Woodmill Park Update

Work is slowly continuing at Woodmill Park and you should soon be able to see more evidence of the improvements being made.

Further to the community consultation that took place last summer, we have been working with Central Scotland Forest Trust to prepare proposals and funding bids for improvements to the site.  Although it has taken longer than we had hoped, funding has now been secured from various sources including the Scottish Rural Development Programme, Awards for All and East Dunbartonshire Council . We now have funding to deliver woodland management and path and entrance improvements.

As a result, work has recently started on thinning the woodland, which will remove any dead and dangerous trees and overhanging branches, as well as “crown lift” some of the more mature trees at the far end of the football pitch.

This work is much needed and will open up some of the more dense areas of woodland, allowing it to mature fully. The wood arisings will be chipped and left on site, with some habitat piles created to benefit  wildlife. All the trees have however been inspected for bat roosts and nests and the work is taking place outwith the breeding bird season, to avoid any potential disturbance to birds.

The remainder of the work to upgrade the paths and entrances is likely to start in Spring 2012, when the weather is better, however we will keep everyone up to date on when this will take place and how long any disruption to the path network is likely to last.

We’ve also been holding some events at the Park to help raise the profile of this important community owned asset and to encourage more people to use it.

Back in February we held a clean- up at the site and 40 volunteers, young and old, from the village helped to collect over 50 bags of rubbish. They also

planted  2000 wildlflower bulbs and 150 trees;  a fantastic amount of work, which has greatly benefited the site.

In September a Bat Walk was held and participants took an evening stroll around the park, learning about the types of bat you can expect to find here.  They even got the chance to go bat detecting using a sonic bat detector.  More events are planned for next Spring and Summer, including a family BBQ,

Species Identification training, as well as more hands on, bulb and shrub planting days, to build on the good work that has already taken place.

We look forward to seeing you all out using Woodmill Park and enjoying the improvements to the area, as they take place.


 

 BAT WALK AT WOODMILL PARK

7pm – 8.30pm on Monday 19^th September 2011

Come along and find out about bats in Woodmill Park. CSFT will be running a free guided walk around the park, to raise awareness of Scotland’s bats and dispel some of the myths that surround them. We’ll be using bat detectors to locate where the bats are nesting, so come along and try your hand at bat detecting!

The guided walk will start at 7pm at the entrance to Woodmill Park at the bottom of Woodmill Drive. Please wear sturdy footwear and warm clothing. Waterproofs are advised and bring a torch if you have one.

To book a place please contact Gillian Barrie on TEL: 01501 824 793 or gillian.barrie@csft.org.uk

Booking is essential.

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS HELP IMPROVE THEIR LOCAL GREENSPACE

Woodmill Park in Torrance is benefiting from a much-needed spring clean after more than 40 local adults and children turned out to gather 50 bags of rubbish, plant 1,000 wildflower bulbs and 150 trees to enhance the community owned greenspace at the heart of the village.

The event was organised by Shotts-based environmental charity Central Scotland Forest Trust (CSFT) and the Torrance Community Initiative (TCI) as part of their plans to make the site more accessible and enjoyable for the whole community.

Gillian Barrie, Sustainable Development Officer at CSFT, said: “It was great to see everyone working so hard to make Woodmill Park and the community a greener and cleaner place for the residents of Torrance to enjoy.

“We’d like to give a big thanks to all those who volunteered their time to make the spring-clean event such a success, as well as to TCI who provided refreshments and the local SPAR who donated more black bags after we ran out due to the sheer volume of rubbish being collected.”

CSFT and TCI have also applied for funding from which would enable them to carry out further improvements to Woodmill Park by upgrading the path network, improving the entranceways and enhancing biodiversity through woodland management and more wildflower and tree planting.

For further information about the Woodmill Park project, please contact Gillian Barrie at CSFT on 01501 824 793 / gillian.barrie@csft.org.uk