Chair’s Report – Winter/ Spring 2025

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 15/03/2025

It seems a long time since our winter gathering event at the Woodland Shelter, when a good crowd coalesced around the fire collecting Christmas trees, and the other event around that time, when Santa Claus was once again installed in the Conservation Hub as part of the Christmas trail put on by Laura Pasetti and the Theatre of the Seven Directions. Now it is spring and the flowers, bees and the light are returning.

 

 

So much has been happening in the intervening months. This was brought home once again when I wrote a summary for our whole team meeting at Cullerne. The main topic was to progress the changes in structure of the charity to ensure its sustainability and resilience well into the future. As part of that I will be stepping down as FHT Chair in September – I will be staying on as a trustee, probably involved in a new Education and Community team that is forming. All will be revealed in the next newsletter when decisions have been finalised and the new structure will hopefully be in place!

Back to my summary of events – it’s a long list!

Land Transfers – Two land transfers, from the Findhorn Foundation Trust and Duneland Ltd, are almost set to go. These will bring the FHT land holding to over fifty hectares – a huge step forward that will be celebrated once the transfer has gone through. Still pending is the in-settlement land offered by Duneland Ltd that now includes other areas with conservation value, over and above the Diamond Woodland already offered. An agreement with Findhorn Wind Park (FWP) has been drawn up and approved by both parties, which will allow FHT to collect an annual income from renting out the land under the turbines, which is about £8k/annum. This income is very welcome as we will use it to carry out the imminent restructuring of the charity.

Jonathan Caddy, Findhorn Hinterland Trust, Findhorn, MorayDune Restoration Project Phase 2 – The Land Management Subgroup (LMSG) gave the go ahead to extend this work this year by a further 0.5ha, and to seek funding for this and associated survey work, particularly for beetles. An expression of interest has been submitted to the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Foundation (HEIF) fund for the physical work and project management. Further PR work continues – I spoke about the project at the North East Scotland Biodiversity Partnership seminar in Inverurie, alongside Alan who was there to speak about rewilding Caledonian Forest work. The seminar was a real eye opener, showcasing 12 other inspiring and very different projects along with ours. It was great to feel part of a much bigger and positive environmental movement and see so many younger people enthusiastically involved.

Local Biodiversity Action Plan – The LMSG has been working with ecological consultant Sean Reed to review and look at creating a new plan, which will be an important tool to guide our future work. It’s still in its early stages but should be complete later in the year. We have applied for funding through the Neighbourhood Ecosystem Fund, along with the beetle survey work mentioned above.

Land Management Plan – The LMSG believes a working document setting out the vision and priorities for the next five years and beyond is necessary, and has set aside time over the coming months to look at this. Included is the future of Wilkies Wood as well as ways forward for the green burial work, as well as other fellings and plantings.

Partnership with Forres Academy – FHT is looking to host 180 S1 and S2 pupils on the land during their activity days in May, plus the regular biology field trip event in June with a further 80 pupils. Talks in the school are still to go ahead.

Partnership with Findhorn Bay Holiday Park (FBHP) – We are looking forward to exploring what works with FBHP, as they had about 10,000 visitors to the site last year. This is a large potential audience that might like to get involved in some of our activities and workshops. FBHP is also willing to book our 12 camping spaces on the edge of Wilkies Wood, which would help create another source of income as well as introduce more people to our work. Right now George is creating a map of how to reach our camp pads, to be used in a brochure. We’re in discussions with the bee group about including campers in our weekly inspections, and Roy is looking to offer regular ‘sharing nature’ mornings for families. There are still many details to sort but it will be good to be trying something different this year to engage more people and develop other income streams.

2025 Educational Programme – This will be a repeat of many of the offerings made last year and it is hoped that some of the Holiday Park visitors might get involved. Laura is developing a new workshop around green burials in conjunction with Laura Pasetti.

FHT Personnel – There has been some movement here: our secretary Talitha has left, and Fiona is now temporarily filling that role. Carolin joined the team as Membership Secretary and will be back this month after some time in India. Jacqueline has been taking time out as a trustee but is now back this month. Dell was asked if she could take over production of the newsletter from Jonathan and has joined the team. Kajedo our Land Manager expressed dissatisfaction about elements of his present role which triggered discussion – challenges have been looked at and many resolved. There is a need for one or two more trustees, and a big unresolved question is: who will take on the Chair role from September?

Completed Projects – FHT involvement in the new Sanctuary build is almost there and the Local Place Plan for the Park Ecovillage Findhorn has now been submitted, so our involvement is no longer needed at this time.

