we headed up the valley to Tyrfingsstaðir to begin our first day of turf building. Here we donned bright waterproof cagoules and met Helgi Sigurðsson, our turf-building teacher and expert. Sigurður Björnsson and Kristín Jóhannsdóttir own and live on the farm.
Over two-thirds of Finland is forest cover. Much is owned by private persons. Accessibility is also important because many people are able to use the forest, even if they do not own any forests themselves. People are able to use the forest and the wildlife within it as a renewable resource for wood products, hunting and foraging. Above all, most Finnish people strongly value the link with nature.
We learned that Finland has forty two National Parks and we were told that in total they receive around 4 million visitors per year. By contrast Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park (LLTTNP) has over 4.5 million visitors.
EVO is a hiking centre and forestry college in Kanta-Häme. As well as teaching forestry skills from an economic, recreational and conservational point of view, EVO offers opportunities for members of the public to engage with nature. For example, the public can pay to spend time with animals- there are numerous cows that the public can see and tend, while there is also a meat and grain store.
Nature is often fragile, however, and especially here in the North can be slow to recover from damage. With the freedom to enjoy the countryside comes the obligation to leave the environment undisturbed and preserve Finland’s rich natural heritage for future generations to enjoy.
This is a joint report written by Ian Bray (Scottish Natural Heritage), Georgie Brown (Galbraith), Estelle Gill (Scottish Natural Heritage), Michelle Henley (Scottish Wildlife Trust), Andrew James (Historic Environment Scotland), Gwen Raes (The Woodland Trust), Adam Samson (Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park).
“We have around 500,000 capercaillie in Finland ” said Tapio Vähä-Jaakkola, our host at a local hunting club, as our jaws dropped. My colleagues Chris and Molly from RSPB work on capercaillie and the population in Scotland is in a pretty sorry state, having dropped to around 2000, from an estimated 20,000 in the 1970s. Capercaillie populations are healthy enough for Finns to hunt tens of thousands of them a year. “Most of the capercaillie hunting takes place in Northern Finland”, Tapio said later. In the 10,000 hectares of forest controlled by the Metsästysseura Haukka Ry hunting club, they hadn’t shot capercaillie for many years “Last year we calculated that there were enough capercaillie for us to hunt two.”
Visiting Alba and neighbouring counties in Transylvania, Romania was the highlight of my working year. I applied to go on this ERASMUS funded Arch destination as I thought it would be an interesting in-sight into how other European countries manage the funding opportunities provided by the European Common Agricultural Policy, particularly to benefit the small scale farmer and small rural communities. My main area of work during the year is assessing Agri-Environment and Climate Change grant applications. In Scottish Natural Heritage we assess any applications which involve land management on designated sites or deer management. As Romania is one the new member states to enter the European fold, lies in Eastern Europe where in the past agriculture has had many challenges, I was interested to see and hear their story and find out if and how the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy was benefitting agriculture and the environment in Romania. I live and work in the North West Highlands of Scotland, one of the Crofting Counties where small scale agriculture dominates. Romania is a country where small, semi subsistence/subsistence farming is of great importance. Is there a future for this type of farming in the European Union?
In Scotland, we have lost many of the attitudes to livestock husbandry that allow coexistence with predators. The exception to this is with smaller livestock such as chickens, were the concept of protection is well understood. If we ever bring back any of the larger predators, we can learn from the practices employed in countries like Romania. Finally, if we are going to be able to support a viable wildcat population in perpetuity in Scotland (i.e. without risk of hybridisation), we may need to look at the environment in Romania and see what we can take from it that helps both wildcats and biodiversity more generally.
In the Cairngorms National Park tourism has greatly influenced a range of factors including the development of towns and villages, road infrastructure, signage, land management, demographics and employment. The park has a resident population of 18,000 people and every year between April and October 1.8 million visitors enter the park boundary. This volume of tourism requires significant resource to manage. Rimet is on the cusp of change and in ten years may be a very different village to the one it is now; a small, picturesque village in a beautiful location. The decision makers have the opportunity now to plan for change, to look at other examples across the world, learn from their mistakes and demonstrate sustainable tourism in practice.
What can be learnt from all this? Preserving traditional land management, culture and ways of life in Transylvania is crucial, not as a quaint museum piece, but within a wider narrative that draws out their interconnectedness with the natural world. Supporting younger people to remain in rural areas, and to develop low impact, ecologically conscious tourism at a rate and scale that supports rather than destroys the existing balance and pattern of life could be part of the answer, and providing agri-environment grants and packages that are easily accessed, and truly supportive of small scale subsistence farmers could be another. From a UK perspective, we need to learn as much as we can.
Years ago a friend visited Romania and when he returned he commented that the countryside he found there felt to him how he imagined much of Scotland must have once been. We are a nation working to restore natural habitats that have been lost and to repair the mistakes we have made in the past, while they are a country who still hold the potential to learn from the mistakes made in other lands and work to protect and celebrate their wild landscapes, before they need to be saved and restored. I look around the vast scenes of canopy covered mountains and wonder if Transylvania isn’t just a glimpse of what Scotland has lost but of what it could also recover.
