Thursday, 24 January 2019
If you’ve been taking part in RSPB’s 2019 Big Garden Bird Watch (26-28 January), you might already have seen Part 1 of our quick reference guide to some of Scotland’s best-loved birds, commonly found in our gardens. We hope you enjoyed Bird Bingo Round 1 - it's a quick, fun, easy game for the whole family to enjoy! Here in Part 2, we’ll give you another six bird species to spo...
Thursday, 24 January 2019
Photo: Edi Libedinsky on Unsplash Just in time for RSPB’s 2019 Big Garden Bird Watch (26-28 January), we’ve pooled our ornithological knowledge and designed a quick reference guide to some of Scotland’s best-loved birds! It’s a fun game anyone can join in with - and in this blog post, we’ll give you a few extra facts about these bird species. Grab some binoculars, get the bird feeders...
Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Image by Marcus Spiske via Unsplash. As the year draws to a close, you might think outdoor activities are off the table, but don’t be too hasty! Leaf pressing is a brilliant activity for autumn and early winter. Get out and capture the quiet beauty of the trees and plants in nature.
Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Forest Enterprise Scotland has a broad and valued range of suppliers, many of which are small to medium enterprises and micro businesses. We are also very proud of our support for rural economies through our work in rural and often remote parts of Scotland. To extend our support for our suppliers we have engaged with a public sector programme called the Supplier Development Programme. The Suppli...
Wednesday, 14 November 2018
We continue to seek to build on bumper visitor numbers National Forest Estate (NFE) through new opportunities and investments. 10.7 million visits were made to the in 2017 – an increase of 18% since 2013 (9.1million). The NFE boasts over 1,200km of walking tracks, 130 cycle routes, wildlife viewing spots and 8 visitor centres making it an ideal place to come for a family day out or to take part...
Monday, 29 October 2018
New land management plan guidance aims to provide more structured Land Management Plans. Plans now include upfront summaries of what the plan will achieve and a careful record of the rationale behind the decisions that Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) makes to manage the land to meet a wide range of objectives. Each plan now includes a list of the challenges that need to be tackled in the first te...
Tuesday, 09 October 2018
150 sacks of Sitka spruce cones and 72 sacks of Alaskan Lodgepole pine cones have been collected by hand to help provide seeds to sow as trees on the National Forest Estate.
Wednesday, 26 September 2018
A ‘secret’ population of butterflies has been found in the Trossachs. The Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterfly, which is now very rare in England and Wales, but more widely found in the north of Scotland, was thought to be locally extinct in the Trossachs.
Friday, 14 September 2018
The broch of Caisteal Grugaig overlooks Loch Alsh at Totaig. It was built around 2,000 years ago, part of an Iron Age settlement tradition of small defended homesteads found all along the Atlantic coast of Scotland. The word broch comes from the Norse ‘borg’, meaning fort. But although they protected their occupants, they also demonstrated land ownership and tenure. Brochs were built in places...
Sunday, 09 September 2018
There’s been some media interest in the use of chemicals in forestry and in particular on the National Forest Estate. We spoke to Jo Ellis, Forest Enterprise Scotland’s Acting Head of Land Management to find out a bit more about why, how and when chemicals are used to protect our young trees. Why do you need to use chemicals for tree planting? “It’s important that everyone understands t...
Monday, 03 September 2018
A key forest management operation for Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) is thinning trees which creates better quality timber and makes the trees more resilient to pests and diseases. Thinning also opens up the tree canopy to encourage greater biodiversity and a more accessible forest. Not all forests can be thinned, as some are on soils, or at elevations where thinning would actually be detrimenta...
Thursday, 30 August 2018
Fresh water pearl mussels aren’t something you’d normally think about when you enter a forest. But most of the world’s remaining populations of fresh water pearl mussels live in rivers and streams in partially or wholly forested catchments. This means sustainable forest management has a pivotal role to play in conserving this globally threatened population. The FES North Highland Forest Dis...
Monday, 13 August 2018
Newton Nursery in Morayshire is now managed by Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES). This will allow FES to take on full responsibility for its future plant and seed supply, including seed stands and orchards, seed collections, storage and sales.
Wednesday, 25 July 2018
Four more applications for communities to buy or lease parts of the National Forest Estate have been approved under the Community Asset Transfer Scheme (CATS).