Ongoing Projects – With Jaqueline taking a pause and Val of Digital Routes having a parallel large project, work on the New Website Project has been slow, but momentum will pick up now.

Community member Jane Rasbash, who died at the end of last year, very kindly left a bequest to FHT, stipulating it be used to support young people engaging with the work on the land, and suggesting it could go towards purchasing or building appropriate accommodation. Her family is still sorting out her estate, which will take some time. The exact amount has yet to be determined but it could be in the region of £20k. This has inspired the charity to seek further legacy financial support for our good work, which is being included in a new green burial leaflet.

There’s plenty more happening that’s not on the list! So far this winter all hives in our apiary are buzzing with all but one in good condition – we look forward to a productive season with the bees but as usual this all depends on the weather. We are actively looking for younger people in our community who might be interested in learning more about beekeeping, so that our huge knowledge can be passed on to the next generation – do get in touch if this could be you.

Another happening has been the repair of some of our structures in Wilkies Wood, such as the seating around the fireplace at the Woodland Shelter and the picnic bench by the main track. This work has been carried out by a small, enthusiastic team led by George and I and includes new members Sam and Ida Nye.

One other event to add was a visit from mover and shaker Ariane Burgess, our local MSP and former Park Ecovillage Findhorn resident and active FHT member who helped get our Woodland Garden established. It was good to show her what we have been up to and also to connect with the larger green initiatives happening in Moray.

FHT members, with the help of some of our chainsaw equipment and Isle of Erraid residents, were also involved in a week’s chainsaw work party on the West Coast in January tackling a pile of over forty tonnes of firewood. Our efforts were much appreciated by the new Findhorn Foundation SCIO as they prepare for a new and busy guest season this summer.

There will be other things I will have missed but I am sure that is enough information for now. Enjoy the coming of spring with its new growth and flowering as the weather warms and we connect more deeply with the wonder of the world around us.

 

 

Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
9th March 2025

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Chair’s Report – Autumn/Winter 2024

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 17/12/2024

Autumn on the land has been beautiful with the seasonal change of colours and fungi making their presence known with their fruiting bodies once again present to our eyes – the natural world has been busy and so have the FHT human team with so much going on.  

This busyness was particularly evident during our recent whole FHT team meeting at Cullerne House where we came together to progress the restructuring of the charity as well as to recognise this time of major change  with so much happening – you can get some idea of all the things in the overview of activities document that was shared at that event. The suggested restructuring will include creating a new subgroup with an Education and Community focus where our new Membership Secretary, Carolin Waldmann, will be able to meet with others such as Roy Simpson, Birgit Carow who does our marketing and others to focus on these important charitable purposes of the trust. 

We will need a few more enthusiastic people to get involved with a particular need for a new FHT  Secretary as Talitha Ross unexpectedly left the area so do not be shy in coming forward – contact me directly if you are interested.  Other personnel changes happened at the September AGM where Neil Miekleham became a new trustee (see article elsewhere in the newsletter to find a little more about him), Arun Patel stepped down as a trustee and Membership Secretary and in October Chris Latini, who had been a long term volunteer and staying the Shepherd’s Hut, left.  As well as working alongside Kajedo, Chris had been involved in a number of small construction projects with George Paul and I including replacing the rotten bench around the fire up at the Woodland Shelter, completing and installing the chunky bench for the West Whins affordable housing cluster and getting wood we had previously milled and stored for the sarking for the new sanctuary roof.  Further FHT  work for the sanctuary has been undertaken in this last week with the partially burnt timber from the sanctuary site that we had transported, milled and stored for the FF Gardeners being converted into beautiful benches for the vestibule and outside covered area of the new sanctuary by a skilled team led by Steven Porter. (see article elsewhere)  This has been a very creative project involving collaboration with the FF who have allowed us to use the Maintenance Building, Sven Skatun over at Marcassie who offered the use of his large planer thicknesser to initially dress the wood, Kathy Tyler who is an important part of the sanctuary build focus group and the time and skill of the construction team comprised of Steven Porter, Donald MacDonald, Andrew Newman, Hugo Klip and I with occasional appearances by Lester Chilman, George Paul and John Willoner.  

By far the most significant project on the land to date has been the completion of the first part of the Dune Restoration Project details of which you can read in another article in this newsletter. This was the culmination of at least a year’s meticulous preparatory work by ecologist Sean Reed and was carefully carried out by contractor Gary McKay’s local business Northern Construction Solutions.  There were large machines on the ground doing some incredible work.  Before this happened, Sue Clutterbuck carried out a land blessing involving adults and children at the spiral site next to the area that has now been converted back to sand dunes.