Following my structured training course in Romania and subsequent discussion with my colleagues, we now have plans to bring some of the traditional village farming methods from Romania onto Balmacara Estate. We have a demonstration species-rich meadow on a high profile gateway site. Next year before the harvest we will get the students from the crofting course at Plockton High School to establish a number of fixed quadrats on the meadow. They will record and quantify the plant species and invertebrate life within these quadrats giving us a base sample. When the meadow is ready to cut, half will be done by the students using scythes, creating Romanian style haystacks in the process. The other half of the meadow will be cut using modern machinery creating round baling hay. On an annual basis the crofting students will carry out the same procedures, and we will monitor the quadrats to check what is happening to the biodiversity within each half of the meadow.
An openness of this kind to new ideas could be key to the sustainable development of Transylvannia and many other places like it. Outsiders could come to live in these remote regions, enticed by the free land and materials, and make a commitment to work the land – undertaking to do the hard graft, and to learn from the community, before these skills are lost. There is huge interest from people in the UK and beyond, who recognise this need to get back to the land, who would undertake this – within a system they can trust, and that works for everyone. If the new road leads to developments in infrastructure which eventually allow faster internet, then a whole new raft of possibilities open up to people working part time on the internet for some income, but remaining committed to small scale farming practice – knowing its value from having seen the results of over development in their various countries of origin.
By Claire Glaister, Institute of Chartered Foresters 61 degrees latitude: A house of 100 trees An intrepid group of seven left Scotland to head to the land of lakes and trees; a country with a scale of forestry which, to a forester, comes close to Utopia. The week-long Erasmus+ study tour, hosted by Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) and promoted by ARCH, was to cover forests, birds and environmental education. On arrival at our accommodation for the week however, it became clear that we would also be treated to spectacular skies and sunrises, landscapes and culture and great hospitality too. The final turn of our journey that night took us down an avenue of Silver birch which, even accounting for the car’s headlights, seemed to shine brightly in front of us. The bark looked much brighter than we see on birch at home and certainly lived up to the tree’s silver title. Sitting around the kitchen table that first evening, our neighbour, Tapio Rautaneva, the owner of the house, explained to us how he had built it using 100 trees from his own woodland – just along the road – individually selected for their physical and quality characteristics. […]
The government use revenue from hunting licences to compensate landowners on any damage to productive tree crops by deer browsing – if this is indeed correct it is a very different system to what we have in Scotland. Despite the presence of bears and wolves we learned that hunting is essential to managing a sustainable deer population, which was contrary to my perception at the start of the trip. Tapio said there are around 300 wolves in Finland, but 10,000 would be needed to meet equilibrium. It would not be possible for the number of wolves to coexist with the current human population of Finland – so hunting of deer by humans will always be required. We also learned that in the Lapland area accounting for 36% of the country no bears, wolves or lynx were tolerated and were shot on sight to protect the reindeer. Unlike Scotland there are no ‘professional’ hunters, as hunting is too popular of an activity. However, Tapio foresees such jobs might exist in the future as the country continues to urbanise and less people live in rural areas.
This film shows the other side of the Erasmus course – the friendships formed and the cultural barriers toppled.
This presentation illustrates turf building in Iceland and Scotland and details plans for a new turf building in Glen Coe
A group report covering a range of perspectives and topics from the NET Latvia course 2019.
Hunting is cultural; licensing includes Wolf, Beaver, Lynx & Bear, Moose, Red and Roe deer that the others might scare! Sprays & deterrents are used but fences are few, Hunters are plenty but numbers including Golden Jackal still grew.
From the wetlands of Kemeri National Park through to the wooded sand stone valley of Gauja National Park the visiting tourist cannot fail to be impressed by the abundance of information signs, play areas, picnic spots, fire pits, boarded walks and walking trails which manage to make you feel welcome without compromising on the natural beauty of the landscape. I think all in the group would agree that we were excited about the accessibility of Latvia to a tourist with return trips already being mapped out. Nothing demonstrates this tourism infrastructure more than the Latvian Nature app, freely available and translated into English it enables you to maximise your visit to Latvia from the comfort of your pocket.
An account of the history and restoration works undertaken of one of Latvia’s major peat bogs – and the restoration of an adjoining river and associate flood plains.
In terms of organisational structure there are strong similarities to Scotland. The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) develops policy. The State Forest Service sits within the MOA and enforces legislation across the industry whilst providing support and issuing licences/permits for all forests regardless of ownership. Finally, the Latvia State Forests Joint Stock Company operates as a commercial entity and manages all state owned forests. However as Normunds went into more detail and as we visited more forests throughout the week it became clear that organisational structure was where any similarities to forestry in Scotland ended. In terms of forest cover, ownership and management Scotland and Latvia could hardly be more different. It was fascinating to spend time in a country with such a different approach, where forestry seems to be winning out over intensive tree farming. Since being back at work I’ve been looking at my sites differently, wondering how much of what I saw could work here and daydreaming of Wolf , Moose, Lynx and Bear…. Paldies Latvia!
In Latvia deer management is administered centrally by the State Forest Service and there is a national register of hunters who require a license to hunt. However management is devolved to the 2074 hunting districts with cull targets and objective agreed locally. This and the requirement of a minimum land area over which to hunt different species means that there is a more collaborative approach to hunting in Latvia. Cull reporting is more rigorous than in Scotland and hunters are required to record where, when and how many deer they harvest.
