Dreel Woods

We are now in the final stages of acquiring Dreel Woods in Anstruther through a Community Asset Transfer.

The woods will be managed as a wildlife habitat, and as a space for the community to use and enjoy. Scroll down to see some details of community events which have already taken place, and ongoing management activities.

If you would like to join any of the Dreel Woods working groups as a volunteer, then please email us at footprinteastneuk@gmail.com or sign up to our mailing list.

Volunteer work

Volunteers have undertaken woodland maintenance – cutting back the scrubby growth and starting a dead hedge alongside the allotments.
The fruit trees on the edible walkway were spring pruned.
Two donated oaks and a yew have been planted and some maintenance of trees planted in 2022/3 undertaken.
Snowdrops donated by Cambo have been planted.
Himalayan balsam pulled up.
Giant hogweed, which initially we cut on flowering is now tackled by digging the roots in early spring. This has been remarkably successful.
Weekly butterfly monitoring along transects set out in 2023 has continued this summer.
The boundary fence along Flemings has been cleared
The grassland maintenance has continued with scything in late summer and raking of arisings. Volunteers also sowed seed from several sources late summer 2023, including yellow rattle.
Fourteen bat boxes have been installed.
Several litter picks, organized by Anstruther Improvement Association, have been done.

Huge thanks to the volunteers who have undertaken these tasks.

Monitoring of wildlife

St Andrews Botanics curator, Becky, updated the plant monitoring in the quadrats set out last year. An increase in the number of species was recorded.
Moth trapping was undertaken by Susan again this year with power supplied by Metaflake. The weather was again poor, but there was a big turn out to see the moths released.
Red Squirrel people gave a workshop. Possibly red squirrels feed in the conifer by the old railway bridge.
Bats were monitored in the Woods autumn 2023 and a repeat workshop will take place in September 2024
There are two regular birders in the Woods. They are keen to see bird cover introduced upstream from the Woods.

Thanks to the individuals and organisations that supported this work.

Path and access upgrade

A small working group has worked really hard to secure funding and design contractors to upgrade the path through the Woods and the access – ramping and level gradients of the eastern access and part ramping to the west and new surfacing

Local consultations were done with the community and meetings held with adjacent landowners to ensure their buy in.

The original funding target for the construction work has been met and we await planning permission, but are otherwise ready to go to tender for the works, which will take place over the winter months.