The above have overshadowed other happenings such as attendance at the CWA (Community Woodland Association) annual conference which this year was in Inverness and attended by George, Ash and myself, the continued use of the land by children including Fiona’s regular group, WildThings! Led weekly work with a class of Kinloss Primary pupils and fairly regular storytelling events around the fire despite the long standing Fledgling group having disbanded, the end of year bedding down of our bees in the apiary by the bee team and the regular work parties the most recent of which involved clearing wood from areas where the gorse basher had mulched to make future grassland areas up by the wind turbines. The study of our lichens has also continued with an interesting visit from an academic team headed by Dr Nathan Chrismas of the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens. (See article elsewhere)

 

Two other activities are important to mention and those are the funeral of community member Jane Rashbash which took place last month and the Findhorn Foundation and Duneland Ltd land transfer   progress. With Jane, the burial team were in operation and carried out the high quality service that they have been providing for the past couple of year’s.  Jane highly regarded the work of the trust and wished to leave a generous amount of money for the FHT to create some accommodation for young people to learn from and engage in the land – we will have to take some time to think about what might be appropriate but a huge thank you to Jane for this generous offer,  As for the land transfers, all is taking some time but with Duneland the main thing still to be completed is the drawing up of the plan connected to the transfer which is being altered to include the Diamond Wood – FHT trustees have agreed that the charity would take the Diamond Wood on as a nature park if it was going to be for nature and people and if some way of paying for ongoing maintenance could be worked out.  Again watch this space. With the FF, they have agreed in principle to the transfer starting in January after they have had the go ahead with OSCR the Scottish charities governing body that this is all ok by them.  The FF have been particularly generous towards FHT by making this a gift, offering to pay their own legal fees and allowing FHT to benefit from the rental income which will come from the Findhorn Wind Park use of the land.  A huge thank you to the FF trustees for this offer. 

Wishing all a peaceful festive season with time to connect to loved ones and the wonders of the land.

Many blessings,

Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
1st December 2024    

 

 

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Posted in News

CWA Conference Networking Opportunity 

By Ash Balderstone | Published: 17/12/2024

At the beginning of October I was delighted to attend the annual Community Woodland Association conference in Inverness representing the Hinterland with Jonathan. The CWA (if, like me, you didn’t already know) promotes, supports and celebrates community woodlands across the whole of Scotland – and beyond. Their ethos is that ‘every community deserves a woodland’ – which is definitely something our community can appreciate, for sure! There are over 200 groups who are members and this year 31 community groups attended, with around 70 delegates and presenters in total. The attendees came from across the whole of Scotland – from Dunnet on the north coast to Carsphairn and Tarras Valley down in southern Scotland. From here in Findhorn and Forres across to the west coast including Mull, Skye and Applecross. And remarkably, some visiting community woodlanders from Wales, near Machynlleth, all wanting to share their experiences and ideas. The wonderful thing is that nearly all these people are volunteers – giving their time and energy to these valuable community projects with enthusiasm and love. How inspiring! It was also interesting for me to note that there was a wide age range from late twenties upwards – good news for the sustainability of our community woodlands!

The conference started Friday lunchtime with a gathering of attendees chatting, exchanging ideas, offering support and opportunities, and creating new friendships. This is probably one of the key aspects of this annual get-together – the opportunity for great networking and extended community building. The afternoon offered us some interesting and informative presentations and workshops ranging from encouraging youth volunteers and growing future foresters to financial management & tools, and fundraising. 

The workshop I attended was by Dunnent Community forest on the north coast. Titled ‘Just Add Biscuits’ we learned about their youth volunteers – young people aged 13-17 who volunteer every weekend and during holidays, clearing ditches, moving and stripping logs, and much more. These young people come in their own time and are clearly thriving in the outdoor environment. Our presenter made it very clear that all the work they did was ‘biscuit led’ with at least half the funding spent on biscuits to incentivise them! However, the benefits to everyone involved were substantial. They have been holding these programmes for several years with great success and it was thought provoking to imagine what could be possible here, in our Hinterland and woodland…

Friday night there was a group dinner followed by a ceilidh – of course! Saturday and Sunday were more outdoors focused (a relief for all of us outdoorsy people!) with opportunities to visit some local community woodlands and see first hand what they’re doing. There was a visit to Dunain community woods where there was plenty of learning, networking, and snacks shared with the community woodland groups and experts from all over Scotland. A highlight was a site visit to Culduthel Community Woodlands with lessons learned over a roaring fire and tea.