Given the extent and value of both Norway and Sitka spruce stands in both Scotland and the wider UK, it is vitally important economically and environmentally as described above to minimize and control any outbreaks of dangerous forest pests in coming years. Lessons learned in Latvia as well as other European countries indicate the importance of early detection through annual monitoring and indeed the important relevant intervention to control outbreaks and minimize losses as well as preventing further spread of infestations.
It is an impressive set up, with a (for Latvia) diverse staff of 35, who are highly skilled and experienced in their fields of biology, chemistry, electronics, and others. The umbrella vision for IES and the other 11 companies is an ethos of environmental thinking through medicine, art, beauty, and gastronomy. There is a conscious effort to break the barriers between science based knowledge and the experience of people who have gained a deep understanding of the land through years of working and living with it, blending the two to gain a higher level of understanding. This is done through job swaps, careful recruitment, local projects, and shadowing.
What beguiled me on this trip was that it was evident from every Finnish person I spoke too that they had a deep respect for nature. This included the hunters. Even the predators were an important part of their mythology. For instance, people used to collect the first droppings that a bear produced after hibernation and kept them in a pouch to wear so that they would have the strength of a bear all year. Another indication of this respect was the almost total lack of litter found in natural places which can be a real problem in Scotland. Our student guides just didn’t understand why you would leave rubbish behind. Solo walks in the forest were common and important to people of all ages. My impression was that the Finnish culture still maintained a real connection with nature whilst some urbanisation in Scotland may have severed this connection.
Estonian runic singing began to decline as European influences took prevalence. When I heard this I was reminded of a passage in a book called ‘Soil and Soul’ by Alastair McIntosh, when he described a ‘loss of cultural self-confidence’ that occurred in Gaelic culture with the advent of television and radio. The singing that used to accompany activities such as weaving, rowing and ploughing gradually fell silent. This trip has inspired me to finally bite the bullet and sign up to Gaelic classes (a part of my own heritage that was not passed down by my great-grandparents). On the Sandwood estate where I work we are also developing a plan to gather unrecorded Gaelic place names from older members of the community, to see what more they can tell us about the area’s people, history and ecology before they are lost forever. This trip has inspired me to believe this is a project well worth undertaking.
Overall, though, I was most struck by the interplay and interdependency of the different land uses and incredible attention to detail in the management of the trees, pasture and livestock. Just one example of this was learning of the special calculation done each year into the anticipated acorn crop and limit set accordingly on the number of pigs that can be reared in order to retain organic status for pork production. Such an ethos is surely something that John Muir would have approved of, regardless of whether in sunny, southern Spain or on the side of a somewhat soggier Scottish mountain:- “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
The holistic approach to land management that is the defining feature of the dehesa system of land management provides an opportunity to consider how the historic, largely sectoral approaches to Scottish agriculture and woodland/forestry could be better integrated for the benefit of people, nature and the wider environment. Such a shift in thinking could be of particular value to agriculture on marginal land. Tree and animal species would necessarily differ from those in Spain but, for example, fruit trees could be expected to have a particular role given their nutritional value for livestock as well as opportunities for a crop and fruit-related products.
Rapid development is the watchword for Estonia. New infrastructure, new roads, integration of technology and heavy investment – both nationally and from the European Union – speak of a country facing forward. It is heartening to see that this is not to the detriment or exclusion of natural, built and cultural heritage. Tradition runs deep and, for the most part, it is incorporated into Estonian identity along with this rapid progress. Development has been carefully balanced, in the main, with nature. Estonians value nature and their relationship with it in a different way to Scotland, it being more integrated and present in their lives, all around them rather than being something one takes a trip to visit.
Exhibits included 3D site models – making the castle more accessible for visually impaired visitors, and old maps and archaeological site drawings printed on Perspex which could be slid over one another showing how the site changed through time (an idea I’d like to steal for Archaeology Scotland!). My favourite exhibit was the wall of artefacts found during recent excavations. Pot fragments displayed over the outline of the type of pot they came from and bridle parts displayed over a sketch of a horse’s head made it obvious what the artefacts were, and were used for in the past – sketches like this would be a great addition to our Artefact Investigation kits.
The ‘singing revolution’ is the time between 1986 and 1991 when Estonians gathered in large numbers to sing revolutionary songs in a non-violent protest against the soviet occupation. Culturally this was a powerful way of Estonia retaining its identity. 100,000 Estonians gathered for 7 days and nights in the Tallinn song festival grounds. ‘Until now, revolutions have been filled with destruction, burning, killing and hate, but we started our revolution with a smile and a song’ Estonian Activist Heinz Valk who coined the term ‘ singing revolution’
Hunting in Norway is deeply engrained in the country’s history and its culture. This makes replicating its use as a conservation tool difficult for countries, such as Scotland, where hunting is regarded as merely a rich man’s sport. Nevertheless, there is much that Scotland can learn from Norway’s attitude to hunting.
