CONSULTATION: HAVE YOUR SAY!
Have your say!
Muirhouse Park Play Area
New designs for Muirhouse play area are available to view and add your comments here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MuirhousePark
Let us know what you think before Friday 25th October
Community Tree Care Day
Granton Crescent Park
Wednesday 28th February 2024
Drop in from 10.00am to 12 noon
Come and join us for some tree care and learn more about the ‘Wee Forest’. Tree saplings have a greater chance of survival with some weeding and care.
We recommend sturdy footwear. No special equipment or experience necessary. We will provide you with gloves and any tools you need.
For more info email: Kate@elgt.org.uk or phone: 0131 4454025
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…/free-tree-collection-at…
Please note there is no need to book, you can just turn up, but if you do book we will have a better idea of numbers. Pop along between 1-4pm.
Our first Free Tree Giveaway event will be taking place this week!
You can find us at Gyle Shopping Centre on Friday 3rd November and Saturday 4th November! Just drop-in at anytime between 10am – 2pm to pick your free garden tree.
GET INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING EXCITING NEW PLANS FOR LOCAL GREEN SPACE
West Pilton Park Development Meeting
Tuesday 13th June, 5.30 – 7pm at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre
West Pilton Park has received significant funding for development. We need your help to guide issues such as paths & access, play & leisure, nature & wildlife, and security.
Come along, get involved, and help guide the development of your local greenspace.
Dylaw and Telford Community Council is delighted to announce that funding has been secured to carry out a community wide consultation to seek the views of local people on what can be done to improve the greenspaces in our area.
This work will build on a previous consultation carried out more than 15 years ago which saw more than £500,000 worth of investment in improving local open spaces.
The £5,000 funding from the Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s Community Grants Fund will enable the community council to work with Edinburgh and Lothian Greenspace Trust (ELGT) again on this exciting project.
Over the next few months there will be a wide range of opportunities for local people to give their views on what could be done to improve some of the open spaces in our area.
Community Council Chairperson, Jimmy Galloway, said: “We are very fortunate in our area to have some great big parks and open spaces for locals to use. These areas are busy and well used and it is now time to see what else could be done to make them even better.
“This consultation will ensure everyone within the community gets the opportunity to give us feedback. That could be by completing an online survey or attending one of the many events that will be taking place.
“We are really looking forward to getting started in the coming weeks and I certainly can’t wait to see the results.
“We are working with the Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust on this – they have worked with us in the past and have a great knowledge of the area and a proven track record of delivering projects.”
Charlie Cumming, Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to be working with Drylaw and Telford community Council again to help develop plans to improve the local greenspaces.
“There are many opportunities to help make the area greener and more biodiverse which will mitigate against climate change. The aim being to create a great place for future generations and to encourage greater use of the greenspaces for local families.”
FREE TREES AT INCH NURSERY
Come along to our Free Tree giveaway to collect a free tree at Inch Nursery on February 24th & 25th!
We are giving Edinburgh residents free trees as part of the Edinburgh Million Tree City Initiative.
Find out more: https://tree-time.com/free-trees/
Join us to plants woodland summer flowers in West Pilton Park!
Fun & friendly FREE event
Tools, Gloves & bulbs provided
Please dress for the weather
Meet at entrance to the park by West Pilton Gardens
For further details contact Emily: emily@elgt.org.uk or telephone 0794353086
Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards has named its first Climate Change Champion – just before global green summit COP26 comes to Scotland.
The annual ‘Tree Oscars’ to recognise Scotland’s finest forests and woodlands have named their first Climate Change Champion – just weeks before COP26 comes to Glasgow.
Balbeg Estate’s Bennan Hill, near Straiton, Ayrshire – owned by Andrew and Lynne Sinclair – won the new award, sponsored by CarbonStore, as Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards returned after a Covid-cancellation in 2020.
Professor Chris Quine, Chief Scientist at Forest Research, who led the team assessing the Climate Change Champion entries, said: “The judges were very keen to find a worthy winner for the new award and we certainly did find one, in Balbeg Estate.
“Bennan Hill was a well-planned and well-executed case study, drawing on guidance and expert knowledge to address the climate emergency by establishing trees to sequester carbon and contribute to a decarbonised future.