It was a weekend of learning from each other and sharing our common issues such as volunteers, sustainability,and resources of time and money. Sharing struggles and achievements and making new friends, and extended community building – the community of ecological caring people working within local communities in woodlands across Scotland.

If you’re interested, you can take a look at the CWA facebook page and maybe you too will be inspired to support our own wonderful community woodland even more.

Ash Balderstone
FHT Land Management Subgroup
FF Trust Asset Manager
October 2024

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Dune Restoration Project – Celebrating the First Phase Completion

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 17/12/2024

It has taken over a year of planning, fundraising, connecting with other organisations and similar projects, gathering and reading background material,  disseminating information to raise public awareness, writing articles, organising information sharing events and simply thinking about our Dune Restoration project. It is with a great feeling of relief and pride that on Wednesday 20th November we finally finished the first phase  – converting 0.8ha of dense gorse back to open sand dunes.

So what does it take to do this work, where we are restoring important habitat which has been disappearing over the decades due to encroaching gorse and trees – for some rare, small, delicate creatures?  The work on the ground has taken two mighty big machines that arrived and were off loaded one evening next to Woodside in the Park Ecovillage Findhorn to initially reduce the gorse to a mulch.  It took the machines two long days to clear the majority of the area of the 3m+ high impenetrable gorse.  The underlying undulating topography of the land has been revealed including the top of one of the high dunes with fabulous distant views.  

Gary and Damian from Northern Contracting Solutions, based locally in Auldern, were meticulous operators of their machines, really interested in the project and great people to work with.  This was particularly important as the next phase involved removing all the gorse roots, scraping them off with all the organic matter and piling this material up into great heaps.  This was essential as if left the created area would simply revert back to gorse in a year or two as it is surrounded by a prolific sea of gorse with a huge potential seed source..  The whole idea behind the project  is to create a reset in the landscape with the open sand areas taken back to the first stages of biological succession which will in time create habitat for the rarer species to survive and hopefully thrive. 

Once the organic matter was piled up it was then necessary to create gigantic holes – over twenty of them – 5m+ deep – and in most cases over 8m by 8m in dimension.  We got to see the underlying structure of the sand and in some cases layers of organic soil as these holes were created.  Any organic material and very stoney material had to be kept aside and was returned to these holes with the gorse heaps.

The last phase was to spread the dug out sand over the area covering the holes with at least half a metre of that material.  We wanted as much as possible to retain the original topography of the land so again this phase had to be completed with much thought and care. 

Within a few days James Bunyan, an ecologist living on the Black Isle who is particularly interested in using drones and cutting edge techniques to record ecological change, arrived and took images of the project area to compare with those taken earlier in the year to give a baseline for monitoring any change.  More about his work will be shared in the next newsletter but here are some of the remarkable images he captured first giving an overview of the area and then a flyover so you can see what has been created.  His work will be particularly important in documenting the movement of sand and the slow recolonising of the area which is likely to take decades..

Thanks goes to many people including those in our community and beyond that helped fund this project, first with the Go Fund Me appeal last Christmas time and then through the Big Give Green Match Fund around last Easter with further financial help granted by Fabio /TSI Moray through the Climate Action Fund and our Hygeia charity friends in the USA. The project has been held jointly between myself and ecologist Sean Reed who did much of the meticulous project planning and a fantastic job at the PR work involved.  

As mentioned, Sean managed to find Gary McKay of Northern Contracting Solutions to come in as the excellent contractor to do the actual physical work.  He also found Mark Sharrock that works for Brimstone Ltd that specialise in dealing with unexploded ordnance. Mark was present on site during the digging – an essential precautionary move to safeguard the charity on this medium risk site.   Before any work started, Sue Clutterbuck, a longtime resident of the Park Ecovillage Findhorn community, held an important  land blessing out on the spiral near the site that was appreciated by all who attended,both young and old.

Such projects have been carried out on other sites in the UK and in Europe but this is an experimental first for the FHT and it will be fascinating to see how the dunescapes develop over the coming decades.  

Huge thanks to all who helped make this pioneering work happen.  With this first phase successfully completed it is now time to secure further funding and plan the next phases of this important environmental work!  

Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
December 2024

Posted in News

Eco Theater on the Hinterland – From Ecosystem Threat to Co-creation

By Laura Pasetti | Published: 16/12/2024

Last June I created a performance as a result of my TheatreQuest – a journey of self-discovery through art that I offer regularly to locals. In this case it was an adaptation of a Shakespeare’s masterpiece, an intergenerational experience with children and adults using the theatre form of a procession: the audience walked from one “station” to another to watch different scenes.