Aa is for Everything is a personal record of a week-long exploration of Estonia’s cultural heritage that took place from 4-11 August 2019. It contains personal reflections and observations, bits and pieces of history gleaned from our guide and from my own research, inspiration from conversations with my tour companions, and from the information imparted by our many hosts who generously gave of their time and shared their knowledge. The ABC structure of this report is inspired by the book Sõrulase Aabits, a primer on the cultural heritage of Sõrve on the island of Saaremaa. The word aabits comes from the pronunciation of the first three letters of the Estonian alphabet: ah-bey-tsay The full report is reprinted below, or you can go to the Aa is for Everything website – there’s also a map of the places we visited and a gallery of images. The programme was developed by ARCH Scotland and funded through Erasmus+ and hosted by Maarika Naagel of Vitong Heritage Tours. You can read the stories and articles here as a kind of idiosyncratic introduction to Estonian culture as I found it in 2019. It’s far from exhaustive, but hopefully instructive. A bit of everything. Thanks for […]
What inspired and impressed me most was the chosen narrative, the acceptance that different idea(l)s of Estonia exist, from the Estonian diaspora, islanders, people from the countryside, from towns or from Tallinn. It wasn’t supporting one national idea of what Estonia is, which too often seems to be propagated by countries even today but showing that there are many and that there is room for all of them. Visitors were also frequently asked to consider “what would you have done?” instead of condemning everything in good or bad. It was the perfect ending, summing up what we all had come to notice – that Estonians are a very resourceful and colourful people, proud of who they are and where they are from.
I’ll treasure many memories from our time in Estonia – swimming in the Baltic sea at sunset, climbing a lighthouse, seeing a moose, meeting Mari, but I also want to hold onto the lessons learned, and bring those home with me. I can draw many parallels with Scotland – both have dramatic landscapes, vast wilderness and habitats, rich heritage and stunning beaches. And both have the same strongest asset- it’s people. I’ll be doing everything I can to embed what I’ve learned into helping connect, and reconnect, Scotland’s people with what they have on their doorstep, and the stories, skills and ancestry in their blood.
Secovlje Salt Pans We learned that the park is on the list of Ramsar wetlands of international importance. In fact, in 2003 the solina was damaged which meant no harvesting took place, however European funding helped restore the site for birdlife, which in turn enabled salt harvesting to resume. It was really interesting to see how much of an asset wildlife has been for the park, as it enabled them to restore the salt-pans, and the park clearly takes great pride in its wildlife.
I work as a ranger at Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park where my job can be best described as ‘helping visitors enjoy the National Park in a safe and responsible way’. This can be done through sharing of information, education and also enforcement through patrolling. My main patrol area is Loch Lomond so I was very keen to visit similar wetland environments in Poland and see how land managers do things there.
Grazing management in Poland currently appears to be wader friendly and it was encouraging to hear that many efforts are being made to make sure grazing is appropriate. At Ujscie Warty, large extents of the park’s floodplain meadows are rented out to local farmers for cattle grazing. Although farmers are keen to get stock out onto the meadows as soon as possible, the park authorities make an attempt to prevent cattle introduction until the second half of June to reduce trampling risk to wader nests but also prevent excessive damage to soft wet ground.
Lišov Museum is a newly set up rural museum which aims to celebrate culture history and to provide a stimulant to local development. The area has a rich heritage of historical and archaeological sites and the museum works on a range of building and craft techniques as part of their education and outreach activities
By participating in the survey and reporting bag numbers the hunters themselves are key figures in game management. Due to the vastly different cultural heritage of hunting in Norway, where hunting is much more a way of life than an elite hobby, divides between shooting and conservation communities simply do not exist as they do in the UK. However it is inspiring to see what can be achieved when all parties recognise the requirement for robust and contemporary population data and work together to ensure gamebird hunting is carried out at a sustainable level each year.
The important role of the mountain forests for ground’s stability has been observed at Dovre National Park. Betula pendula, B. pubescenis, B. nana, Juniperus communis, and Salex spp cover waist area overhead 1000 m above the sea level between stands of coniferous and alpine zone. Roots system holds poor, stony and wet soil and well protects against landslides. The woodland habitat creates much better biodiversity than post-grazing grassland. That is a good example for land management of similar areas in Scotland.
I was inspired by the focus placed on face to face engagement in Poland to connect people with nature. Given the small size of the teams overseeing the nature areas I felt the decision to concentrate on being out amongst people rather than focusing on producing written communications for press and social media allowed them to build support for nature with the people living next door to it. It highlighted the importance of having local people engaged with nature and supportive of their work which in turn helps with the delivery of conservation.
a common tactic seemed to be limiting public knowledge of the parks as much as possible, reducing pressure on the environment and disturbance to wildlife as there is just not the staff or infrastructure to support them. Has this resulted in Ujscie Warty National Park having one of the highest densities of birds in Poland? or Dabskie Lake in Szczecin having the highest number of White-tailed Eagles in Europe? Of course, this is not to say they don’t want visitors, they just can’t currently handle them without the resources. Hopefully in the future perceptions will change and they will be awarded the funding they deserve, and be able show off the wonderful nature and wildlife of Poland in a sustainable way.
Action includes a ban on keeping on selling the species, a rapid eradication obligation of newly emerging populations and the management of established populations to prevent the species from becoming a wider problem and to keep them out of protected areas.
Links to the best Norwegian websites and databases fpr conservation.
