Friends of Glenan Wood

Friends of Glenan Wood purchased Glenan Wood, at Portavadie on the banks of Loch Fyne on Argyll’s Secret Coast, for the community in 2019 .

Glenan Wood is 146 hectares of ancient woodland, parts of which are marked on maps dating 1750 and 1860. The unique habitat is rich in flora and fauna. Adders, otters, bats, deer, pine martens and water voles all make their homes here, as do night jars, cuckoos, wood warblers and owls. Rare lichens, moss, ferns and wild flowers thrive. The woodland has a rich heritage too, with a deserted settlement deep in the wood.

We look after it for the community, and need to protect it from invasive species, such as rhodedendron, spruce, bracken and deer, while increasing its biodiversity and accessibility. We want to engage the community and to organise volunteer work parties to build bog bridges to allow easier access and protect the understorey, construct deer exclosures, build bird and bat boxes, bird hides, and build leaky dams to encourage more wildlife. With backing from the Scottish Land Fund we have been able to employ a Community Ranger who will be running a programme of exciting events aimed at raising environmental awareness and mobilising volunteers to help maintain this special Atlantic oak wood habitiat.