Please click on the Links to open examples of my previous work.
I was Woodlands Manager (Head Forester), at Castle Milk & Corrie Estates from 2008 - end of 2022. Below are examples of some of the work I did during my 15 years on the Estate.
This was a Forest Plan Consultation / Scoping document that I put together for Castle Milk Estate when doing their Forest Plan. It was sent to all stake-holders, tenant farmers, neighbours, sawmills etc. as well as Historic Environment Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage. It shows ideas for how to develop the Estates forestry going forward and the feedback from the stake-holders was then incorporated in the Forest Plan which was approved by Forestry Commission / Scottish Forestry.
This is a detailed Forest Plan for Castle Milk Estate that I wrote in 2012 / 2013. It drew down from an earlier operational plan I had put together when I started on the Estate in 2008. Over the next ten years I implemented this Plan in full, and delivered a thoroughly re-structured Forest at the end of this period both in terms of Age Class and Species. The forests on the Estate at the end of this period are in 'Normal Forest' condition and continuously producing a steady supply of timber every year, making the forests very valuable.
This shows an example felling plan for the Southern section of Castle Milk Estate and was part of the Forest Plan detailed above. Each coloured section shows different 5-year Felling Phases. Most of the felling was managed on a 'Direct Production' basis where I sold the timber then organised harvesting contractors to fell the wood and get it to roadside, then I arranged the haulage of the timber to the various Sawmills. I would also produce a detailed felling plan, method statement, site safety rules and Risk Assessment for each harvesting site and managed with frequent site visits and site diaries to monitor progress. The Estate was FSC Certified and we were commended for our meticulous approach to Health & Safety.
This shows an example Restocking Plan for the Southern section of Castle Milk Estate and like the felling plan, was part of the Forest Plan detailed above. While the restocking of the Northern areas of Castle Milk focussed heavily on Sitka Spruce, and some Improved Norway Spruce, the owner Sir John was keen to explore other species so we were better prepared for climate change. In this Southern Restock Plan you can see where we increasingly explored the use of Douglas Fir (later Improved La Luzette Douglas Fir), as well as an increasing pallette of different species alongside improved Sitka Spruce. This restock plan was implemented over 10 years and I learned a lot about how different species behaved and how to get the best out of them. The restocking is really high quality and it will be interesting to follow these compartments in the future.
Castle Milk Experiments Talk Handout
Castle Milk & Corrie Estates had a long history of Forest Experimentation going back many decades. One of the previous lairds, old Sir John, had even conducted a lecture tour on forestry in Sweden, I think back in the 1920's. There were many different species and silviculture experiments across the Estate. As a forestry student in the 1990's I assisted Roy Carlaw and Andy Currie, the forest managers on the Estate, with new experiments which was fascinating and helped enormously with my course work. In particular I helped with the Sitka Spruce M00 trials that were planted in 2000 and measured these trees in their early years along with other experiments at Whitcastles forest and elsewhere. When I later became the Head Forester at Castle Milk in 2008 it was a tremendous opportunity to revisit these experiments and develop new ones. This drew a lot of interest from the industry and I frequently took groups round the various experiments on the Estate. We developed a trail and a handout which you can find above. We were very pleased to plant the first Improved Norway Spruce in the UK as part of these experiments in 2012 and later the Tamarack trial which I developed to try and find P.ramorum resistant species. You can read more about these in the handout and extracts of some of the data that was collected over the years.
Castle Milk Estate Forestry Article in Scottish Land & Estates Land Business Magazine
This was a great article about the Castle Milk Estate Forestry Department which featured in the Scottish Land & Estates Land Business Magazine in September 2022. This follows some of the hard work we were doing in 2022 to clear up the Storm Arwen damage which hit various woods across the Estate. Fortunately we were able to respond quickly with our contract harvesting teams already on the Estate as well as our Forestry Department squad of woodsmen and get it mostly squared away by the end of 2022.
I am currently assisting the historic Caerlaverock Estate as a Woodland Consultant and have completed several Restockings in some beautiful Estate woodlands, as well as assisting with a Natural Capital nature restoration project which is seeing the creation of an impressive network of ponds and wildlife corridors to connect the existing woodlands. Caerlaverock has an impressive range of wildlife including natterjack toads which will be benefited by this project. I am also assisting Caerlaverock with tree surveys and felling work.
Restock Plan
Photos of Recent Work
llast update 12/1/25