It is obvious that Norway recognises the ecological, economic and cultural importance of its natural environment. However in the absence of Natura sites combined with increasing pressures from development, Norway’s nature may face testing times ahead. With Scotland’s smaller landmass combined with greater pressures from development, I’m not sure our environment would be robust enough to withstand Norway’s approach to environmental protection. It is therefore reassuring to know that the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that EU environmental standards will continue to be met once we leave the EU.
Land management continues to be highly sectorial in Scotland, with different sectors (arable farming, conservation, game management) working in isolation, competing for limited natural resources. This has led to significant land use and human wildlife conflicts, resulting in a culture of distrust among the different stakeholders. In contrast, Norwegian land management is based on a more integrated system, with a greater culture of land stewardship, trust and shared values amongst its stakeholders.
Again there was an overwhelming diversity of flowers – a carpet of colour and endless new species. Highlights included Clematis recta; Anemone sylvestris which looked like a poppy; birds nest orchids and broomrapes; cornflower; a carpet of bugle; salvia; dianthus; martagon lily; lily of the valley; and Solomon’s seal. The diversity and sheer number of flowers was magnificent, and something we simply do not have in Scotland. The management of the meadows has now been mechanised and the meadow is cut in late June/early July. Previously it was cut by hand and used as hay but nowadays it is baled.
During our week in Iceland I made use of every opportunity to record visual material by making photos and sketches, and as a result I now have at my disposal a valuable source of material to continue to work on in my art studio. I will make a series of works on the subject that will be exhibited during Perthshire Open Studios in September 2019.
The round inside of the barn required the Klambra to be cut with enough of an angle so that they can be firmly pushed together with no gaps, these gaps would create weak areas in the wall which could lead to collapse or failure of the structure.
From the late 19th and early 20th century turf building ceased to be the main form of construction in Iceland surpassed first by timber construction and soon after by the widespread use of modern concrete. This form of construction is now only used to maintain historic structures and in demonstration projects to keep the knowledge of these construction techniques alive.
However easy Helgi make it seem I realise that there is a tremendous level of experience needed behind turf building especially in the choice of areas/conditions to excavate turf from and the design of the structure being built. I will experiment with interested volunteers but greatly look forward to the opportunity of involvement with the turf building restoration planned for Glencoe and appreciate the links made by this course with other potential turf builders in Scotland.
The frame was entered with some sense, that new architecture on the Arctic rim, will have to evolve to tackle the greatest contemporary human imperative – Climate Change. To this end matters of thermal transfer and isolation offered by the inherent properties of Turf are reflected on. ( with of course – a pinch of Icelandic pragmatism and dark humour, thrown into the hot tub …for good measure.
Much like in Scotland, turf building is in serious decline, this leads to a skills shortage and a danger that the skills might eventually be lost. The beauty of turf building is that it has evolved over generations in response to factors such as the socioeconomic changes, materials shortage and the effects of the everchanging climate climate. Thankfully, the work that Skagafjörður Heritage Museum is doing, helps to keep the skills and knowledge alive.
What is sometimes forgotten though is that for traditional trades to be carried out in a truly traditional way they rely on the correct tools being available. This is felt in the UK – at present a number of tool making crafts feature on the Heritage Crafts Association ‘Red List of Endangered Crafts’. This is not an issue unique to the UK. It became apparent that sourcing replacement parts for the Icelandic turf building tools, the turf scythe in particular, was a challenge
Then strips of Torfa a double Strengur are laid to the thin part or tail of the Strengur on the inside of the wall from front to back. These are built overlapping each other which strengthens the wall and bonds it together. Once the stone base course is built to the required height the clamping blocks or Klambra can be built on top.
The Heart of Scotland Forest Partnership are based in Perthshire, Scotland. Here, public, private, community and charity partners are working together to connect woodlands across Highland Perthshire. Members of the partnership were recently given the opportunity to visit Norway on a training course developed by ARCH, hosted by Duncan Halley and NINA (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research) and funded through the Erasmus+ programme.
I have a newfound appreciation for this sense of balance that maximises environmental and social priorities, something that can be difficult to achieve. This study visit has emphasised the global importance of this system (in terms of preventing desertification), whilst also providing a shining example for sustainable, biodiversity-friendly land management systems elsewhere in Europe.
Transhumance is an ancient practice of moving animals between regions to benefit from the best grazing at the best time of year. The loss of this transhumance has impacts in both Andalusia and the north. In Andalusia the sheep remain on the same ground throughout the year which increases the pressure on the available grazing and is detrimental to the soil. In the north the lack of annual grazing has led to abandonment of pastures, which are infilled with continuous forest or scrub cover, which lowers biodiversity and increases the risk of fire.
When the worlds soils are predicted to have only 60 harvests left in them, we need to find a more sustainable approach to our use of agricultural land. The Dehesa San Francisco is a beautiful example of what can be achieved.
