Borders Forest Trust

🌱Spring has arrived at Carrifran Wildwood! Last week the distinctive song of the chiffchaff returned, filling the valley with the sounds of spring. We are seeing the beginning of the seasonal succession of flowering plants such as primroses, wood anemone and marsh marigold, and the puddocks have been busy! Meanwhile, the hard graft of removing plastic vole guards continues, with a group of fantastic volunteers joining us for our 'Free the Trees' day at the weekend. A huge thanks to you all! 25 years on from planting the first trees this is one of the last jobs to do before we step back and let nature flourish at its own pace. The past quarter of a century has seen us plant over 2 million trees across our Wild Heart sites in the Southern Uplands. During that time ecological restoration has gained momentum, and it is heartening to hear about all the projects across the country restoring nature, and with it, hope. You can read more about the story of Carrifran Wildwood here: https://lnkd.in/dx_smfHT or in our book 'A Journey in Landscape Restoration: Carrifran Wildwood and beyond' https://lnkd.in/eHPtKHCW 📷 P. Ashmole, A. Wilson, C. Patience Rewilding Britain The Scottish Rewilding Alliance Scottish Environment LINK Rewilding Europe #WorldRewildingDay #rewildingtogether #EcologicalRestoration

As part of Destination Tweed UK we are planting 52,500 native trees and shrubs with volunteers across the Wild Heart! Find out more in the video below 👇

✨ Friday Feature - Celebrating achievements!🌳 Destination Tweed has planted over 65,000 trees in the past two years! This amazing effort by our team, local volunteers, and landowners is helping to create native woodlands, restore natural habitats, and enhance parklands along the river. But there's still more to do! 🌿 Designed Landscapes project facilitator Derek Robeson, Tweed Forum, has helped 6 estates so far to plant specimen and native trees. Derek is currently exploring the potential of this restorative work with more estates to help conserve and regenerate these sites of historic, natural and cultural heritage. 🌿 Hamish Robertson, who works for Tweed Forum on the Woodlands for Wildlife and Water project, worked with landowners and farmers last year to plant new native woodland at Edston, Lyne and Upper Kidston. Site surveys will soon check the progress of this planting, crucial for combating climate change effects on the river. 🌿 Reviving the Wild Heart of Southern Scotland is a partnership project with Borders Forest Trust focusing on the care and restoration of the natural landscape at Talla & Gameshope, and Corehead & Ericstane. Rural skills workshops and several planting days have already been completed in 2025, helping to train volunteers and rebuild a healthy ecosystem at these sites. If you want to know more about how you or your company can support the work of our projects in the Tweed Catchment, or you are a landowner or farmer and want information on our planting schemes, get in touch via info@destinationtweed.org. The Designed Landscape project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Fallago Environment Fund and private contributions. Woodlands for Wildlife and Water was made possible by funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Government Forestry Grant and a range of Trusts and Foundations. Reviving the Wild Heart is supported by funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. All graphics designed and supplied by Hillside Agency. #destinationtweeduk #rivertweed #treeplanting #volunteerwork #ruralskills #nativewoodland #landscaperestoration #parklandestates #conservation #nationallottery #heritagefund

🙌Three cheers for the volunteers! Throughout the winter our hardy volunteers have been hard at work, planting trees at Molls Cleuch in the Talla valley. We could not do it without them! Here's what they have to say... "Volunteering with BFT has given me a new lens on where and how I live; it restores and inspires." "My regular volunteering day has become an important part of my week. I look forward to the company and the shared feeling of contributing to the community and to broader biodiversity." "It is great to be part of a community doing long-term, thought-out ecological restoration and enhancement work." 🚐 The support of the wonderful folk at Rabbie's Tours has made our weekend planting days accessible to more people. By providing free transport to our sites, more volunteers can get involved, and this means that more trees go in the ground. Over just three winter Sundays volunteers have planted nearly 4,000 trees! Species such as oak, downy birch, alder, hazel, hawthorn and willow will all play a part in restoring healthy ecosystems across the Wild Heart. 🌳As part of Destination Tweed UK we are planting 52,500 trees and shrubs across our Wild Heart sites Talla, Gameshope, Corehead and Ericstane, which will create 80ha of upland native woodland and montane scrub. You can visit https://lnkd.in/eq42pnaa to find out more. 🌱Besides volunteering, there are many ways to get involved in our ecological restoration work. BFT is a membership organisation, and as a member, you will not only be enabling us to plant more trees and develop our conservation and habitat work, you will also be adding your voice to ours, demonstrating support for our natural environment: https://lnkd.in/dKcWDpmK 📷 @Airborne Lens Destination Tweed UK The National Lottery Heritage Fund Tweed Forum