“Even more noteworthy was the way the estate demonstrated an integrated approach to tackling climate change throughout its activities with actions relating to mitigation, adaptation and knowledge exchange. The owners demonstrated a strong commitment and a real consistency of vision which made this site a very worthy champion.”
The other 2021 winners ranged from a small playgroup in Perth and a high school in Pitlochry – whose mascot Scotty the Squirrel collected their prize – to Scotland’s largest landowner, Anders Holch Povlsen, who won the New Native Woods Award for Killiehuntly Woodland in the Cairngorms.
Mr Povlsen said the success was based on “a big team effort” and added: “We very much appreciate this recognition and I’m very proud.”
Thomas MacDonell, Director of Conservation at Wildland Ltd, who led the project, said it was “absolutely fantastic” to win what he described as “the premier forestry awards”. He added: “This could not have happened without Anders Holch Povlsen, who had the vision and courage to stick by us.”
It was a year of firsts – the first Climate Change Champion prize, the first time the Awards were held online in almost 40 years – and the first award for early years woodland education.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the schools and early years prizes for Pitlochry High School and Perth Outdoor Playgroup. She said: “I’m delighted to be able to support these fantastic Awards again, and to see young people in Scotland, from nursery through to secondary school, engaging with trees and nature in such a positive way.
“In the year that COP26 comes to Scotland, it’s important that our schools and early years settings continue to encourage young people to enjoy and value our woodlands. By learning about woodlands, taking part in activities, and sometimes also by planting new trees and protecting our woodlands, our young people are creating a greener, better future for Scotland. Congratulations to all the awards winners and everyone involved in celebrating the very best woodlands in Scotland.”
Angela Douglas, Executive Director of Scotland’s Finest Woods, said: “The high standard and number of entries in the Schools Award made it hard for judges to separate schools and early years settings.
“As a result the Outdoor & Woodland Learning Scotland team at Scottish Forestry agreed to provide an early years trophy – a beautiful carved wooden acorn reflecting the saying ‘From little acorns mighty oaks grow’ – and prize money.”
The number and quality of entries for the 2021 awards was very strong overall, Angela Douglas added.
“The strength of the awards depends on maintaining very high standards and recognising entries that truly deserve the title ‘finest woods’,” she said. “After the Covid cancellation in 2020, I’m delighted we have been able to bounce back with such a high-quality programme – and I would especially like to thank our 23 volunteer judges who put in so much work in difficult circumstances to ensure the quality standard was maintained.”
The Climate Change Champion Award was selected from entrants to other categories who specified that they would also like to be considered for the prize. They had to show that their woodland had contributed to mitigating climate change, adapted to the changing climate or raised awareness about the issue.
“We had a strong winner and two strong highly commended entries in this new category, which is so important for any forest or woodland – and us all,” said Angela Douglas.
Balbeg Estate, winner of the Climate Change Champion Award, also won the Quality Timber Award and John Kennedy Trophy for Multi-purpose forestry for a whole forest or estate.
The two Climate Change Champion runners-up were Borders Forest Trust’s ecological restoration project at Corehead, near Moffat, Dumfriesshire (also Highly Commended behind Killiehuntly in the New Native Woods category) and Aylsa Leslie (with forestry consultant Simon Jacyna) for Auchintender, near Huntly, Aberdeenshire – also winner of the Quality Timber Award for silvicultural excellence in a single stand or compartment of trees, or small wood.
There was wide geographical coverage, with Laide and Aultbea Community Woodland in Ross-shire winning the Small Community Woodland Group Award. Judges were “impressed by the endeavour and enthusiasm” of the group and noted that the local community was heavily engaged in “supporting and managing the woodland with tangible benefits – recreation, practical hands-on experience and enjoyment”.
Craigmillar Castle Park in Edinburgh, which won the Large Community Woodland Group prize, was praised by judges for its community engagement programme, run by Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust.
Judges also said: “It has been notable how valuable the woodland has been to the local community during lockdown, providing an attractive local greenspace which has helped greatly with physical and mental wellbeing.”
In the Farm Woodland Awards, the Young People’s Award went to James and Nikki Yoxall from Howemill, near Huntly in Aberdeenshire – “a wonderful example of a unique integration of trees and farming” – while the overall Farm Woodland Award went to Wendy Seel and Anne Taylor at North Tillydaff, Midmar, Aberdeenshire. Runners-up in the category were spread widely, from Skye to Stirling and Peterhead.
