Roots of Arran volunteer day on Sunday 1st April at 12.00

We are having our volunteer day a week early (usually second Sunday of the month) on Sunday 1st April at 12.00. Please come and join us! We are going to clear invasive sitka and rhododendron to allow deciduous trees such as birch and oak which are establishing themselves on the site, to flourish. We also will try to put up wooden A-frames for a shelter in the willow circle as a temporary shelter (wooden poles and tarp on top variety) which will be really useful when we are using this site for school visits or work on the willow or pond and so on. Children must be accompanied by an adult and suitable clothing/boots and packed lunch are a must! We will meet as usual in the viewpoint car park between Brodick and Lamlash at 12.00 and walk down to the site (approx one mile).
We are happy to report that the willow planted in January has taken. We will be pruning this to ground level in the winter to encourage bushy growth in the following spring. Another success was our broom-making day – the kids had a great day making birch brooms (see photo).
Shiskine Scout group really made a difference last volunteer day when they planted some decidous trees to one side of the path to the new pond (including a lime and a chestnut tree) and went on to clear sitka and rhododendron near the beech grove. Many thanks to them and we hear that some of them are really enthusiastic about helping again!
Our public consultation is taking place all this week in Brodick library. Do pop in and give us your ideas on how to develop the woodland further. Do you want to see more paths, or maybe a bird hide or mountain bike loop….the possibilities are endless. All you do is write your ideas on a bit of paper and post it in the box on the table display in there. The opening times are:
Tuesday 10-5pm
Thursday 10 – 7.30pm
Friday 10 – 7.30pm on this day, Lyndy Renwick from Galloway District Forestry Commission and Andy Walker, Arran forester, will be in the library to discuss things further and offer guidance to us.
Please remind anyone who you think would be interested to go along as we hope it will generate some great ideas and get more people on board this project.

see their website at www.rootsofarrancommunitywoodland.org.uk/