Soon you may not see cows for the trees at Devil's Beef Tub

Published on Friday 25 December 2009 21:38

A SITE that includes an iconic cavernous hollow once used by bandits to hide stolen cattle will be transformed by 150,000 trees from next year if a funding bid is successful.

The Scotsman has learned that Borders Forest Trust, which owns a 1,580-acre site at Corehead Farm near Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway, is hoping to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding next year to pay for a mass tree planting scheme and a series of other regeneration measures at the site.

The farm, bought by the trust earlier this year with 700,000 raised from the public, includes the iconic Devil's Beef Tub – a huge, deep hollow where the Border Reivers once hid stolen livestock.

The trust is applying for funding through the Scottish Government's Scottish Rural Development Programme, which would be matched by 200,000 from the Tubney Charitable Trust if successful.

The trees would be planted over about 120 hectares in three valleys on the site, though not in the Devil's Beef Tub itself.

Project manager Nicola Hunt hopes the work will help transform the site, which has suffered many years of overgrazing by sheep. Other plans include creating areas of montane scrubland, replacing the sheep with native cattle, and planting swaths of heather and blaeberry.

"In a few decades' time we are hoping it will look diverse," said Ms Hunt. "There will be a good mix of different natural habitats across the sites. At the moment it's very uniform in the way it looks. We want to bring the diversity back."

The hills and valleys of Corehead were once covered in the native woodland and wild habitats of the Ettrick Forest. After centuries of intensive grazing the land is now bare and only small pockets of heather moorland and native woodland remain.

The trust plans to return these lost habitats to the land of Corehead and restore a core area of the wild Ettrick Forest to the south of Scotland.

It should hear in April whether its funding bid has succeeded. Planting would then start next autumn, using oak, ash, birch, cherry, juniper, hazel, hawthorn, rowan, holly and aspen, and would take about three years.

In November, a smaller scale initial tree planting session at Corehead Farm proved a huge success. About 100 native trees were planted at Tweedhope Burn by 60 volunteers, ranging in age from three to 80.

Borders Forest Trust volunteer Peter Dreghorn said he hoped the children had lasting memories of the tree planting. "They will remember where they put them and hopefully watch the growth of the Corehead woodland landscape through their lives," he said.

Borders Forest Trust took ownership of Corehead Farm five months ago. It plans to create a mosaic of habitats across the rolling hills, such as woodland, heather and blaeberry moorland, montane scrub and will restore hay meadows and plant community orchards.

Grazing by traditional cattle breeds such as Galloway will help break up dense vegetation and encourage regeneration.