Mauldsheugh Wood
Community Wildlife Project
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Mauldsheugh Wood
Mauldsheugh Wood is a community wildlife project run by Go Wild Scotland in Selkirk, at the heart of the Scottish Borders.
The project aims to improve the habitat for native wildlife and make it easier for visitors to the woodland to enjoy nature.
A 1km wheelchair accessible path network has been built on the lower part of the wood, funded by grants from Scottish Forestry and the Fallago Environment Fund.
The paths take in the wildlife pond, forest school and bird viewing area and form the basis of a demonstration physical and digital nature trail.
The 20 acre wood is home to badger, fox, roe deer, pine marten and a variety of small mammals including stoats, hedgehogs and voles. Red squirrel have previously been spotted in and around the wood, though are not yet resident – but we hope they will eventually move in.
Otter are present on the Ettrick Water, which runs along the northern edge of the wood, and have been spotted running along the paths and in the water.
Bird life includes sparrow hawks, buzzards, great spotted woodpeckers and tawny owls as well as smaller birds such as long-tailed tits, black caps and goldfinches. Osprey have been sighted overhead and the golden eagles reintroduction programme means sightings of these magnificent birds are also now a realistic possibility, with the birds having been seen near Selkirk this year.
Barn owls hunt in the adjoining field and we have put up two barn owl boxes to provide nesting space, along with a tawny owl box. There is a bird feeding station and more than 50 nest boxes dotted around the woodland, including specialist boxes for treecreepers, along with bat boxes.
To improve the habitat we have planted more than 1,200 trees, including oak, hornbeam, rowan, alder, bird cherry, wild cherry, crab apple and hawthorn.
Our first trees were oak saplings sourced from the Save The Oaks campaign and made available to us through a collaboration with the Sawday’s travel guide. A further 70 rowans grown from seed by a neighbour have also gone in and we now run a tree sponsorship scheme to help fund our work.
We have also created a wildlife pond and continue to plant up the area around it to make it a more attractive habitat for wildlife. Wildflower seeds and pond marginal seeds have been added. The pond has shallow edges to make it accessible for all wildlife.
An open bird hide allows easier viewing of some of the regular visitors to the bird feeding station, including great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, goldfinch, great tit, coal tit, blue tit, chaffinch, robin and blackbird.
A small forest school area has been created in a clearing using wind-blown timber and this is where we host our nature clubs and other community activities.
Thanks to funding from the Arnold Clarke Community Fund we have installed an art display board in the wood, to show off some of the pictures created by our young visitors.
Nature trail
The innovative physical and digital nature trail was created with the help of funding from Scottish Borders Council’s Build Back a Better Borders fund.
The nature trail features both physical nature tables and digital content including trail camera videos, birdsong and nature quizzes, which can be accessed through the link below.
Visitors can open the pages just by tapping their phones on the nature tables, thanks to the magic of near field communication tags, or scan a QR code.
Visitors to the wood will see that the nature tables have been formed from timber cut from fallen trees. We’ve also fixed rubbing plaques in place to help younger visitors take away a memento of their favourite creatures.
Magnifying posts have also been installed so visitors can see some of the smaller creatures they find in the minibeast mansions we have created as homes to bugs and small woodland creatures.
On Friday i discovered the Anthill Mob. No not the ones from Wacky Races, the real live version. It was fascinating to watch them busy at work. Each having their own job to do. ... See MoreSee Less
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It is great to see we have a new local radio station. I have put in a couple of requests here and there myself 😁. A great friendly station for Selkirk and the Valleys. Give it a listen and see what you think 😁 ... See MoreSee Less
selkirkandthevalleysradio.com
selkirkandthevalleysradio.com
Selkirk, The Ettrick and Yarrow Valley’s newest community radio station online 24/70 CommentsComment on Facebook
Great news for Selkirk to have a reliable taxi service under new ownership. ... See MoreSee Less
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it, or it's been deleted.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Borders College young people have been really busy making planters for us. They designed and built these themselves under the direction of course tutor Simon Watson who has spent many years doing volunteer projects for us. Some of these young people had never used any tools previously so we think this effort is amazing. Well done and thanks to all involved. More photos to follow soon. ... See MoreSee Less
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The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the birds are chirping and the woodland is looking lush, with lovely greenery, plants and sometimes a gentle breeze flowing through the trees making a really calming sound. It is a lovely place to get away from your stressful life for an hour, or use the nature trail to encourage your kids to get some fresh air.
There will be a new book at the bird hide soon for keen bird watchers. I have taken it away to count up the various birds to see who is our most frequent visitor 😁
If you have any photos you would like to share please send them via messenger and i will do a collage of the best ones 😁 ... See MoreSee Less
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If you are between 16 and 25 and interested in wildlife, have a look at this 😁 ... See MoreSee Less
This content isn't available at the moment
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it, or it's been deleted.0 CommentsComment on Facebook