The start of another month and the volunteers were out again maintaining the community woodland for the benefit of everyone in the village. Following our maintenance plan guidelines, ten volunteers continued to remove the Beech saplings from compartment 4. Within a short while, many of the Beech saplings coving this area had been removed and stacked in piles or dead hedges to form habitat for the woodland wildlife.

Sorry, but I don’t have any photographs of the volunteers working in the woodland this month, but the fact is, that we were all so busy removing the Beech and stacking the brash, that no one had time to take any photos of us all.

Map showing density of Beech saplings (click on map for full view)

With so many volunteers working the group were able to clear compartments 1, 2 and 3 of Beech saplings and some made a start on compartment 5. Therefore, from a total compartment area of 3,752 square metres, over 1,158 square metres of tree saplings have been removed between last month, and this month’s tidy up. This will encourage a healthy understory of wild plants and native trees such as Rowan, increasing the biodiversity of the community woodland.

Volunteers provided rolls, tea and coffee for everyone taking part. Once again, the Maryburgh Community Woodland Group would like to thank all the volunteers who turned out to help with the May Clean-Up day.

The Core paths are now cleared of overhanging shrubs and trees, making access to the woodland easier for everyone. With the removal of many of the Beech saplings, the informal internal tracks are also more accessible to everyone.

One of our volunteers has created a video to show what progress that has been made this month with clearing the non-native invasive Beech saplings from the woodland.

Click on link to show the May 2025 video

Upcoming Events include a monthly meeting on 29^th May at 7:15 pm in the Amenities Centre and a Plant Hunt on May 31 at 10am.