This course is now full – there are still places on some of the other courses for 2019. Dates: 3 to 10 September 2019 (with flexibility a couple of days either side to allow for flight availability) Themes: to provide people working in Scottish upland management to see how native woodland responds to changes in grazing pressures. Participants will visit a variety of biodiverse, reforested landscapes from exposed coast to mountain tops, with multiple land uses including hunting, forestry and farming. There is rough and sometimes rocky walking on most days of this visit which participants should consider when applying. Draft Itinerary: Day 1 arrival Stavanger and drive to Gaudland; Day 2 Gården Li on Hidrasundet on the coast; Day 3 Fidjadalen; Day 4 Byklehaiene; Day 5 Bjåen and Berdalen; Day 6 Åmøy Fjordferie; Day 7 Return Hosts: Duncan Halley (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, NINA) Please click here to view the film from the NET 4 visit in 2018 to learn more about the visit.
Near Lišov is a c200km long linear monument, part of a massive network of similar sites stretching from the Czech Republic to the Black Sea. This section near Lišov runs approximately North-South and was once thought to be defensive, however a number of theories have been proposed to explain its massive construction. They are thought to be Neolithic and their relationship to tributaries of the Danube, and the Danube itself appear to be important. The monument is reminiscent of the Cleaven Dyke, Perth and Kinross, a complex earthwork comprising a pair of parallel ditches (c.45-5om apart), with a central bank, running for 1.8km through woodland and for a further 350m as a cropmark.
The rural museum opened in 2015, so it has only been operating (and flourishing) over the last 3 years, under the care and love of locals Adriana Patková and Jakub Dvorský, our young guides who accompanied us throughout our stay in Slovakia. I fell in love with the museum from the beginning and the ideas it stands for. It may display historic objects and furniture in a traditional way at times, but many of these are actually donated by the locals or passionately collected by Adriana. This way, the museum acts a depository for the local heritage and for holding people’s memories and identity. Moreover, it acts as a space for keeping alive ancient traditions, like for example burning the Goddess Morena, symbolising death and the winter, and sailing it down the river to welcome spring.
Impressions of Lisov and its culture heritage
Vernacular architecture, construction methods, techniques and associated crafts and skills, is a lesson of the past for the future. Architecture established and resulting, including from construction approaches, is a unique component of a locations’ culture just as much as its language, music, art, literature or food. Architecture is also the most visual of those cultural components; conveying a unique image. This is called “genius loci,” the “spirit of a place”.
I sincerely hope that the work of Jacob and Andriana at the Lišov Museum revive the traditional crafts of using clay mortars and plasters and limewashes for the repair of old buildings and encourage their use in modern construction.
Textiles are a central theme of the museum both in terms of culture heritage interpretation and as a major component of the museum shop. This short report explores the range of the textile collections, the current textile-based enterprise activities, some thoughts/suggestions on potential textile based outreach and enterprise projects, and possible implications for work in Scotland.
Dehesa San Francisco works to preserve the biodiversity of the Dehesa through sustainable agriculture. This NET5 visit will learn about the work of the foundation on the farm and with local producers, farmers and organic cooperatives.
A summary report of NET 4 (Managing our Natural and Cultural Heritage Assets) is now available to download as a PDF
The course themes were far ranging, from large carnivore management, including hunting legislation and how people live with together with these animals as neighbours; forestry adaptations to climate change, covering the wind storm in the High Tatras, where the bark beetle is now thriving to the detriment of the forest; forestry methods, namely horse logging where is was a huge advantage having our very own horse logger to explain how the methods were similar to that in Scotland and across Europe.
This film records the ARCH visit to Eastern Slovakia in May 2018
Group report from the 2018 group who visited Evenstad in Norway. You can read their newspaper style report here in Pdf format evenstad-echo-11.pdf
The participants of the Cyprus visit take part in the great Adobe brick making contest, and along the way encounter silver smiths, mosaic artists, lace makers, and pottery makers.
We have returned home from our trip to Bulgaria refreshed with new ideas and an insight into how other European countries approach connecting communities with their natural and historical environment. Bulgaria takes a holistic approach by including arts, heritage, festivals, folklore and history into their engagement around our natural and cultural heritage. They encourage their citizens to engage in crafts using inspiration from the natural world, to appreciate the intrinsic value of nature and to conserve special places for future generations.
Our short but fabulous visit to central Bulgaria, demonstrated without any doubt that the Bulgarian people maintain, and continue to foster, a deep and genuine respect for their identity through their cultural heritage. Their high regard for ancient traditional skills and crafts are embraced with a proud consideration, and this is ultimately clearly demonstrated by the way they incorporate ancient traditional skills and crafts into modern day life.
The challenge for the people that live in the small houses, farms, villages and towns within and around the Central Balkan National Park and on the Devetaki Plateau is to keep their connection with nature. To hang on to it whilst embarking on the journey to market and promote their diverse heritage. To enjoy it and allow others to do so as development and tourism in this fascinating country inevitably grows.
The trip has also given me ideas of what festivals I could consider planning around peatlands – incorporating things like folk music and culture like we saw with the Plum Festival on the first day. These seasonal festivals provide a link back to nature, its products and its importance to local communities.
Through combining both of these aspects into the trip, which are perhaps often seen somewhat as contrasting ways to understand the biodiversity, whilst additionally learning about the rich history and traditions of the country, this has provided a valuable insight into how well-rounded disseminating information can be done, integrating many perspectives for understanding the environment into a single day alone to link together and catch the attention of visitors when communicating conservation to the public.
