The nights are drawing in, there's a nip in the air, it can only mean one thing - tree planting season is upon us again!
Our first tree planting of 2022/23 took place on Sunday 6th November at Kinkell Byre, just outside St. Andrews. Once a working farm, Kinkell is now a spectacular wedding venue with stunning views along the Fife coastline. The owner, Rory Fyfe, is also undertaking an ambitious plan to restore wild habitat across the site, and we are delighted to be involved with this project.
Our task on Sunday involved planting a new hedgerow along the margin of a field, using a mix of native species including hawthorn, blackthorn, elder and hazel. Planting in the narrow gap between a wall and a fence made it quite a squeeze for our 40+ volunteers, but with a bit of careful organisation we managed to fit everyone in and the trees were planted in record time. It is always fantastic to see the enthusiasm of our volunteers, some of whom are now familiar faces at our tree-planting events, although perhaps the promise of a fudge donut from Fisher & Donaldson helped with motivation this time round!
A huge thank you to Jenny Paterson, the re-wilding officer at Kinkell, for such a smoothly run event, and also to The University of St Andrews Forest for their help with funding.