After my MA in Engaged Ecology at Schumacher College and one year course in nature-based practices at Ecodharma (Catalunya) my mission as a playwright and stage director has drastically moved from the realm of entertainment to well-being and re-connection with that vast and profound part of us (physical and metaphysical) that we call Nature. What I offer is eco-theatre, from Oikos (Greek term for home): it can be described as a journey home. What I do it’s not a job for me, it is a mission, I am an activist through the medium of theater.

Midsummer Day’s Dream performed in the woods was a real dream come true for me with nature being the lead role. I attuned with the land (I never create a theatre piece without attunement) and I chose the locations for each scene, checking with Kajedo that we were not disturbing the land and its dwellers in any way… BUT…. At the last minute, I added one location that felt perfect for the last scene: a ceremony where the audience were asked to make a vow to the land, a sort of wedding ceremony.

The play was a success! So it was like a cold shower when Kajedo, after the performance, told me that I had chosen a location where a very rare lichen was growing and that I might have killed an entire ecosystem… My heart dropped. After the initial shock and inevitable sense of guilt, I had only one choice: respond to my action and learn from it. I asked Kajedo to join one of his guided tours. I wanted to learn about the land, and I wanted to make this hard lesson (for me) useful. I fell in love with the lichens almost immediately. It was probably the first time I understood the word “kinship” as I literally felt it under my skin.

That encounter inspired other two performances: Something Matters and Everything Matters that took place in summer as a result of two 10-day TheatreQuests in the same wood. My relationship with the land is in constant mutation, deepening, growing: we dance together. I see myself in every tree and I wonder if the trees see some of themselves in me. We talk, the trees and I, usually through breathing together, in silence. My hands expressing my presence, touching the cortex, my feet consciously “listening” at every step, who thought we could listen through our feet?! When I have a problem, I tell the land and when I am happy, I tell the land; I expand my minuscule self into the vastness of creation. We are a symphony when we play together: land and humans, we are the expression of love. I think this is what true love means, quoting from Midsummer Day’s Dream: “Love is like breathing, it is an inevitable movement of care”.

P.S. I didn’t kill the ecosystem after all, a few weeks later Kajedo informed me that the lichens not only survived but they were actually thriving there. I like to believe that it was all orchestrated by the lichens.. And that they are smiling :). Thank you Hinterland Trust for all you do!

With gratitude, Laura Pasetti
[email protected]
If you wish to know more about my work: www.theatreofthe7directions.com

Posted in News

Lichens- Microbiology Project Visit to Findhorn.

By heather.paul | Published: 16/12/2024

In September 2024 three researchers from Iceland, Colombia and Spain visited Findhorn, accompanied by biologist Dr Nathan Chrismas from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Duneland and FHT Chairs, Eian Smith and Jonathan Caddy, met the group to introduce the work of Duneland and of the Findhorn Hinterland Trust and Heather Paul showed the visitors around.

Many of the Peltigera lichens that can be found around Findhorn also grow in the tundra-like habitats of northern Iceland. The project is focussing on discovering how the communities of bacteria associated with these lichens differ in temperate and sub-arctic habitats, and whether these lichen communities can be used as indicators of environmental change.
A number of Peltigera species were collected for further study.

Here they are collecting Peltigera rufescens which grows well at the north west edge of the dancing green. The lichens are being carefully cleaned before being stored in paper packets.

Collection of Peltigera hymenina from Findhorn Hinterland Trust

We hope to hear the results of the research which was taking place on a number of UK sites. The first stages of analysis have now begun, but it may take some time before the final results are ready.

Heather Paul
Local Lichen Enthusiast

Posted in News

Meet the Team – Neil Meikleham

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 16/12/2024

Neil and his wife Heather have newly arrived from living in Auroville in the south of India and are now living in Kinloss. With his background in science, plants and communities he was naturally drawn to the work of the FHT and was voted onto the board of trustees at our September AGM.  Welcome Neil and thanks for sharing a little more about yourself in the following interview.

Tell us a little about yourself including what sort of work you have been involved in in the past?

