MCWG Live Work Group Archives

Clean-Up Day, May 2026

Moth Survey

The May Clean up day didn’t start as normal on the Saturday Morning, but started the evening before. On Friday the 8th May a moth survey was prepared with 3 moth traps to be used. Two traps were supplied by Mary, the county recorder for Butterfly Conservation, with a third moth trap supplied by one of the Woodland Group Members. Mary arrived with her two moth traps at 7:00 pm on Friday evening.

Hebrew Character Moth – Image By Siobhan Fraser

Large Moth Trap, lit up at night by the garden pond — Large Moth Trap – Image by Ian Fraser

The two traps were set up in a back garden in Birch Drive ready to collect any moths hunting during the night of the 8th. The other moth trap was set up in a garden at the other end of the woodland. When the traps were set up, the evening was a bit colder than we would have liked, but everyone was hopeful if the weather remained dry with only a light wind we would have some success overnight. Unfortunately the weather conditions were not conducive with the moth survey and when the traps were checked the next morning only 3 moths had been caught in the traps due to a very cold night with the temperature at less than 3 degrees. One moth in each trap. After identifying and photographing the moths the results were uploaded to the iNaturalist website. The three moths were then released, and the moth traps packed away ready for next time.

The Clean-Up

Area 8 of woodland Beech saplings being thinned — Area 8 being Thinned Out – Image by Ian Fraser

By 10:00 am on Saturday morning the Maryburgh Community Group had gathered in Birch Drive ready to carry out the May clean-up day. With many of the volunteers on holiday only 6 volunteers started work on clearing the Beech saplings within the woodland. Three members of the group started clearing the remaining saplings within area 8 of the 10-year plan. Another 2 members removed the remaining saplings within area 11 of the plan. One member of the group removed the Sequoia cones that were lying on one of the informal tracks within the woodland. This made it much easier and safer for walkers, especially anyone with mobility disabilities to walk through the woodland. Once the track was clear of cones volunteer was able to join the three other members clearing the Beech saplings. The saplings cut down were then stacked in neat piles to rot down and provide habitats for small mammals, invertebrates, fungi and other woodland species.

Refreshments

After 2 hours work in the woodland all the volunteers were able to return to Birch Drive. Alongside the normal sausages and rolls some other members of the Woodland Group had tea and coffee with sausage rolls and cocktail sausages ready for everyone. All this was within the shelter of a member of the woodland groups garage to keep the volunteers dry from the rain. More tea and coffee was available from the back of a volunteer’s car, equipped with a portable gas cooker.

More Help Needed

More help is always needed to maintain and improve the woodland for the benefit of everyone in the community. If you cannot spare a couple of hours to join us for some fun in the woodland, why not help out in other ways. You can now make a donation using our PayPal online system. All donations will go to help with the future development of our community woodland.

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MCWG Live Work Group

Clean-Up Day, April 2026

The first Saturday of April 2026 was also Easter Saturday so we weren’t sure if many volunteers would be able to attend, especially as there was a storm forecast for the afternoon. However, we didn’t need to be concerned as we had 11 volunteers. We were really happy to welcome a new volunteer along.

About 3 years go we consulted with the community regarding what they wanted in their woodland. Following that we drew up a 10-year management plan for the woodland. All the work that we are undertaking within the woodland complies with this plan. We have a lot of non-native beech regeneration, and to a lesser extent, western hemlock. We have permission under our Tree Preservation Order (TPO) to remove this non-native regeneration to allow the native regeneration to grow and thrive.

Compartment 10

A couple of months ago we started clearing the beech regeneration from Compartment 10. This month we returned to the area and tackled a small area of very dense beech regeneration. With 11 volunteers we soon cleared the beech away and were pleased to see some native regeneration, along with some “memory tree” regeneration. There’s at least one Grand Fir.

While we were doing this one of the volunteers armed with picker and black bag started to tackle some of the litter that has been dropped, or blown, into the woodland.

In the woodland, Compartment 10, looking towards the area that was cleared on Saturday 4 April 2026 — Area cleared, and small fir tree regeneration now visible. Photo by Siobhan Fraser

Compartment 11

Although Compartment 11 has a lot of very large, mature beech trees it didn’t have too much beech regeneration. What there was, was mainly around the edges or in bands across the area. These were tackled and removed.

!!! Tree Down !!!

As we were working we were approached by some local residents. They had been out for a walk and had come across a tree that had come down and was partially blocking Dunglass Road. Several of the volunteers, armed with Caution signs, saws and loppers and personal protective clothing headed down to deal with tree. We were very pleased the residents had mentioned this to us. If you are out in the woodland, and find a tree down or something else that you think we should know about, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Compartment 12

Time was marching on, but that didn’t stop us starting Compartment 12. This will be quite a slow compartment as we are starting to work our way into an area that is predominantly native trees and there’s a lot of natural regeneration in this area. So, we are having to check each tree before we cut it to make sure that it is only the beech regeneration that we are removing.

We will have to continue tackling this area in future sessions.

