Trees for everyone

By Katie Brown, Cumbernauld Living Landscape trainee

If you happen to be going to see the swans down at Broadwood Loch over the holidays, you might well spot the new trees that have been planted by the Cumbernauld Living Landscape volunteers and staff. These are native species that will help local wildlife thrive, so look out for oak, hawthorn, crab apple, rowan, cherry and hazel. Among them are also grey willow and silver birch. These are very hardy species that love moisture and thrive in a wet environment. We hope they will help prevent flooding in the road and car park.

The tree planting took place the week before Christmas and the Nature Ninja volunteers definitely earned themselves a mince pie after conquering the mud. There were a couple of lost wellies and more than a few muddy bottoms but not one person stopped smiling and the mud was soon forgotten once it was time for lunch. We said goodbye and merry Christmas to our hardworking volunteers with a fire and toasted marshmallows, a great way to end what has been a difficult year for everyone.

The Thursday Wild Ways Well group also had the chance to plant a tree of their own before going on a bird spotting expedition around the loch. Species to look out for around Broadwood Loch are mute swans, Canada geese, mallards, moorhens, goosanders, coots, cormorants, great crested grebes and many more.

The remainder of the trees were planted by the Cumbernauld Living Landscape staff. In the words of our Green Health and Wellbeing Officer, Paul Barclay, ‘there is probably no greater ‘give’ action we can do for the future than plant a tree. Native trees planted in the right places will store carbon, prevent flooding and provide food and shelter for our wildlife – so everybody wins.’