Tuesday
This week we found ourselves on a trek to Falkirk, on a mission to make Callendar Wood less “scary”. After a rather long bus journey we met Roz from the Forestry Commission who explained what their aim for the woods was. Then we went for it. After being told that we didn’t need to trim the giant yew tree due to the scale of the work needed, we went full pelt and did it in 2 minutes. After this we curbed our enthusiasm due to dangerous overhanging branches.Then we all split up and moved through the wood taking out any unwanted undergrowth, such as sitka and rhodies. At this point we should welcome the FELPers, including Rachel who has deserted us for their ranks, lured by promises of exciting training opportunities (and a chainsaw). Lunchtime we discovered Anna’s OCD, in the form of kitkat and Satsuma eating habits. This spurred us on for the afternoon. We also did a spot of lichen ID, to get us in the mood for the real survey later in the week.
Wednesday
A convoy of 2 minibuses was required today, blatantly ignoring Fiona outside Ryan’s Bar on the way to Callendar wood for round two of the epic tree chopping down extravaganza. Many a tree was chopped, and many a midge bite was gained. A slight mishap included the misplacing of Willie and a bowsaw in separate incidents, although both turned up in the end much to Anna’s relief. She likes that bowsaw. Last thing was a quick recap of our lichen ID.
Thursday
After battling the traffic once more we once again went to Callendar wood. The same high standard of enthusiasm was present from all volunteers and FELPers and led to another swathe of woodland being cut back. Fiona actually worked in the morning (we have photos) before returning to a supervisory role in the afternoon. The afternoon also included the dramatic climax to our lichen studies, being the actual survey. 12 puzzled people wandering round the woods eventually decided that we might indeed have some lichen on the chosen trees. As to which sort was open to debate, with 12 differing opinions all enthusiastically arguing that their identification was the right one.
Click this link to see more photos