So what lessons to draw? That deer numbers have to be significantly reduced if we are ever to restore our environment and its wildlife in Scotland, is hardly a revelation. But the destination – where rich, native forests are compatible with human needs and where people have a real connection with nature – should surely be one worth striving for.
This gives an idea of how connected folk were in the past with where plants grew, when they flowered, when they set seed, and what beneficial properties they reputedly had in days before mass-produced pharmaceuticals were available.
I found it particularly inspiring that the Devetaki Plateau Association, as a small collective, could reach beyond its own borders and the EU to find support for its mission in the Swiss & American agencies discussed earlier. Although we can hardly compare the wealth of Scotland to that of Bulgaria, I can’t help but wonder whether the challenges we could all face from Brexit may see us reach out to partners beyond our own conservation neighbourhood.
Whilst this is just one example of cultural heritage as green infrastructure, we encountered numerous others. From traditional barrel making to organic production of medicinal herbs (linked to rigorous scientific analysis and development); from an environment that invites you to swim in every lake, river and seashore… …to foraged berries and fresh meals cooked with fresh food every day – our daily experiences and memories made were based on the health and integrity of the environment around us and its place in culture and history. Without this we would not have found the social cohesion in our group that came about from sitting by the river in the evenings blethering away, listening for wolf calls at night, or stargazing under the Milky Way.
The basics of construction were taught as incidental in the wider aims of learning about turf-building through building with turf. Questions were answered through instruction, so the builder was learning whilst doing. This is a practical approach which suited our group of enthusiastic and driven individuals. With an abundance of written and specific information available about the methods of turf building, it was more accessible to simply give it a go without being too precious about the exactitudes required in other construction methods.
Day 1 of turf building at Tyrfingsstaðir with Helgi Sigurðsson of Fornverk ehf: Our brief for the week was to help with construction of “The Smokehouse”, a small rectangular building made of simple round pole timbers and to be used for meat smoking in the future. This was part of a complex of turf buildings belonging to the family who still worked the land, the matriarch Kristin having been born in the main turf house before moving into the modern house now standing close by. The turf buildings have since become a place for tourists to visit and for students of turf such as ourselves to practice building.
The training courses that do exist and are developing will probably suffice to educate enough people to retain political will and technical understanding to continue this for future generations. I hope that turf building techniques can be encouraged and somehow integrated with modern building techniques to grow the cultural identity and the important historic link that turf has to the Iceland people. I suspect that it is only through a modern reinvention that turf will in anyway become anything more than a museum piece which will sadly loose relevance in time and its importance in the landscape will be lost.
Sunday 9th September, Day 6 Ecology of mires and peatlands in Finnish forestry and Forest industry and Local development.(SB) On Sunday we met Senior Lecturer Pirjo Puustjärvi at the University of Applied Sciences having given Miia the day off! Natural regeneration on the bog We were off to see the bog and mire habitats of Lakkasuo peatlands which have never been drained and are owned by the University. We ensured that our heads were covered up and headed off into the woods on the duck boards we’d come to associate with Finland’s watery environment. We walked through spruce and alder woodlands as the trees (Spruce and Scots Pine) became less dense and the bogs and mires (blanket bog) more obvious – to a depth of 4metres! Blanket bog is one of the rarest habitats in the world. Finland is home to 10,000,000 hectares of different bog habitats, created by glacial activity over the millennia. It was explained that normally we’d hardly be able to even see the duck boards but due to the drought conditions of this year’s summer we could see all of them. They were initially put in in 1965 by students otherwise we’d not be able to […]
Following our exciting excursions into the culture of Tampere we drove to collect Eveliina and spend an evening at Puurijarvi-Isosuo National Park which in ways paralleled the frenetic and the calm of Tampere. Our first stop was at a viewing platform where within moments we all had our binoculars trained on a marsh harrier. When Eveliina succeeded in dragging us away from this platform we walked to the viewing tower to await the cranes…
Environmental protection is a relatively new concept in Finland with the ministry for environment being formed in 1982 following decades of escalating protests but as with many countries the probable driving force to actual change can be linked to the economic value of forestry being threatened when international players such as Greenpeace and the WWF stepped into boycott Finish timber.
Finns consider forests as urban parks. The area we visited is well used, with a café and plenty of runners and walkers around. The woodland is managed by the City of Tampere municipality and it is managed for the people who use it. The City of Tampere municipality have a land use plan, and as part of that the local development is managed, as well as operations such as the assessment of the effect of tree cutting. We noted plenty of litter bins but hardly any littering on the ground. There is little bit of graffiti and no dog poo bags left in the woods! Our Scottish urban site managers have been very impressed by the lack of litter compared to Scotland.
While we were there we sat in on a class with children who had additional support needs. The class were learning about Finland’s Everyman’s Right, the code for the outdoors and something the Finnish people are very proud of. Eva, our host, said that this is the basis for outdoor education in Finland; to learn to respect the countryside from the first explorations into it.
The 70-80 year old forest we visited was owned, like many forests in Finland, by a variety of private owners, in this instance including Tampere City Council. Dr Jenni Kokkarinen, lecturer at Tampere University of Applied Sciences provided the group with an introduction to forestry practices in Finland. To all intent and purposes Finland’s timber industry features four main tree species – Norway spruce (Picea abies), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), silver birch (Betula pendula) and aspen (Populus tremula).
