SCHOOLCHILDREN from Newcastleton and Langholm helped plant trees in a Diamond Jubilee wood in the Hermitage Valley last week.
Primaries four to seven from Newcastleton and primary seven from Langholm planted 200 oak and birch trees at Gorrenberry Farm, with staff from UPM Tilhill, forest managers and the Woodland Trust, who all organised the event last Tuesday.
Gorrenberry owner Jane Bower said: “It’s great that the schools have come along to help us restore some of the wildwood which once covered this area.
“I hope they will come back over the years to enjoy the woods as they grow, and watch the birds and animals which will make their homes here. Woods really do capture CO2, unlike windfarms which need thousands of tons of concrete and steel.
“One day the trees we are planting will provide fuel and construction timber for the people of the valley, as well as shelter for wildlife.
“The trees will catch the rain and by slowing the flow they will reduce flooding. This will allow the eggs of the salmon and sea trout which spawn here to hatch and develop. Hence, as time passes, the burns and the woods will become more productive as well as more beautiful.”
Gorrenberry Jubilee Wood, will be planted across 909 acres (368 hectares) of rough grassland and is a Diamond Jubilee Wood.
Professor Bower added on the farm’s website: “Since this was such a large planting, it was additionally designated by the Woodland Trust Scotland as one of 25 Princess Woods, each representing a year of the Queen’s life before she came to the throne.”