I have always felt a deep love and connection to nature.  This was partly formed as a result of growing up in South Africa, where I was fortunate to  be able to experience the wildness and biodiversity of the country.  I went on to study plant sciences at university, and then pursued a PhD in plant chemistry.  After graduation I got a job researching and producing herbal medicines for Neal’s Yard Remedies in London.  Surrounded by medicinal plants and essential oils I became interested in a more holistic approach to science, which led me to pursue an MSc at Schumacher College.  It was in learning about Gaia Theory that my interest in herbal medicine, and natural ways of healing the human body, developed into my work of restoring degraded landscapes, which I have come to see as a way of trying to heal the wounds of the earth body.  I have worked on a range of ecorestoration projects since that time, both in British Columbia, Canada (where my wife is from), as well as in South India, where I was a member of the Auroville community.  This has included wetland and forest ecorestoration, rehabilitating lands damaged by mines, plant biodiversity conservation, and biological monitoring and mapping.  As a result of these experiences I have been privileged to witness how quickly nature can heal itself when we are able to support it. 

Why did you decide to become a trustee and in what way do you expect to contribute?

My parents are from Glasgow, and through them I have always felt a deep connection to the land and culture of Scotland. My visits to them often included trips to Findhorn, which I was interested in because of my involvement in Auroville.  I am excited about the potential arising here as the extended community buys the land and assets from the Findhorn Foundation, and I am particularly drawn to the FHT and the critical work it is doing to protect the endangered dune systems of the Moray Coast.  I look forward to learning more about the plants and animals of the region and to supporting the FHT to develop long-term strategies for appropriate stewardship of the land.  I am also interested in helping the FHT with its biological monitoring and ecological restoration programs. 

While working in the Auroville Botanical Gardens I became fascinated by the interface between cultural and ecological landscapes, and the impact of worldview in ensuring biodiversity protection.  In South India, for example, the ancient worldview that perceives a sacred, interconnected relationship between humans, the divine, and nature has helped to preserve forests in temple areas.  Some of the work I did involved monitoring the biodiversity of these temple groves, as well as propagating seeds to regenerate indigenous forest in areas that had been deforested.  Scotland also has a long tradition of beliefs in sacred interconnection with the land, as can be seen in the various holy wells and sacred groves that dot the landscape, however this has mostly been forgotten.  Now that I am partly based in Scotland one of the questions I am sitting with is how to include these ancestral voices and stories into the ecological restoration and stewardship of the land that we can do here. 

Even though you have only been here a very short time, with your fresh eyes, are you able to sense a vision for the future of the trust?

The FHT is in an exciting transitional time as it moves from its role of managing land owned by others to taking on ownership of these lands.  The fact that the extended Findhorn community has put its trust in the FHT to take on this new role is a testament to all the good work the FHT has done over the years.   I believe that going forward the FHT is in a good position to develop both its ecological restoration as well as its educational programs.  I see the ocean, dunes, forests and grasslands of the Hinterland as offering a great opportunity to personally explore Findhorn’s guiding principles of inner listening, co-creation with nature and love in action, while protecting a nationally significant biodiversity hotspot. 

Interviewed by Jonathan Caddy
November 2024 

 

Posted in News

From Tree to Carpentry – Creating the New Sanctuary Benches

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 16/12/2024

It was the 12th of April, 2021 when both the Community Centre and Sanctuary, the heart and soul of what is now called the Park Ecovillage Findhorn, went up in flames through an act of arson.  Over three years later the new Sanctuary is being built by Greenleaf Design and Build as part of the work of one of the Ecovillage based charities Park Ecovillage Findhorn, PET. FHT has previously contributed to this important community structure as part of its community building charitable purpose by helping to clear the sanctuary site of the old buildings, raising finance to hire a portable bandsaw to produce cut timber from storm blown trees for roof sarking and other building needs and preparing large timbers to be important parts of the column and beam structure of the new building which is now rising like a Phoenix out of the ashes.

From the 25th November to the 4th of December of this year another phase of FHT activity took place as a group of community carpenters supervised by Steven Porter, a cabinet maker living near Beauly who has been creating benches for the FHT during this past year, came together to create benches for the new building. There will be upholstered benches along with comfortable chairs within the central sanctuary structure. We were making other benches that will hold shoes in the vestibule and in the covered area that will link the building with the original garden that the team took on building.

What was particularly special about this project was that the material used was from Scots Pine trees that had been planted by my father. They had been growing in the wild garden next to the old sanctuary for about 60 years until they were internally cooked by the intense sanctuary fire which resulted in partly charred heart wood.  It was these trees that were felled in April 2022 and dragged by the FHT tractor up to Wilkies Wood to be sawn into 50mm thick planks by a hired portable sawmill. They were then transported to be stored and seasoned next to the Findhorn Foundation’s gardeners tool shed.

