Pupils from Castle Douglas Primary School had an exciting visit to the National Trust for Scotland’s Threave Estate recently.

As part of their coursework they had been learning about forestry and conservation, so they jumped at the chance to visit Threave where tree felling is currently in progress at Meikle Wood. Pupils saw the machinery in action and watched at a safe distance as a tree was cut down.

The pupils also met forestry contractor Jim Johnson and his horse Billy, a Belgium Ardennes, who are helping the conservation charity carry out this crucial work in the forest.

Jim chatted to the children and explained why a horse was being used to extract timber from this site rather than modern ‘forwarder’ machines.

Karl Munday, Senior Ranger for the National Trust for Scotland said:

“Regular tree-felling is an important part of good forestry management and we are undertaking this work to ensure that Meikle Wood thrives in the future. We decided that using horses was the best approach. This traditional technique has been used in forest management for centuries. Horses can extract timber effectively and safely through the trees without causing any damage, which is ideal for our circumstances here. Using Billy is helping us to keep any disruption to a minimum, as he is a lot quieter and easy to manoeuvre than heavy machinery.”

Trust Countryside Staff were also on hand to describe the nature conservation reasons for replacing conifer trees with native broadleaves and introduce some of the species associated with these types of woodlands.