It was fitting, then, that – just as the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity announced the report – a planting frenzy was taking place ‘north of the border’…

Approximately 200 people, comprising of parents, kids, and odd bods like me, turned up at Muckhart on 22 September for a mini woodland festival. The aim was to sow the wildflower seeds (and plant trees) for a new nature park.

The Woodland Trust Scotland has allocated an area of land for the management of the local community. Muckhart Nature Park, as it is now known, backs on to the grounds of the village church and forms the gateway to Geordie’s Wood (which has been named after the local farmer, George Allan, who donated it). The wood itself is the third of The Woodland Trust’s sites in the Ochils, connecting the woodlands at Glen Quey and Glen Sherup.

The formation of a local committee (adequately named the Nature Park Management Group) to oversee the development of the three-acre stretch has given young and old alike the chance to connect with issues such as sustainability and biodiversity. Many enjoy the Ochils – the quick escape from suburbia – but few are offered such a unique opportunity to get ‘up close and personal’ with the landscape.

I felt rather privileged, therefore, to be one of the first to plant a new tree in the park. Choosing from a box of Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Rose, Holly and Hazel, I selected the last, and sunk my spade into the soil to make room for the wee calltuinn (to give it Scots Gaelic name). There were also other activities to enjoy. Rodney Holland demonstrated the skill of chainsaw carving. Deftly slicing through a treestump as if it were butter, he sculpted the magnificent form of an eagle.

There was also pottery to painted and bird boxes to be made – I was particularly impressed by one of the children who announced that she wasn’t interested in birds, but would instead be using her kit to make a box for a bat…

My favourite afternoon event, however, was enjoyed in the shelter of the local scout tent. The Puppet State Theatre Company was invited to perform its two-man play ‘The Man Who Planted Trees’. Jean Giono’s famous story about a shepherd who transforms a barren part of France into a wood could not have been more appropriate in engaging the children who had, just a few moments before, been planting trees or scattering wildflower seeds on the earth outside. But looking around the tent, it was obvious that adults too were enthralled by the magical skills of the puppeteers, who combined humour and poignant story-telling with great effect.