Start of Compartment 12 - with the beech regeneration removed — Beech Regeneration removed, now left with native regeneration – photo by Siobhan Fraser

The Compartment Map

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MCWG Live Work Group

Clean-Up Day, March 2026

3 volunteers cutting down small beech trees and one volunteer walking down the track with a Work In Progress sign – Photo by Ian Fraser

The first Saturday in March 2026 and 6 members from Maryburgh Community volunteers headed into the Woodland to carry out the monthly clean-up day. Due to other activities in the Maryburgh area this month there were fewer volunteers than normal. Now that the dangerous branches of an oak that overhang the core path leading up from Dunglass Road had been safely removed by the tree surgeons the remaining Beech saplings within compartment 8 could be safely taken down.

The saplings cut down were then stacked in neat piles to rot down and provide habitats for small mammals, invertebrates, fungi and other woodland species. The stack also provided nutrients for the soils and acted as wind breaks to protect the plants in the understory.

Refreshments for All

After 2 hours work in the woodland all the volunteers were able to return to the open green space by Birch Drive. Other members of the Woodland Group had tea and coffee with biscuits ready for everyone. All this was within the shelter of a Gazebo erected by members of the woodland group to keep the volunteers dry from the rain. More tea and coffee was available from the back of a volunteer’s car, equipped with a portable gas cooker.

A dead hedge of cuttings with two volunteers – Photo by Ian Fraser

More Help Needed

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MCWG Live Work Group

Clean-Up Day, February 2026

The first Saturday in February 2026 once again saw 12 members from Maryburgh going into the Community Woodland to help with the monthly clean-up. Today’s activity was to place bat and bird boxes throughout the woodland. The volunteers included some of Maryburgh Mens Shed who had been making the bird and bat boxes over the winter months. The weather was cold but dry most of the time and all the volunteers armed with warm clothing, extending ladders, hammers and aluminium nails, to avoid damaging any of the trees, set off throughout the woodland. The volunteers split up into three groups, with each group taking some of the bat and bird boxes to put up. Volunteers from the Mens Shed also made a red squirrel box and owl box, but due to the size and weight of these some thought would need to be given about the best way to get these up the trees.

Volunteer hanging bat boxes on tree – photo by Elsbeth Neil

The Work Begins

Suitable trees were identified and a suitable bat or bird box selected to be placed on the tree. These were positioned to avoid direct sunlight and at a suitable height depending on the type of occupant we wished to encourage. Some birds like to be high off the ground, while Robins prefer nesting closer to the ground. The bats like their roosts around the tree to allow them to relocate if the heat of the sun overheats their initial choice. The ladders were placed against the tree and making sure the ladder footing was firmly positioned to ensure the tree didn’t move or shake. One member of the group slowly climbed the ladder to make sure it didn’t move, while a second member of the group held the bottom of the ladder and made sure it was safe. The remaining group members were ready to hand up the tools to fix the bird or bat box in place.

A team of volunteers fixing a bird box to a tree – photo by Elsbeth Neil

Refreshments for All

After an hour and a half later, all the boxes were positioned around the woodland and the volunteers were able to return to the open green space by Birch Drive. Other members of the Woodland Group had tea and coffee with rolls filled with sausages, black pudding and bacon ready for everyone. After the rolls, home baking was again provided, all this was within the shelter of a Gazebo erected by members of the woodland group to keep the volunteers dry from the rain. More tea and coffee was available from the back of a car, equipped with a portable gas cooker.

More Help Needed

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MCWG Live Work Group

Clean-Up Day, January 2026

On Saturday morning, the 17th January, seven local volunteers from Maryburgh were in the community woodland for the first Clean-Up day of 2026.

The volunteers weren’t deterred by the cold, wet, freezing conditions in January and everyone started work on the next stage of the maintenance plan guidelines, removing the invasive non-native Beech saplings identified in the plan. Unlike last month, this time the red squirrels didn’t come out to play, preferring to remain in the warm and have the local community volunteers provide them with the entertainment. The volunteers, however, did find hair ice on the branches and twigs within the woodland. Hair ice, also known as ice wool or frost beard, is a type of ice that forms on dead decomposing wood in broadleaf woodland, resembles fine, silky hair. It typically occurs at latitudes between 45 and 55° N in humid conditions when temperatures are slightly below freezing and is associated with the fungus Exidiopsis effusa, which helps shape and stabilize the ice.

The Clean-Up

After deciding on the work needing done, the community volunteers made their way to compartment 10, just close to the old workings, known by various names such as the “porridge bowl”, an area previously excavated within the woodland. This had numerous Beech saplings that the volunteers soon cleared with saws and loppers. The saplings cut down were then stacked in neat piles to rot down and provide habitats for small mammals, invertebrates, fungi and other woodland species. The stack of saplings also provided nutrients for the soils in the woodland and acted as wind breaks to protect the plants in the understory.

Volunteers removing Beech saplings from compartment 10 within the woodland — Volunteers removing Beech saplings – Image by Ian Fraser

Close up of Hair ice on the branches within woodland — Close up of Hair ice – Image by Siobhan Fraser

Morning refreshments

As normal with our monthly clean-ups, the volunteers met at the end of the morning to enjoy tea and rolls. One of our volunteers provide tea in his camper van. Due to the inclement weather, the tea and rolls were enjoyed in a volunteer’s garage this month to avoid the wet weather.

The Maryburgh Community Woodland Group would like to thank all the volunteers from the village who gave up a Saturday morning to help with the monthly clean-up.

More Help Needed

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MCWG Live Work Group