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.
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
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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
There has been lots of activity down at the woodland. Lots of birds chirping and happy now that the sun is shining 😁 little Mr Robin likes to hang around and follow us to share some crumbs from our biscuits 😁 ... See MoreSee Less
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Please keep your eyes open for our official opening day in the middle of May it has been a long time in coming but we really do want to thank you all for all your help and support and we will do all that we can to give you all the experiences you have identified for the woodland moving forwards!! ... See MoreSee Less
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What a creative and enthusiastic final session with the Nursery pupils from Philiphaugh Community School and Community Centre; using the word of the day, you guys are awesome!! We made "transient art" pictures using natural materials and decorated clay models near to the cabin - go and take a look if you are there this week. #outdoorlearning #selkirk ... See MoreSee Less
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Volunteering session this morning, having a Spring Clean in the woodland, getting the paths raked and clearing overhanging branches. I'm finishing up this week as Community Engagement Officer at Mauldsheugh Wood, heading on to new adventures, and want to thank Borders Forest Trust for the funding that has made this possible over the past few months. ... See MoreSee Less
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