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Lockdown Blues ?
Out of a seed grows a flower . Out of a
nut grows a tree . Out of the bare earth springs life , and spring is the operative word : it ’ s on its way . In Lainshaw woods , under the silver lining of a wintry sky , the first green shoots of the year emerge . We ’ ve had a hard winter , in more ways than one , and now it ’ s time for spring .
If you are feeling despondent , disgruntled , dejected , depressed , despairing or just a bit down , head into the woods . Maybe a robin will grant you an audience , or you ’ ll be lucky enough to see the first bluebells , or a squirrel hijacking one of our bird feeders . Listen out for the chatter of a magpie , the rattle of a wren . Lift up your eyes to the birds who flock into the woods for shelter and food at this time of year .
Early spring , unfortunately , is also a good time for spotting rubbish . Fly tipping both present and historic follows the roads around the woods . About this time last year , we SWAT members found hundreds of green bottles and stood them on the wall . To unearth them , we crawled , slid on our knees or bent-double under the scrub off David Dale Avenue . Then we gathered them into seven bin bags , and drove them away for recycling . Who left them there ? What destructive impulse led them to dump them ? A sense of alienation perhaps - of not belonging ?
At any rate , as the sun rises and falls , birds , squirrels , flowers , greenery , rubbish and we ourselves all re-emerge into the light . Flowers , plants , trees and life itself all thirst upwards . We are all reaching for the light .
swat activities in lockdown :
• Installed two nature boards
• Repaired , cleaned and maintained tools such as chainsaws
For Conservation we have :
• Planted gorse , hawthorn & blackthorn bushes , Scots pines & other deciduous native trees .
• Filled and refilled bird feeders watching the nuthatches , blue tits , great tits and robins flock to them
• Cut back and burned a lot of invasive rhododendrons to make space for native fauna and flora
• Under a hot sun , trawled miles of the river and burns banks in order to control giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed .
For public access we have :
• Monitored the woodland paths keeping them clear of debris and clearing ditches next to them
• Made wooden bird boxes and planters for sale ( look on our website for details )
• Built a new footbridge & begun to clear logs from a new path
• Regularly emptied poo bins ( a favourite Saturday job for our valiant David )
• Installed another bench and prepared the ground for wild flowers
Picked up an overwhelming number of : cans , plastic and glass bottles , sandwich packets , crisp and sweet wrappers , pill packets , paper bags , coffee cups and their lids , take away boxes all along plantation path , Anderson ’ s Mount , over the fences , by the river , down the ditches , under the viaduct , along Kilwinning road , the Sewage Works Road , David Dale Avenue , and other road verges outside of the woods .
If you ever fancy joining us send us an email to stewartonwoodlands @ gmail . com
Or phone the SWAT mobile 07774 563531 . Details of what we are up to can be found on our Facebook page or on our website www . swat . org . uk