Portmoak Community Woodland Group Logo

Recent News

Early lockdown Newsletter piece

Have our community woodlands ever been so valued? Not only have lock-downers been taking their daily exercise there, from all over Portmoak, but folk have had time to notice just how much wildlife they contain.

There’s plenty of space, in both Portmoak Moss and Kilmagad Wood, to dodge other people and now that meetings and group tasks have been suspended there have been lots of exchanges about what’s out there.

It started with a few emails between members of Portmoak Community Woodland Group and now we’re getting daily reports from our wider mailing list, not only about the woodlands but all sorts of other places.

Although the pandemic is grim, these ‘nature notes’ have been helping to keep our spirits up. They range from expert identifications to the puzzled observations of amateur naturalists. As you can see:-

‘There is frog spawn in my pond - an immaculate conception, I never saw any frogs.’

‘I met a couple of mating frogs on the Loch path on my cycle run yesterday….’

‘Hi, in the last couple of days, we have seen boxing hares near Grahamstone, frogs, toads, and frogspawn in the pond near Grahamstone, yellowhammers, deer, and a red squirrel in Kilmagad Wood….’

‘I was up at the top of the golf course and nearly stood on a male pheasant who was clearly sitting on a nest. This is usually the females job. Any ideas?’

‘4 herons today, female swan on nest, male keeping a close eye on things, chaffinches, goldcrest, willow warbler (I checked out their sound on line).’

‘This squirrel has a very bright tail end … umm … that didn’t sound right. The end of its tail is very light, almost like it’s been dipped in bleach. Sounds better.’

'Willow warblers, chiffchaffs and blackcaps singing at the south end of the Moss, towards the gliding field this evening.’

‘The green woodpeckers and jays are in fine voice (in the Moss) the jays sound horrendous but nice to have them.’

‘Lovely! I was out extra early this morning and saw a hare running across a field at Grahamstone. My eyes were watering so much due to the cold wind that all I saw was a brown fuzzy thing sprinting to the field edge.’

‘15 roe deer spotted together close to the Moss in the fields - though more often split into herds of 7 and 8.’

Some people didn’t have to go beyond their front doors for some interesting sightings.

‘Did we tell you that whilst we were out in the street saluting the NHS on Thursday last I noticed a pair of swallows had re-occupied last year’s nest on the house opposite us?’

‘House martins have returned to their nesting sites in Scotlandwell.
And the first of the rooks nests behind the wash house have chicks. Only one nest last year and 17 this year…'

‘Just saw loads of swallows at least 10 flying around (in Scotlandwell) - spring has sprung’.

‘For the last two nights, bats buzzing around the house.’

‘Hedgehog droppings at Kilmagad Wood.’ (This was followed by an actual hedgehog turning up in a neighbouring garden).

‘Saw 3 jackdaws on Sunday morning...unfortunately they were in the downstairs bedroom.’

For some guidance on what to look for in Portmoak Moss we have commissioned a fantastic booklet for children but which we think adults will also enjoy. We were planning a proper launch and distribution of hard copies of the booklet but as we can’t do that, for the time being, we’ve made it available as a download on our website, link at the top. Enjoy!

Christmas tree pruning: March 2020

It will all be over by Christmas. Won't it? Of course! So we went to the Moss as usual to get trees ready for Christmas - opening them out, removing splits, that sort of thing.

Orchard pruning: March 2020

The orchard has been getting better and better, with the trees looking very healthy and producing good crops, despite our efforts to prune them within an inch or their lives. So once again, we spent a morning with saws and secateurs. We'll find out how we did later in the year at Apple Tree Day.

Burns Ceilidh: 1st February 2020

There were haggis, neeps and tatties. The haggis was thrashed within an inch of it’s life during Bill Carr’s “Address to the Haggis” (actually it got thrashed a bit further than an inch - quite a bit ended up on the walls and ceiling), and there was dancing to the fabulous Ceilidh Minogue Band. A really good community night out and as always, all money we raised goes back into our woodland projects.

Christmas Tree Day: 15 December 2019

Another terrifc regular feature in our calendar where many local families come to get their Christmas Tree. About 80 families came along and had mince pies and drinks too. Early planning: next year Christmas Tree Day will be on Sunday 13 December.

Apple Day: 22 September

This has become a bit of an institution. We picked apples from our community orchard and people bring along their own apples and they all get turned into juice - very delicious too. Apple Tree Man identifies the specias that people bring along and he give great advice on everything applea. There is apple baking and apple games too. About 80 people came and had a super afternoon.

Himalayan Balsom

This highly invasive species has been found in the water courses surrounding Portmoak Moss. Over a few weekends we have cleared out plants from most areas where it has been encroaching. This will be an ongoing effort for the next few years and controlling it and preventing its spead is crucial.

Safety Training

We always focus on running safe events and have a well tried safety approach in place. This was supplemented by 6 of our team going on the Woodland Trust's safety course.

