Field Notes: Time well spent at Glenlude

Fundraiser Sophie Mackaness joins staff from Artemis Investment Management for a sunny conservation work party at our Glenlude site in the Scottish borders.

The Artemis Charitable Foundation is sponsoring the Artemis Pentland Peaks Challenge; an endurance walk across Edinburgh’s Pentland Hills. This year’s event will raise money for the John Muir Trust and Mary’s Meals.

In mid-June we invited some of the team from Artemis to Glenlude so they could see for themselves the types of projects the money raised through the Pentland Peaks Challenge will support.

Our day started in the volunteer hub; a cosy space for learning and sharing thoughts, and a chance for Karen, the Glenlude property manager, to outline our tasks for the day.

A tour of the property put into perspective the stark differences in landscape between the Glenlude site and neighbouring farming and forestry operations. The restorative work that Karen and our volunteers are undertaking shows the potential of this land to become a haven for wildlife as well as an asset to the community and youth groups who visit and care for the site.

Following our tour, we headed up Glenlude Hill armed with mesh and reusable zip ties to work on some tree saplings planted earlier in the year by local school children. As the trees grow up and out of their initial tree guards, it’s important to add mesh protection to prevent deer from eating the young growth and killing the sapling. The team from Artemis worked hard with a healthy competitiveness to cover all the new trees despite the heat!

As well as planting new native broadleaf species such as oak, alder and birch, the work at Glenlude involves the staged felling of the existing conifer plantation, monitoring plant and animal life, and constructing brash hedges to reduce impacts of roe deer.

Eventually, the site will have areas of native broadleaf forest as well as land with lower planting density to encourage a wide biodiversity of plant and animal species and a thriving ecology. As trees mature and produce seeds, natural regeneration will allow Glenlude to become more self-sustaining. Throughout this process, volunteers will be at the heart of caring for Glenlude and creating an enriching experience for those who come and take part in our work.

The money raised from the Artemis Pentland Peaks Challenge will help to support projects such as that at Glenlude, as well as our ongoing work across the UK. Thanks to the support of the Artemis Charitable Foundation, 100 per cent of the sponsorship raised will be split equally between the Trust and Mary’s Meals.

Think you can take on the Pentland Peaks challenge?

There’s still time to sign up for the event in September via the Pentland Peaks website. There are Gold (27 miles), Silver (14 miles) and Bronze (10 miles) challenges to sign up for so there’s something for everyone to push their limits for a good cause.