This has been very much a creative and collaborative venture full of personal and organisational generosity. Green Leaf provided the transport of the wood to Marcassie where Sven Skatun who built up the sawmill for his company Nor-Build Timber Fabrication and Fine Carpentry Ltd offered the use of their large planer/thicknesser to initially dress the five metre long planks.  Next it was the generosity of the Findhorn Foundation who offered their maintenance building to house the construction of the benches.  The team then brought most of their own tools to do the actual debarking, measuring, cutting, shaping, joining, sanding, oiling and finishing work which you can see in this picture collage.

I am sure we are all keen to see this lovely work installed in the new building which will happen in the New Year. For now we give thanks to the organisations mentioned previously and the team that worked on this project, especially team leader Steven Porter, and also to all the others who gave of their love and skill – Andrew Newman, Hugo Klip, George Paul, Nikos Valmas, Donald MacDonald, John Willoner, Lester Chilman and myself, Jonathan Caddy.  Particular thanks also goes to Danielle Macleod who was inspired to offer the team a beautiful and nourishing lunch when it was most needed (what a great community act) and to John Clausen and his work with the charity Hygeia and an anonymous community member who were both willing to financially back FHT to undertake this work. It would not have been possible without their support and we are immensely grateful.

This project was short but inspiring and brought out all that is best in the individuals and organisations involved and a strong sense of dynamic and creative community.  FHT are proud to have initiated and been involved in such a project.

 

 

 

Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
7th December 2025 

Posted in News

Archaeology at the Findhorn Sanctuary Site

By Michael Sharp | Published: 16/12/2024

During preliminary groundworks for the construction of the new sanctuary, the mechanical excavator exposed a shell deposit at the east end of the site. After being notified of it, I offered to investigate further, which led to several days of excavations. These revealed that there were in fact two shell middens, one on top of the other, and separated by approximately ten centimetres of wind-blown sand. The presence of charcoal and fire-cracked stone indicate that these were not merely piles of shells, but rather the result of human activity—the collection of shellfish from Findhorn Bay, and their subsequent cooking and eating.

I assumed that these would prove to be Mesolithic, at least six thousand years old, and therefore created by our hunter–gatherer forebears. But I would not know for certain until the results of radiocarbon dating came back.

In the meantime I dug down through the midden deposits, took photographs, and collected numerous samples of the shell and other material. These samples were examined carefully in the hope of finding charcoal, seeds, fish bone, and with luck some cultural objects. These objects might range from small flint tools, to antler picks, and harpoons.

The analysis of the samples showed that the upper deposit consisted largely of mussel shells, sand, and charcoal, while the lower one was dominated by cockle shells and fire-cracked stone. The differing assemblages of shells may indicate a difference in the preferences of the two groups using the site, or they may represent changes in the shellfish in the bay over time, as some species are sensitive to changes in temperature and the composition of the substrate. Similar differences were observed in middens on the Culbin Sands in excavations there.

It would be an understatement to say that I was surprised by the radiocarbon dates when they came in. It turns out that neither deposit was Mesolithic. The lower one dated to the later Iron Age—between 172 and 48 BCE. This is a time in Scotland when many defended hill forts were occupied, as were the Broch towers in the North, and iron smithing was being carried out in the enclosure on Cluny Hill in Forres. The upper midden deposit was dated to the Early Medieval period (893–1022 AD), about a thousand years later than the lower one, about the time when the Pictish fort at Burghead was being attacked by the Vikings, and Sueno’s stone was being erected in Forres.

Michael Sharpe
Archeologist
October 2024

Acknowledgements: Thanks are owed to Jonathan Caddy, who alerted me to the presence of the shell midden deposits; to Bruce Mann of the Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service who supported the project and funded the radiocarbon dating; and to Jason Caddy of Greenleaf Design and Build who gave me access to the site and made the excavations possible.

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Celebrating What the Findhorn Hinterland Does

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 16/09/2024

Last Year’s Activities and Achievements

I did a similar thing last year to reflect on the many events and successes of the Trust by sharing the text that will be sent to the charity regulator in the FHT annual report from 1st April 2023 to the 31st March 2024. I think it important to share and celebrate our many achievements as far and as wide as possible and hope you will enjoy this little overview of our work. I have included a few photos to show some of this year’s activities.

Much has been achieved on many fronts this year with activities and events that often simultaneously promote all four of the charity’s purposes. Some of the most prominent have been:

Conservation and Educational Events on or Related to the Land

This year there were a couple of important initiatives with one being an exploration of how the charity might carry out larger scale dune restoration work involving machinery to decrease the area of gorse and trees on the land it manages to help maintain and develop the biodiversity of this rare habitat. This had been proposed for some years in the FHT Local Biodiversity Action plan the FHT Management Plan but this is the first year that a decision was made to develop this idea.

