A bug’s eye view of volunteering

We were marching through the woods. The sun bursting through the trees, the cold air sucked into our lungs. My volunteers had entered a new area of Cumbernauld Glen; unveiled before their eyes. In this space they saw what first appeared to be a void; the last vestiges of winter still clinging onto the forest. I prompted them to take

Planting plastic

Planting trees is a rewarding experience, something we’re all being encouraged to do to help tackle the climate crisis and boost biodiversity in our local greenspaces. But the work doesn’t stop there if we want these trees to develop into healthy woodlands. Last week our Nature Ninjas volunteers were out collecting old tree guards in Glencryan Wood – not the

Visit your tree at Broadwood

If you took part in our tree planting day at Broadwood Loch in December you had the option to download an app and locate the exact grid reference for your tree. This means you’ll be able to chart your tree’s progress as it develops and matures, hopefully for many years to come! It will be fascinating to see how the

Get back to nature in 2020

Taking our volunteers out at New Year always resonates strongly with me— I first started volunteering at New Year. So woooooOOooooOOOo, I want to take you back 8 years to 2012. I was completing my zoology dissertation. It was very boring! I felt like most of the time I had been cooped up inside doing calculations, tallying up surveys, reading

Getting stuck in for nature

Last Thursday as many as 300 people joined Cumbernauld Living Landscape at Broadwood Loch to grab a spade and plant a tree before enjoying some festive treats round the campfire.   With it being polling day we had a steady flow of children looking for something active to do on their day off from school, and plenty of adults looking for

Winter wisdom

Winter! That time of year when thoughts turn inwards, when we all seek respite from the cold and get ourselves cooried in until spring. The work of harvest is over and there’s time yet until planting so traditionally this was the time for storytelling. George Mackay Brown, the great Orcadian storyteller talked of tongues “touched to enchantment by starlight and

Tree planting day

I love planting trees! There is little as satisfying as rooting a tree, taking a step back and imagining its future. How many years will it stay up for? What challenges will it face? What animals might call it home? When you plant trees, it feels like you’re planting a legacy. It’s your tree, and you want to look after

Out of the office and into nature!

Our volunteer groups have been getting out and about in Cumbernauld, dabbling in all sorts of practical conservation activities: scything meadows, removing nasty invasive plants and shortly we’ll be planting native saplings too. Our volunteers love being outdoors and the pull to nature is one of the top reasons they give us their time. We want to extend this feeling

The State of Nature

Earlier this month Scotland received a wake-up call in the form of the State of Nature report, which confirmed that our nation’s wildlife continues to decline. The annual scientific report is published by more than 70 wildlife organisations, including the Scottish Wildlife Trust, a Cumbernauld Living Landscape partner organisation. This year’s report was the most detailed to date and full

Five reasons to volunteer in nature

With summer in the air and thunderstorms crashing about I thought that this would be a good time to introduce myself. I’m David, the new Project Officer with Cumbernauld Living Landscape! My job is to run volunteering activities that will improve green spaces across the town. I have a massive announcement…   Weekly volunteering groups will be starting at the