Butterdean Woods and Alba Trees Nursery

As a Woodland Trust campaigns volunteer, I was delighted to be invited along to a trip to Alba Trees Nursery and Butterdean Woods in East Lothian.

This morning we visited Alba Trees, which is a huge nursery that sources British seeds for native British trees and plants to be used by British clients such as the Woodland Trust. This is very important, given the fact that the recent (and continuing) outbreak of ash dieback disease can be attributed to imported trees. I was impressed also that the nursery seems to be cutting down as much as it can on its use of peat based growing mediums and recycles a lot of its planting containers. It's also an impressive nursery to look at. Those young trees in the photos below will grow up to become important parts of woodlands across Scotland.

I was delighted by the number of house martins flying about that seemed to be nesting around the nursery. 

In the afternoon, we travelled to the nearby Butterdean Woods and walked through this lovely area of mixed woodland, discussing management options and campaigns.

One small area has been made into a sort of memorial woodland for a local girl who died of leukemia, with some very pretty birdhouses hung up in the trees.

There are areas of potential danger in the woods, in the form of old mineshafts, which have become flooded. These have all been fenced off to prevent accidents, but seem to offer interesting habitats for wildlife.

For Nature Notes. 

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