Classy Cleughs
Galloway Woods
Size: 335ha, of which 79 ha is in project area
Conservation rating: 4 SSSIs - Glentrool Oakwoods, Wood of Cree, Carstramon Wood (SWT reserve), Killiegowan Wood
Core profile
Upland oakwoods, including ones that Robert the Bruce would have known as a boy, were once extensive in this area. The Galloway Woods Core Forest Sites are scattered north of Newton Stewart and west of Gatehouse of Fleet. They are sessile oakwoods that have survived around Loch Trool and up the small stream gorges – known locally as ‘cleughs’ - of Buchan Burn and Calder Burn.
There’s quite a bit of variety in trees here. Oak, birch and alder dominate in places, and there’s a sprinkling of hazel, rowan and holly. Open glades, grasslands, freshwater marsh - and those cleughs - add further variety to the scene.
What’s special about them?
These woods, though small and dispersed, are an important source of native trees and associated woodland wildlife within the south-west lowlands of Scotland. As such, they’re classic core sites for a wider forest habitat network. Many special plants grow here, including mosses and liverworts (bryophytes) on stream sides. These bryophytes like mild damp conditions influenced by Atlantic-driven weather. Shaded, humid places in the cleughs also hold regionally rare plants, such as the serrated wintergreen. All the woods have excellent variety of bryophytes, lichens (such as lungwort, named for its resemblance to human lungs) and ferns.
What was up?
- Deer browsing preventing regeneration within fenced enclosures in need of repair and affecting growth of native trees, shrub and flower in the wider woodlands at Glentrool
- Planted conifers restricting expansion of oakwood or gradation of oak into surrounding ground at Glentrool.
What’s been done?
- Maintenance of deer fencing and protection of seedlings with tree shelters in 78ha
- Removal of 10ha of conifers
What’s next?
Core connections
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