Tayside Woodland Partnerships (TWP) celebrated the establishment of its first new Community Woodland near Spittalfield. The native woodland was planted by volunteers from the local community in March 2022 with native broadleaved species. The area is already showing signs of an increase in biodiversity with Dactylorhiza purpurella (Northern Marsh Orchid) now growing in what was a field of rushes grazed by sheep.

With the emphasis of the tree planting by the Group being mainly for environmental improvement through habitat creation and carbon dioxide sequestration, it is difficult to justify the capital costs of land purchase.  However, for landowners it is often difficult to justify the costs of establishing woodland, purely for the environment with little or no commercial benefits.  Hence the concept of partnerships between the Group and landowners, whereby the costs and benefits are shared between the landowner and the Community

At Spittalfield, the farmers who have provided the land, extending to just over 0.3 ha have agreed a Licence to Occupy the land with Tayside Woodland Partnerships which allows members of the community to access the woodland to enjoy the fresh air and nature while observing the development of the trees and any new wildlife that they attract. The Group hopes to employ this model together with other landowners in the region, especially where small parcels of relatively unproductive land can be planted to improve connectivity with existing woodlands.

In due course the woodlands will be used for various educational activities, such as species identification and measuring the amount of carbon dioxide that the woodland has sequestered.

TWP is currently looking for suitable areas of land around Tayside and for new members across the region. We also hope to attract funding from various sources so that TWP can cover much of the costs of the woodland establishment in return for use of the land.