This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the incredible women shaping the future of forestry. From implementing innovative strategies to improving the return on investment in reforestation, these women are making a lasting impact in the industry. We are incredibly grateful to have worked alongside so many inspiring professionals, including: 🌿 Cora Pfarre fromMaydencroft 🌿 Victoria Potts, Veronica Moreno Llorente, Emily Gerrard from RTS Forestry🌿 Karen Woods The Nature Trust)🌿 Nicola Hunt from Borders Forest Trust🌿 @Gill Smart Scottish Wildlife Trust🌿 Isla Campbell, Charlotte Cavey-Wilcox, @Kathryn Reid Scottish Woodlands Ltd🌿 Sarah Watts from Corrour Estate)🌿 @Rebecca Logsdon Fife Coast & Countryside Trust 🌿 Laura McEwan from The Woodland Trust🌿 Olivia FitzGerald, Paige Brown from Tilhill Forestry)🌿 shaila rao from National Trust for Scotland)🌿 Penelope Whitehorn (Highlands Rewilding)🌿 @Jill Hodge , Gwendolyn Raes (Trees for Life)🌿 Ellie Morris (Cheshire Wildlife Trust)🌿 Ellie Jackson-Smith (Mossy Earth) We, of course, can’t forget our amazing team and the women who make this all possible! From our Head of Bioprocessing, Ewa Guzniczak, to our Lab Manager, Rebecca Monaghan, and the incredible efforts of our technicians and lab techs, Alison Stewart, Aoife McKenna, and Zara Henry, as well as our Plant Data scientist Petra Guy and our Australian Lab Manager Dr Susan Cairney and our European BDM Franziska S., BD Milena Carlot and process scientist Joana Silva as well as our mycologist, Emma Craib—their work is instrumental in driving our mission forward. We look forward to collaborating with more women in forestry and continuing to shape the future of reforestation together. Tag the incredible women we’ve missed in the comments and celebrate the amazing work they’re doing! 🌍💚 #WomenInForestry #Innovation #Biodiversity #womensday

📢 We're delighted to announce a new exhibition of experimental photography focusing on our ecological restoration work in the Wild Heart. In 2024 photographer Sam Laughlin spent 6 weeks living off-grid on our Wild Heart sites, capturing and reflecting on the ecological changes taking place in the landscape. 📷 Gathering Light is the first solo exhibition in Scotland for artist Sam Laughlin. It’s the first chance to view Sam’s gorgeous new black and white photographs, produced during his 2024 Wild Heart artist residency, a collaboration between Connecting Threads and Borders Forest Trust, under the source-to-sea project Destination Tweed UK 🗓️1 February – 4 May at Dawyck Botanic Garden Read more: https://lnkd.in/eh-F3YqJ

🎉 Carrifran turns 25! 🌱25 years ago the first trees were planted at Carrifran, marking the start of the Wildwood and what would become the Wild Heart. On New Year’s Day a group of founding members and supporters gathered at the entrance to the now wooded valley, to celebrate and reflect on all that has been achieved. ❄️"Snow, rain and wind did not stop us on Millennium Day, nor did they on New Year's Day, 25 years later, when a dozen or so of us gathered at Carrifran to celebrate this quarter century. The bugle that signaled the moment to plant the first 100 trees was again blown and Joe Wilton struck up 'The Rowan Tree' on his small pipes, recalling another piper on that first planting day. The mood was excited, as all of us who have seen the valley grow and change over these years are thrilled by how well it is developing. It's not just trees but flowers, insects, birds and beasts that are flooding back to occupy this new demi-paradise. We see it as an oasis of optimism in a world beset by so many troubles.” - Fi Martynoga 🌳In the words of two founding members Philip and Myrtle Ashmole “The efforts of all those who have dreamed, planned and planted are now coming to fruition: Carrifran is becoming a Wildwood once again.” 🙌 We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved over the last quarter of a century, here’s to the next 25 years! 📷 BFT, Jan 2025 📷 Colin McLean Photography, Dec 2022 #wildheart #carrifran #ecologicalrestoration #Ecology #25years #newyear #anniversary

What are the most important research priorities for native woodland in Scotland? We're teaming up with Borders Forest Trust, Trees for Life, Future Woodlands Scotland and Edinburgh University to identify the research priorities for native woodland that are most important to practitioners. Tell us by Friday 10th Jan what you think via this short survey form. https://lnkd.in/ergy-art

It's been great working with AOC Archaeology Group to uncover and share the rich heritage of our #WildHeart sites

📢More positive news for those who want to see an ecologically restored Southern Scotland and #WildHeart! 🍃We are delighted to announce that we have secured funding from Mossy Earth to plant mountain birch, and high elevation growing downy birch at Talla & Gameshope. These 3135 trees will be used to establish a high elevation birch woodland above our low level mixed broadleaved woodland. ⛰️The planting will take place predominantly at three areas in the Wild Heart: Molls Cleuch (between 550-700m above sea level), Ether Cleuch amongst establishing montane scrub, as well as Donald’s Cleuch/Great Hill. 🌱We hope the planting will create a more complete woodland ecotone. An ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate. They are a very rich spaces for supporting biodiversity, and for this reason they are so important to protect and nurture! 🍄🟫The planting will include an inoculation trial, designed by Rhizocore Technologies to establish if mycorrhizae inoculation aid survival and establishment in these trees when growing at altitude. 🌿We will be planting in spring 2025 with the TreeSurv Woodland Management planting team. A huge thanks to Mossy Earth and One Tree Planted for supporting the planting of this new woodland type at Talla & Gameshope. 1/3 planting birch in the Wild Heart (credit Sam Knight) 2/3 the landscape that we will be planting in (Talla & Gameshope) 3/3 red pole marks plotted location for our trial planting of mountain birch #ecologicalrestoration #bordersforest #southeruplands #wildheart #talla #gameshope #highelevationwoodland #birch #trial