It''s not so long since the Woodland Trust Scotland (WTS) turned its attentions to the Ochils, and particularly to the Glen Devon area. They have been much more benign than other possible changes, such as wind turbines and dirt roads or coniferous plantations. We have been able to work well with them, even if not always seeing eye to eye on the detail of every issue.
When Glen Quey was planted, it was deer-fenced on the basis that the woodland could not otherwise be established successfully. There are simply too many deer. The intention was stated at the time to remove the fence down to ordinary stock fence height once the trees were sufficiently established. The good news is that the trees are growing well and in a few years'' time we might see the fence being removed. There are deer getting in and a number are being shot by professional stalkers each year, but the number is not such that the trees are suffering too much.
A different story at Glen Sherup. Here the WTS (bravely, in the view of our forestry experts) aimed to establish a native woodland with only stock fencing around it. The only deer fencing was between the new WTS woodland and the existing conifer plantation in Glen Sherup which was thought to be a likely route of deer incursion. There was concern on the forestry side that it was "ambitious" to try to establish a woodland without complete deer fencing. It seems like the foresters have been proved right. Despite killing a significant and increasing number of roe deer annually, the young trees are being browsed back to the point where there is a real danger of them simply dying. The saplings start out well enough in spring but are then browsed back and the roots are not getting enough nourishment. The deer appear to be coming in from all sides.
The worst of all worlds would be a failed woodland - a wasteland of overgrown tussocks. Not good for woodland, wildlife, landscape or even access, unless you like twisted ankles. That''s what the WTS will be looking at in Glen Sherup very soon. Recognising that this is a problem with no easy local solution, FotO is raising no objection to the WTS proposal to deer-fence the whole of the Glen Sherup plantation. As in Glen Quey, the intention is that the fence would be removed back to stock fence height once the young trees are able to hold their own. We have, however, considered in detail with the WTS the positioning and type of stiles to be installed in the new fence. Some will be ladder stiles but increasingly the fashion is for either gates or low stiles since they cause fewer problems for users than ladder stiles. Low stiles are more like a flight of steps than a ladder and use boards at the side of the up and down flights of steps (which run parallel to the fence) as baffles to prevent deer simply jumping over the lowered section of fence.
There will be more on this in the next issue, with an article by the WTS. At present the details of the fencing scheme are being finalised in discussions between WTS and the Forestry Commission and what''s written above is our current understanding of the position, which may change depending on these discussions.
One of the Woodland Trust Scotland''s properties in the Ochils is the lovely old wood on the south face of Wood Hill - subject of the following article, reproduced with kind permission from the Spring 2006 issue of the WTS magazine Broadleaf