How can we better connect woodland fragments, creating wildlife corridors and nature networks across the region?
Work is underway on the Wood-Wide Network project, investigating options for ‘Woodland Connectivity’ across Dumfries & Galloway. This project is supported by a development grant from the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, administered by NatureScot.
Throughout 2026, Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands is working to identify woodland connectivity work in the region, discussing them with landowners and starting to pull together details of costings, constraints and work required. This will be compiled into an application to NatureScot for an ambitious multi-year delivery project, hopefully getting underway in 2027.
Our region (D&G is 8% of Scotland’s land area) is extraordinarily productive in terms of the agricultural sector and forestry sector – and this project will respect that. ‘Woodland connectivity’ is seen as one of the most appropriate ways to bring trees, and all the benefits they can bring, into a productive landscape.
This tailored and considered approach doesn’t reduce the other productive uses of the land, and can vary from a simple line of trees along a field boundary through to bigger work. Trees can bring a whole range of benefits to a working landscape – from shade and wind protection for livestock, through to the landscape impact of planting the next generation of native trees.
This is the first time that Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands has been able to proactively look at woodland corridors and the potential to connect fragmented or at risk blocks of native woodland. This is made possible thanks to funding from NatureScot, but also support from the Solway Coast & Marine Landscape Connections Project (https://www.solwaycoastmarine.co.uk/) which has allowed us to engage Scottish Association for Marine Science (‘SAMS’ – https://www.sams.ac.uk/). SAMS helped us compile publicly available data layers such as ancient tree mapping and Native Woodland of Scotland maps, and to analyse these for potential ‘connectivity’ benefits.
This project is obviously ultimately a landowner engagement/appetite task, and the NatureScot funding has allowed us to recruit three contractors for work in the next 4 months to identify deliverable and appropriate woodland corridor projects that align with landowner ambitions.
We advertised the contracts as ‘WEST’, ‘CENTRAL’ and ‘EAST’ to give an approximate geographical focus. Such a lot of interest was received in these three contracts, and we are so grateful to everyone that submitted an expression of interest.
After thorough review, the contracts were awarded to:
- WEST – Harry Fisher @ SAC Consulting
- CENTRAL – Anna Austin & Andy Brown @ Caerlaverock Consulting
- EAST – Simon Amor @ Colwidhen Asset Management
The contractors have met the team, and each other, in recent weeks and work is now getting underway to kick off dialogue with landowners across the region.
This project is entirely voluntary and relationship-based, with no statutory backing. Engagement in this development phase does not rule out the potential for partnership work in later years. Similarly, engagement now does not prevent a landowner from seeking alternative options subsequently.
If you see any of the contractors out and about through their work, please do feel free to ask for more info about the ambitions of the project and how to get involved. Or if you would like any more info generally, please get in touch with me at mcnabb.laurie@dgwoodlands.org.
The ambition is that from Mid-November onwards, DGW staff will compile potential woodland connectivity work into an ambitious multi-year project. This will include exploration of funding models and methods to actually turn ambition into reality.
Many thanks to everyone involved so far – a special mention to Dr Niall Burnside @ SAMS for help with the mapping task and to DGW’s Phil for support throughout.
More info soon…
McNabb Laurie – August 2026.
Bottom photo: An illustrative ‘wildlife corridor’ on Caerlaverock Estate (photo courtesy: Caerlaverock Estate)
