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
Celebrating What the Findhorn Hinterland Does
Last Year’s Activities and Achievements
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
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
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.
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