Damsel and Dragon flies

As our peat bog has slowly returned into its original condition, other species are recolonising. In a collaborative effort with the British Dragonfly Society a couple of ponds were dug out on the peat dome. We are expecting these to provide beeding sites which will encourage more odonata species to come to the Moss.

Birch pulling

We've made a big effort to clear birch regen on the peat dome. Up to now regen has mainly been tackled using chemicals but we're keen to see if a more environmentally friendly approach can work.

Pulling out birch sapplings by hand is hard work but the Portmoak team have been hard at it most weekends and there was a big event in September when outside groups including the Cadets and the Bog Squad joined in too. A really large area is now clear and we'll be looking at how well this lasts in comparison to the chemically treated areas.

Chris's Place official opening: 18 June 2019

The project to commemorate Chris Vlasto by making a play area and open air classroom has been completed and opened. The last things put in place were a beautiful green oak table and benches. Lot's of children participated and played at the opening - which Chris would have loved.

Woodland Trust Volunteers Day: 15 June 2019

Volunteers from other groups spent a day with us. The Woodland Trust gave an overview of there sites in Scotland and the things that volunteers do, there was a talk about the dranonfly and damselfly species found on the Moss, and we talked about our events and work.

Teachers Day: 22 May 2019

Local children did a project to gather data about birch regen on the site - how much, how big, where. This information that they have found out will help us to plan future activities to control the regen.

Dawn Chorus: 4 May 2019

An early start - 04:00 - but worth it. When half a dozen of us arrived, even the birds were still in their beds so instead of them waking us up like they usually do, we made a racket and got them going. Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Tree Sparrow, Sedge Warbler and the high pitched Goldcrest joined in.

We had a magic hour and half with Scott Paterson, the bird recorder for Perth and Kinross, pointing out the different birdsongs and giving us loads of information on the birds and the meaning of their songs.

Interagency Climare Change Group visit: 30 April 2019

We were visited by a very prestigious group of scientists: the Interagency Climate Change Group, from the government agencies Scottish Natural Heritage, Natural Resources Wales and Natural England.

The climate change scientists were looking at the capacity of UK peat bogs to store carbon and help combat climate change. They were particularly interested to see how a former commercial forestry plantation like Portmoak could be turned into a peat bog once again.

There was some debate about the question of removing trees, which also store carbon, but of course the WTS, with community help, has planted thousands of trees up in Kilmagad Wood and the scientists were very impressed to see how the two sites complement one another.

Dr. Mike Morecroft, Principal Specialist, Climate Change for Natural England summed up their impressions:

“This site is exemplary. It’s a microcosm of what we need to do to tackle greenhouse gas emissions on the land: planting trees on the hill and restoring peatland, with great community engagement and benefits for peoples’ physical and mental health.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Birch Pulling: spring 2019

Lot's of people have been out manually removing birch regrowth. This is an alternative to using chemical treatment and we're hoping to compare the two methods to see which has the best effect.

Annual General Meeting: 16 April 2019

The office bearers were re-elected. Jeff Gunnell is the Chair, Louise Batchelor is the Secretary and Lesley Botten is the Treasurer.

We're in good shape financially with enough funds to be able to keep putting on public events free of charge but also able to respond rapidly to opportunities, like buying more land or paying for projects, should a suitable opportunity crop up.

We looked back on what we've done in the last year and we're pleased with the balance between management activities and public events.

The constitution is here.

And if you want to see the minutes of the AGM, they are here.

Christmas Tree Pruning: 24 March 2019

Did the usual thing of thinning out split trees, clearing round good looking ones and generally getting ready for Christmas. OK, there's still quite a few shopping days to go, but this activity makes sure that the trees are in good shape in December.

Orchard Pruning: 2 March 2019

The spring haircut for our orchard. We had a good crop last year and this bit of work should make things even better later this year.

Burns Ceilidh: 2 February 2019

Instead of our usual Burns Supper we had a Burns Ceilidh featuring one of Scotland's best ceilidh bands and certainly the best named - Ceilidh Minogue. It was a traditional village ceilidh with dancing, singing and poems. Dr Bill Carr performed his famous Address to (and massacre of) the Haggis, with secret weapons. Survivers thought this was a great night.

PCWG on Facebook    PCWG on Twitter    Follow Portmoak Community Woodland on YouTube

Portmoak Moss - Woodland Trust

Portmoak Community Woodland Group Logo

Upcoming events:

Christmas Trees

Portmoak Moss

Sunday 15th December

11.30 to 2.30

Choose your tree, festive home baking, all for a donation

Recent news:

Latest from the B[L]OG:

PCWG on Facebook    PCWG on Twitter    Follow Portmoak Community Woodland on YouTube

Woodland Trust Scotland

Our website uses cookies. By continuing, we assume your permission to deploy cookies, as detailed in our Privacy and Cookies policies.