The woods are alive!

Do you ever take a wander through the woods and get that feeling in the back of your neck that you’re not alone… that you’re being watched? It sounds like the intro to a horror film, but the truth is you probably are!

Luckily, the only creatures watching are likely to be foxes and deer, birds and insects.

A group member recently commented that he was amazed that there was so much life in Cumbernauld’s woods. He’d just assumed that nothing would live there. But in fact our woodlands are bustling communities of life.

That’s never more true than in spring. I’m sure many of us can sympathise with the lives of badgers and foxes who are currently stuck underground with their newborns, vibrant bundles of energy, growing fast, and no doubt causing trouble in their little homes.

Sometimes at this time of year older badgers will actually move out and go live somewhere more peaceful for a few weeks – who can blame them!

The birds are full of colour and energy, the males with their newly minted breeding plumage singing their hearts out, the females keeping a canny eye on who has the best display. Bumblebees are out prospecting for their own nests and butterflies are on the wing grabbing on to early pollen sources.

Modern science is beginning to show that in all sorts of strange ways even the plants and trees are aware of our presence and are reacting to us as we walk among them, talking and communicating across large distances.

It’s just possible that they are taking note of these new members of the woodland community and welcoming us under their leaves

If you’d like to come on one of our wanders through Cumbernauld’s woodlands then check out Cumbernauld Living Landscape’s website and facebook pages for our events calendar.

Paul Barclay

Community Networks Officer