Dundreggan News - November 2006

Since we signed the contract for the purchase of Dundreggan in May, there have been a series of delays. At last they are coming to an end and the purchase should be going through. We have been collecting propagation material for planting there, and need to buy Dundreggan Lodge.

Update on the purchase

Patience has been the name of the game with our purchase of the Dundreggan Estate. When we signed the binding contract for the purchase back in May, we expected to take ownership of the estate a few weeks later. Since then, however, there have been a series of delays, to do with getting the relevant paperwork, for registering the sale, signed by the owner’s executors in Italy (where the owner, who died in 2003, lived). The latest news from the solicitor for the executors is that all of the papers should be ready in the next few weeks, so that by the time this newsletter is mailed out, we should have taken title to the estate.

The delays have meant that we have had to put some of our plans on hold for the time being, and I have been staying in touch with our main donors, to keep them up to date on the situation. In the meantime, the funds we have received for the purchase are being held in high interest bearing accounts, so that we are not losing out financially because of the delay.

One positive side to this is that it is allowing us to prepare more thoroughly for becoming significant landowners. A recent joint meeting of the Trees for Life staff and Board of Directors focused on the overall strategy for the management of Dundreggan, and we have also had a preliminary meeting with staff of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) about possible funding for work on the estate - we will be submitting an initial application to them for a Project Planning Grant in the near future.

Collecting seeds for the future forest

Ripe hazelnuts - destined for growing, not eating!

Some of the many hazelnuts collected on Dundreggan this autumn.

Meanwhile, this autumn has been a good seed year, or mast year as it is known, for many tree species, so we have been busy collecting seeds and nuts, in preparation for growing trees that will be planted on Dundreggan in the future. In addition to common species such as rowan, birch and alder, we’ve been focussing on the scarcer trees, including hazel, oak, bird cherry, blackthorn and hawthorn, and have an abundant harvest from many of those. We also collected aspen roots and eared willow cuttings in the spring, and they are already growing in our nursery at Plodda Lodge, soon to be joined by all the seeds from this autumn.

Will you help us buy Dundreggan Lodge?

Dundreggan Lodge

As I mentioned in our last newsletter, we’re still looking for funding to enable us to purchase Dundreggan Lodge within 12 months of us taking title to the estate. A supporter is buying the Lodge initially, to enable us to complete the purchase, and we need to raise about £220,000 to buy it back from him a year later. If you are inspired to help us with this in any way, please contact me at the Trees for Life office.

Alan Watson Featherstone

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