The New Commercial Woodland award (part of the Quality Timber Awards) went to the large Larriston Forest scheme near Newcastleton in the Scottish Borders.
Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards: roll of honour 2021
Climate Change Champion Award
Winner: Andrew & Lynne Sinclair, Balbeg Estate’s Bennan Hill, Straiton, Ayrshire;
Highly Commended: Borders Forest Trust, Corehead, near Moffat, Dumfriesshire;
Highly Commended: Aylsa Leslie, Auchintender, near Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
Farm Woodland Award
Winner: Wendy Seel & Anne Taylor, North Tillydaff, Midmar, Aberdeenshire;
Highly Commended: Elaine Booth & Peter Robertson, Ednie Farms, St Fergus, near Peterhead;
Commended: Walter & Margaret Dalgleish, Parks of Garden, Arnprior, near Stirling;
Commended: Phil Knott, Wildlife Croft Skye, Sleat, Isle of Skye.
Farm Woodland Award (Young People)
Winner: James & Nikki Yoxall, Howemill, Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
Community Woodlands Award
Large Community Woodland Group
Winner: Craigmillar Castle Park, Edinburgh (Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust);
Commended: Tiroran Community Forest, Isle of Mull, Argyll (South West Mull & Iona Development).
Small Community Woodland Group
Winner: Laide & Aultbea Community Woodland, Laide, Ross-shire
Highly Commended: Camusnagaul & Achaphubuil, Near Ardgour, Highland (Treslaig & Achaphubuil Crofters Woodland Trust);
Commended: Hannahston Community Woodland, Drongan, East Ayrshire (Friends of Hannahston Woods & East Ayrshire Woodlands) and
Lochend Woods, Dunbar, East Lothian (Dunbar Community Woodland Group).
New Native Woods
Winner: Anders Holch Povlsen, Killiehuntly Woodland, Cairngorms;
Highly Commended: Eriboll Estate, Loch Hope Woodlands, Eriboll Estate, North West Sutherland;
Highly Commended: Forestry and Land Scotland (Central Region team), Balgownie Woods, West Fife;
Highly Commended: Borders Forest Trust, Corehead, near Moffat, Dumfriesshire
Commended: Torwoodlee & Buckholm Estates Co. Ltd., Halkburn Woodland, Torwoodlee Estate, Galashiels, Scottish Borders;
Commended: Hector MacLean, New Spott Wood, near Kirriemuir, Angus.
Quality Timber Awards
New Commercial Woods
Winner: Mrs J C Hands, Larriston Forest, Newcastleton, Scottish Borders;
Highly Commended: James Jones & Sons Ltd., Tillyrie, Milnathort, Perth & Kinross;
Single stand of trees, compartment or small wood
Winner: Aylsa Leslie, Auchintender, near Huntly, Aberdeenshire;
Highly Commended: William Urquhart for Craigston Castle, Turriff, Aberdeenshire.
Whole Forest or Estate
Winner: Andrew & Lynne Sinclair, Balbeg Estate, Straiton, Ayrshire;
Schools Award
Winner: Pitlochry High School, Perthshire
Runner-up: Robert Douglas Memorial School, Scone, Perthshire
Early Years Award
Winner: Perth Outdoor Playgroup, Perth;
Runner-up: Middlefield Nursery, Aberdeen.
A new play park and outdoor gym was opened in West Pilton last week. Councillor Susan Rae cut the tape with Friends of West Pilton Park’s Sara Martin, ELGT’s Charlie Cummings and Scotland Manager of Fields in Trust, Colin Rennie.
Children from Pirniehall and Forthview Primary schools also braved the weather to check out the new facilities.
You can learn more about the development and watch an interview with Susan, Sara and Colin who talk about the importance of developing greenspaces and supporting local communities in urban areas here.
Founder Member of Friends of West Pilton Park, Parklife, Sara Martin said: “The local residents are delighted with the new junior play park and outdoor gym facilities.
“The old play parks were disjointed, very limited and definitely past their sell-by-date. The newly upgraded play park and outdoor gym are so much more interesting, with lots of exciting new equipment to try out and enjoy.
“Thank you Edinburgh & Lothian Greenspace Trust for delivering it.”
