Grow the Seed: Bute Forest Schools and Ranger

Donate today and help us deliver a year of educational and environmental activities for our community.   

Bute Community Forest - a special and magical place

Bute Community Forest is 160 hectares of mixed woodland at the northern end of the Isle of Bute.  It is breathtakingly beautiful, growing along the coast of the Kyles of Bute. It includes our ancient Atlantic Temperate Rainforest, a protected area rich with ancient oaks and other native broadleaf trees.  

Bute Community Forest is overseen by the Bute Community Land Company (BCLC) a charity registered in Scotland (SC041414) and a company registered in Scotland limited by guarantee (SC365515).  Our core objectives are restoration and conservation of our woodlands, and environmental education and awareness raising.  We seek to connect the whole island community - a resident population of more than 6,000 - and visitors, to the fabulous Forest.     

Overall, we aim to increase local community access to our woodland assets, through recreation and environmental education activities which enhance and protect the natural environment. In so doing, the Community Forest is a place for people to learn, visit and enjoy in harmony with the natural world. 

The area is popular for outdoor recreation by the local community; a variety of local natural-interest groups make regular use of the woodland, as well as a number of health/wellbeing and educational groups. The Charity supports a wide range of school engagement activities, with up to eight sessions per week across Early Years and Primary Schools, during term time.

Bute Community Forest is committed to the inherent links between environment, education, partner working and social inclusion/ community engagement. It has built a strong foundation of achievements and fostered strong community connections, partnerships and participation.

Forest Sam: Inspiring the Next Generation

This campaign is to support the continued employment of our Forest Ranger, Samuel Lindsay, who has been working for the charity since 2021. With his Masters degree in Ecology and Conservation and having written two dissertations on freshwater ecology and botany, Samuel quickly became the resident ecologist within the organisation and currently manages the 160 hectares (400 acres) of diverse woodland. 

His role as our forest ranger has led to the development of strong community relations where he brings his passion and energy to deliver events and lessons engaging and educating all ages about nature, giving him the nickname “Forest Sam” across the community.  

Our Forest Ranger plays a key role in facilitating local access to the community forest, through woodland management, partnership working, volunteering, school engagement, conservation activities, and community events.

Where will your money will go?

Grow the Seed: Nurture the next generation of nature lovers 

• 50 + nursery forest school sessions helping our smallest adventurers feel at home exploring our woodland, for 350+ pre-5 children visits. 
• 110 + Forest School Sessions for the 330 primary school children on the island. The goal of our forest schools is to give children the opportunity to learn more about their local wildlife and build a connection with nature that will hopefully last a lifetime.
• Buy nature and outdoor learning for EVERY island child aged 3-11.

Connect people in the Community Forest

• So far we’ve offered 25+ events that have been attended by more than 520 island residents and visitors! We want to keep this going with many more events during 2024-2025
• Our forest has hosted many sessions for Branching Out (mental health and wellbeing charity), "Blether and Brew" volunteering sessions and Refugee community events. Many of these are still in the early stages and we’d love the opportunity to watch them grow over the next year.
• Improving access to the forest. Making the forest as accessible as possible is fundamentally important in helping the public connect with this amazing space and we have new boardwalks, benches and signage planned for our forest.

And Help Save our Planet

• We’re halfway through our Bullochreg Project to create a Caledonian Pine Forest, Aspen Woodland and Flooded Forest. We have already planted 12,000 trees but we’ve still got much more to plant and want to increase our biodiversity here by at least 20 species!
• Our Atlantic Temperate Rainforest needs protecting! Over the next year, our forest ranger will be creating a woodland management plan to help manage and protect this ancient woodland for many more years to come.
• We have one big area of non-native plantation left, Tawnich Wood, and next year we’ll be looking to fell it. When it comes to replanting we want to have a strong emphasis on trees that the community can use, whether it's through foraging or woodworking. Our forest ranger will oversee this exciting project!

Growing Our Forest Community...

Bute Community Forest is a vital community resource, and this project provides fresh impetus for community engagement for physical, mental, and social wellbeing, symbiotically delivering a host of environmental objectives. We are grateful for any donations to our cause, these will go far in ensuring the continued success of our community woodland.  

Restoring and Enhancing Our Forest

And all the time we are increasing the biodiversity and quality of our Community Forest.  We have planted 12,000 Caledonian Scots Pine this year to replace non-native plantation.  We have created two new ponds as part of a new flooded wetland. We plan to plant the same number again, in deciduous alder, birch, willow and hazel.  Our Ranger supports all this, where we seek to add more than 20 additional species to our newly created woodland.  All the time restoring and repairing our 70+ hectares of Atlantic Temperate Rainforest...our precious oak woodland.