside site, will one day become a rich, diverse woodland, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and teaming with wildlife.

FFC has extended existing woodland habitat networks and enhanced nature by planting over 330,000 trees using a range of tree species. Through surveys of the area including breeding birds, archaeology, vegetation and soils Future Forest Company matched the right species to where they will contribute most to the environment. The sensitive woodland design has retained open ground to conserve important archaeological and wildlife interests along with the essence of Dumyat itself.

At Dumyat, they have several endangered species of conservation concern including red squirrels, the Northern brown argus butterfly, the Small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly and one of Scotland’s rarest flowers, Sticky catchfly. There are plans to transform ecologically degraded grasslands and wetlands into wildflower and pollinator havens, providing a safe habitat for endangered species and to create a landscape teaming with wildlife.

Blairlogie boasts an ancient pond and wet ditches that have become overgrown and filled with silt, along with invasive non-native Rhododendron thickets. FFC goal is to revive the pond and convert it, along with the wet ditches, into thriving habitats for wildlife. Additionally, to establish fresh wetland scrapes that will serve as homes for wetland flowers, insects, and birds like the Snipe.