The next stop at Seitseminen was a visit to a patch of old growth forest – perhaps the catalyst for the Park’s creation – and a chance to see what “original” forest might look like in Finland. Surprisingly, we found it strikingly similar to non-old growth forest! Low species diversity in the canopy (Scots pine, Norway spruce, aspen, silver birch, grey alder), all the trees were telegraph pole straight with no large side branches and hardly any “characterful” trees, as we get in many Scottish woods (e.g. Granny pines).
North-west Poland (West Pomerania) and east Germany 10 – 16 June 2018 Sites Czarnocin Odra Delta Nature Park Dąbskie Lake (nr Szczecin) Woliński National Park Wolin Lower Odra Landscape Park Namyślin (near Kostryń) Nationalpark Unteres Odertal Ujście Warty (Mouth of Warta River) National Park Kaleńsko (tern rafts) Birds Greylag Goose Anser anser Recorded at Odra Delta Nature Park and Ujście Warty. Large moulting population present at latter site, where a number were caught, ringed and neck-collared (yellow with four black letters) on 15th. When flightless they hide in willow scrub to avoid the attentions of the White-tailed Eagles. Re-sightings have been recorded wintering in Italy and France, and breeding birds in the Czec Republic. Mostly quite pink-billed, though apparently they vary and are likely to be intermediate between anser and rubrirostris. Mute Swan Cygnus olor Common and widespread Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus One at Dąbskie Lake, and one at Szczecin Lagoon. Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiaca Pair (or maybe two) at Kaleńsko. Garganey Spatuala querquedula At Odra Delta Nature Park, Ujście Warty, and Kaleńsko. Northern Shoveler Spatula clypeata At Nationalpark Unteres Odertal. Gadwall Mareca strepera Dąbskie Lake and other sites. Eurasian Wigeon Mareca Penelope Double figures at Odra Delta Nature Park. […]
We kept our sacred sites secret so that the foreign occupation regimes that started in 1227 would not destroy them. By remaining attached to our ancient perception of life, we preserved our identity and remaining whole as people.This is how we preserved a bright silver of the culture similar to that of peoples in the woodedparts of Europe and this has lasted for millennia.
The transfer of skills to the RSPB and National Park volunteers (and others interested in attending) would be an extremely valuable and sustainable asset. Scything and stacking the fen vegetation may not entirely replace the need to use machinery over this extensive site. It would however be a very useful addition to the methods available to maintain these important sites for wildlife.
The hay meadows face many difficulties in a changing Romania. No one can halt the tide of industrialisation, especially if it makes life easier for an aging population. Romanians are not living in a museum, and they must be allowed to change in the same way as we all do. However, the Apuseni mountains – the name translates into Sunset Mountains – feel like they’re on the brink of change, and that change could lead to a complete loss of hay meadow culture. And, as with so many of these things, Europe may not realise the value of this place before it becomes lost to history.
The Romanian experience has led to a great deal of reflection on how hay, orchards, amenity grassland, ‘rough grass’ and agricultural set aside is managed in Britain. The tendency to use rotary mowers and in the agricultural setting mower conditioners, must have an impact on invertebrate life. In Romania, we were able to experience what is possible with grassland management when it is more sympathetic to biodiversity. It has been enlightening.
What did I learn from Romania? Firstly, it reinforced to me how important these less intensively managed High Nature Value landscapes are for wildlife. Whether visiting the beautiful Romanian hay meadows or the Uist’s Machair, these really are special places and we must find ways to make sure communities are given sufficient support to ensure these areas can maintain their biodiversity value.
Even though the management of the land has to make economic sense to the Romanians it seems that they do value the importance of trees more so than a lot of English farmers that I work with. This might be because of the way the land is farmer on a smaller scale with less intensive machinery which makes it easier to work around a tree or hedge in the field. This might be because the agri-environment schemes work differently or simply because they recognise that trees have a wide number of benefits that can lead to both economic and environmental sustainability.
In Romania outside space seemed to me to be valued, planted and used well. But would a return to this type of growing really work for us? Can we really change our thinking and green our grey by filling our gardens with useful, valuable plants? How would our manicured and grey slabbed neighbours respond? Perhaps not to corn or vines in our Scottish climate, but to a front garden filled with ‘untidy’ raspberry canes, tattie shaws and strawberry runners? It shouldn’t really matter.
The villages of Girbovita and Rimet are located high in the Apuseni mountains, nestled within a landscape which has hardly changed since medieval times. The valleys and peaks are breathtakingly beautiful, but the reality of life in this part of Romania is not so rose-tinted, with many areas facing an uncertain future.
The outcomes of this colourful week in Romania can be split into two areas. Firstly, the biological/ecological prospects for further study and secondly, the ecology of the group to allow better recognition of who is willing to do what to secure prospects of further trips and studies.
Overall Estonia appears to have come out of the Soviet years of suppression very rapidly and now has a dynamic buzz and proud satisfaction about itself that is definitely as strong as can be witnessed anywhere else in Europe, but most important they appear to be a very proud and happy nation! This expression within their nation is witnessed in their fondness of art, good design and bright colour, used wherever possible and appropriate!
