Restoration at Grudie Oakwood Appeal

Oak and birch trees, with a view across Grudie oakwood.

Dear Supporter

Last April I wrote to you asking for your support for a key initiative to link up isolated forest remnants in the south of our target area, at the Allt na Muic gorge in Glen Moriston. I'm delighted to report that we received a very generous response to that appeal, which raised a total of £6,521.50 altogether - my heartfelt thanks to everyone who sent a donation then. Following on from that, we now have an exciting opportunity to carry out innovative and strategically important forest restoration work at Grudie oakwood, at the opposite, northern end of our target area.

A restoration plan for one of Scotland's northernmost oakwoods

Situated beside Loch a'Chuilinn in Strath Bran, Grudie oakwood is owned by Forest Enterprise and is one of the most northerly oakwoods in the country. Oak trees which are two hundred years old grow amongst hazel, birch, rowan and bird cherry, forming a beautiful and diverse native woodland. The site encompasses 200 hectares, of which about 80 hectares are covered in trees, but much of this was underplanted with non-native conifers in 1983-4. Forest Enterprise have recently changed their management goals for Grudie, and they now plan to remove all the non-natives and restore the site to a condition of natural forest. We've been invited to help in the restoration work at Grudie, and in 2000 we ran four of our Conservation Holidays there, felling some of the planted conifers and doing some survey work at the site.

I spent a wonderful and inspiring day with Adam Powell and Paul Kendall out at Grudie at the end of October, and I was deeply touched by the beauty of the woodland - the individual character and personality of the old oaks, the mossy glades and the boulder-strewn cliffs, with dramatic views across Loch a'Chuilinn to the hills in the south. I was also very impressed by the potential for forest regeneration and restoration there. The site offers a tremendous opportunity to re-establish a significant extent of native woodland at the northern end of our target area, in a region where there is very little original forest left at all.

Adam Powell and Paul Kendall discussing the restoration of Grudie oakwood with Jack Mackay of Forest Enterprise.

Whilst at Grudie that day, we met with two staff from Forest Enterprise, and in the course of our discussions, my enthusiasm turned to outright excitement when they invited us to come up with a management strategy for how to achieve their goal of returning the area to native woodland. After the meeting was over, I spent a couple of hours wandering around the woodland by myself, getting to know the area, and with my head full of ideas and inspiration about how to proceed with this great opportunity. As I walked around, I began collecting seeds from hazel and oak trees, and I knew that these were both the literal and symbolic seeds for the return of the forest at Grudie.

Please help the seeds of this project grow into a new forest!

In order for those seeds to grow into healthy new trees, and for us to develop an effective and comprehensive restoration plan, we need your help! With your support, we can apply the skills and experience we have developed over the years to help re-establish an oakwood which will be there for centuries to come. To carry out the work involved in this over the next two years will cost £10,800, so I'm inviting you to help us reach this target by sending a donation now.

Here's what your support will help us to achieve:

These bird cherry seeds collected at Grudie by Adam Powell will be sown in our nursery at Plodda Lodge, and, with your help, will become part of the restored forest at Grudie.

• We will organise a survey of Grudie for the pearl-bordered fritillary, a butterfly which is thought to live there. This butterfly is so rare in Scotland now that the government has drafted a Species Action Plan for its conservation, and if it is confirmed at Grudie an action plan will also need to be prepared for it there.
• We'll map out the locations of the existing oaks and other native trees such as hazel and bird cherry, and develop a plan for their expansion through natural regeneration and planting.
• We'll propagate the trees needed for planting at our nursery at Plodda Lodge, and we've already collected some seed for this last October - a further, more substantial collection will be made this year. We'll also propagate aspen for planting at Grudie - we've discovered five aspen stands nearby, and have 100 young aspens grown from them ready for planting out this spring, with more to follow next year.
• In collaboration with Forest Enterprise, we'll develop a detailed work plan for the next several years at the site, covering the entire range of planned restoration activities, such as felling of the non-native trees, seed collection, tree planting, fence maintenance and deer control, and we'll implement large parts of this ourselves through our Conservation Holidays - two are scheduled for this spring.

Bringing all these elements together, this project provides us with an ideal combination of practical restoration work and full involvement in establishing management plans and priorities.

Your help will make all the difference!

An old oak tree in autumn at Grudie oakwood.

We have no ongoing budget available to finance this project, so we are relying entirely on our supporters to provide the funding we need. Just as I was touched by the experience of that day amongst the oaks of Grudie, so too have I been moved by the wonderful response we've received from supporters like yourself to our previous appeals. With your help now, we will be able to fully embrace this opportunity and establish our first substantial restoration project in the north of our target area.

To make a donation online to this project, please go to our order form, and thank you in advance for whatever contribution you can give. Your support makes all the difference to us!

Yours sincerely,

Alan Watson Featherstone
Executive Director

P.S. We're ready to move ahead with this project now, so please respond straight away. Thank you!

If you would like to make a donation for a different aspect of our work, please see our Appeals for Funds.

Published: January 2001
Last updated: 25 August 2010