Ecologist Sean Reed took a lead in coming up and developing a plan and connecting to similar projects locally resulting in visits to the RSPB dune restoration project on the Old Bar at Culbin and the Butterfly Conservation Species on the Edge project at Nairn. There were also several meetings with the neighbouring charity Findhorn Dunes Trust to see if we might develop a joint project together but factors such as funding and differing timings made this less likely at this time.

The project helped the charity put together a star species list of rare organisms that inhabit the land we manage which was only possible due to the specialist biodiversity surveys arranged by trustee Alan Watson Featherstone – this year he had Joe Botting carry out a survey of true bugs and a visit by a group of specialists from the south of England carried out a moth survey. All this work generated some very interesting conservation related articles for the local press, the community weekly magazine and our own quarterly newsletter. Over £2000 was raised for this project through a Go Fund Me appeal around Christmas and a showing of the environmental film When the Bough Breaks in the Hall helped with awareness raising and also further fundraising. Public presentations and walks on the land to inform the public of our intended work also took place in March. Further fundraising and project development is intended next year to enable work to start on the ground during the autumn/winter 2024/25 season. The dune restoration work was also given a real boost by having four special work parties during the winter that included up to 30 asylum seekers from Elgin joining with local volunteers to help clear a large area of trees to the north of Wilkies Wood. This was done in conjunction with the Moray Supports Migrants and Refugees (MSMR) charity, the Moray Council with some funding help through the Volunteering Scotland Earth Action fund.

Another new initiative was to put together a more ambitious educational programme for the following year to see if we could develop this aspect of the trust further despite 2023/24 programmes having been a little disappointing – longer retreats had to be cancelled but others such as the Sharing Nature programme put on by Roy Simpson were well received.

In addition to these new initiatives the normal series of monthly work parties were carried out with particularly well attended events around bees in the spring and a summer happening in the Woodland Garden. Celebration events such as the May Day Celebration, a Summer Solstice Event and our traditional Christmas tree/winter gathering at the Woodland Shelter and Santa’s Grotto special event at the Conservation Hub were all appreciated and continue to help build a sense of local community through fun and nature connection. The Forres Academy Biology Field Trip in June is also now turning into a much appreciated annual event that involves over 50 young people using the charity land to carry out meaningful study.

Buildings/ Projects

One of the projects that was completed this year was the Shepherd’s Hut which was then moved on site during the Mayday celebration. It was soon in use to house a couple of long term volunteers; Louna Kornobis and Mitch Tarbit who have in turn helped projects such as the painting of the tractor trailer and the reroofing of the wood store roof which is an extension of the Conservation Hub.

A new building project was that of crafting a couple of chunky benches that an older member of the community commissioned to go out on the landscape for all to use. This was possible because of the involvement of woodworker Steven Porter who inspired volunteers to help with this creative and worthwhile venture.

Green Burial Activity – This has been the second full year that the four strong burial team has been in operation and one of them, Laura Shreenan, has now taken on the sale of lairs from Will Russell, the previous one man coordinator. All has been working well with 4 new burials taking place this year including three events involving community members Dee Sunshine 26/11/2023, George Ripley 03/02/2024 and Astrid Gobbett 11/03/2024. This brings the total number of burials to 57 with a further 72 lairs reserved.

Woodland Garden – Draeyk van der Horn has continued to coordinate this aspect of the trust’s work despite the considerable workload as the Moray Council Green Councillor. There have been fewer garden volunteers this year which has meant the support of a couple of larger work parties at critical times of the year has been particularly appreciated. The Outdoor Learning Space structure continues to be enjoyed by the many that take time to visit the garden.

Membership and Publicising the Work of the Trust. This is the fourth year of running the trust’s paid membership scheme with a slight increase this year from 180 to 196 members. Our quarterly newsletter has been appreciated by many and has been very useful in promoting our work to grant givers and prospective new members. The Conservation Hub information boards continue to promote our work alongside the high quality posters and promotional material produced by our marketing person, Birgit Carow.

Personnel and Administrative Successes – The trustee group has remained stable and our part time Land Manager Kajedo Wanderer continues to underpin much of what the FHT does on the land. Regular land management, finance, beekeeping and green burial subgroup meetings have served the work of the trust well in giving time to discuss and make decisions on important operational matters.

Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
Taken as an extract from the 2022-2023 FHT Trustees Report 

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Findhorn Hinterland Trust, Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) SC045806
228 Pineridge, Findhorn, Forres, Moray IV36 3TB