Last chance ⏰
We’re recruiting for three roles at ACT:
🌿 Forester
🌱 Tree Nursery Assistant
🚲 reCycle Trainee
📅 Applications close Monday
👉 Find out more and apply: buff.ly/6tWMmg4
Know someone who might be a great fit? Please share or tag them below 👇
Child plying with natural materials on floor outdoors
Two children making crafts from a table filled with natural materials
A child's finger pointing at flowers and leaves arranged on a tree branch
Small rafts made of sticks holding glowers and leaves floating on a loch surrounded by trees.
A jam-packed few days at our MAKI Pups Easter Holiday Club 🌸
22 children joined us for campfire cooking, clay faces, bug hotels, scavenger hunts and more.
So nice to see familiar faces and welcome new ones too 😊
Find out more about MAKI Pups: buff.ly/GlJ0O8k
One week to go ⏳
We’re recruiting for three roles at ACT:
🌿 Forester
🌱 Tree Nursery Assistant
🚲 reCycle Trainee
📅 Closing date: 20 April
👉https://www.act-now.org.uk/careers
Our April ABCAN newsletter is live 🌱
This month we’re focusing on Repair, Re-use, Recycle 🛠
Find local projects, events, funding and a reCycle Trainee opportunity with ACT 🚲
Take a look 👇
buff.ly/68x02oJ
We’re growing our team 🌱
Three roles now open at ACT:
🌿 ACT Forester
🌱 Tree Nursery & Rainforest Hub Assistant
🚲 reCycle Trainee Technician
Work across habitat regeneration, woodland management and community bicycle projects in Argyll.
📅 Closing date: 20 April
👉 buff.ly/LxWCN2N
A group of people standing inside a polytunnel, with raised beds of vegetables in the foreground
A chalkboard information sign alongside weighing scales and tins inside a polytunnel
A group of people walking along a woodland path in sunshine
A group of people standing on a cleared hillside, with the sea and hills in the background
Final day of our Cowal Learning Exchange
🌿 Land regeneration and local resilience
🌱 ColGlen Growers
🌳 Kilfinan woodland crofts
A great way to round off the exchange, with lots to bring into our work.
👀 More to come soon!
📷 Roxanne Hunt and Jo Wheeler / ACT
A group of people standing beneath a wooden arch in a mossy woodland setting
Raised vegetable beds in the foreground with a group of people gathered behind them
A group standing outside a stone building at Castle Gatehouse
People gathered inside a brightly coloured office space
Day 2 of our Cowal Learning Exchange in Dunoon 🌿
🌱 Grow Food Grow Dunoon
🚶 Active travel with Dunoon on the Move
🛍️ The Pop Shop
🌳 Benmore Botanic Garden
💬 Poverty Alliance workshop
Great to hear from so many local projects.
Another valuable day, with lots of ideas, conversations and connections
Group gathered around trees in forest
Group gathered on beach
group gathered in a circle around a campfire eating soup
Group of people at a historic site with ruined dwelling in a forest
We’ve kicked off our Cowal Learning Exchange in Argyll 🌿
Day 1 in West Cowal included:
🌳 Rainforest walk exploring Biodiversity Net Gain
🦌 Community insights from Friends of Glenan Wood
🔥 Campfire lunch at Glenan Wood
🌱 Tree planting at Caladh
A great start to the trip!
Three members of the ACT Rainforest Squad standing in woodland with two dogs beside them on hill by the sea.
Volunteers collecting aspen root cuttings from the forest floor in Ferry Wood.
Close-up of Tunbridge filmy fern growing amongst dense rhododendron in shaded woodland.
a steep hillside in North Knapdale with ongoing restoration work.
Today is International Day of Forests 🌳
This year’s theme is forests and economies.
In Argyll, rainforest restoration supports jobs, skills and local communities.
Find out about our work 👇
buff.ly/ISYwm7F
#ForestDay #ScotlandsRainforest
Two volunteers carefully taking Aspen root cuttings from the ground in woodland.
Close-up of an Aspen root cutting in mossy woodland ground.
Tall Aspen trees with volunteers visible in the background among the woodland.
olunteer holding a bag filled with freshly collected Aspen root cuttings.
Thanks to everyone who joined us at Glenan Wood to collect Aspen root cuttings.
Great to spend the day in the rainforest and learn together. Cuttings are now back at our Lochgilphead nursery 🌱
Get involved: buff.ly/S9Hf9t4
Supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund
📷 Heather Morrison
Group of volunteers standing inside a polytunnel beside trays of newly potted acorns on benches.
Wheelbarrow filled with acorns showing long, healthy radicles emerging from the shells.
Volunteers working inside a polytunnel potting acorns into small pots on a workbench.
Volunteers lifting acorns from stratification beds before moving them to be potted up.
A big thank you to the Mid-Argyll team from Balfour Beatty who joined Heather this week to help pot up acorns.
5 volunteers spent just over 5 hours lifting acorns from stratification beds and potting them on.
Total potted: 2,528
A great start for the next generation of oak trees.
📷 Heather Morrison
🌿 Aspen propagation at Glenan Wood 🌿
Join us this Friday (13 March) to learn how Aspen root cuttings are collected and grown.
🕙 10–2pm
📍 Glenan Wood
Free event. Join for part or all of the day.
Book here: buff.ly/Qsvod1I
Supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Peat excavator re-profiling a historic peat cutting bank on Islay during peatland restoration work.
Wide view of restored peatland landscape in Cowal with drain blocking and ground reshaping visible.
Small gully blocked using leaky timber dams as part of peatland restoration.
Artificial drain blocked with peat dams and surrounding peat banks re-profiled to restore natural water flow.
Over winter our peatland team has been working with landowners and contractors to restore around 450ha of peatland across two Argyll sites.
Work includes restoring erosion features, blocking drains and re-profiling peat banks.
Find out more here: buff.ly/ePQI6cw
📷 Lucy Smith and Clare Trinder / ACT
Staff from Cardross Primary School stand with ABCAN staff and MSP Jackie Baillie as they receive their Bronze Carbon Literate Educator award.
Cake decorated with “MAKI Pups logo and 5” marking the outdoor nursery’s fifth anniversary celebration.
Group of people with a dog standing beside a dammed stream in a peatland landscape during a site visit.
Group of volunteers on a sunny hillside collecting Aspen root cuttings for propagation.
Our March newsletter is out now!
Inside: a world first for Cardross Primary School, five years of MAKI Pups, peatland and rainforest restoration updates, and ways to get involved.
Take a look 👇
buff.ly/bXmTgYw
Volunteers standing in a sunny clearing among Aspen trees, with the sea and hills visible in the background.
Volunteers digging carefully in woodland soil to uncover Aspen roots.
Volunteers cutting sections of Aspen roots to collect propagation cuttings.
Volunteers inside a polytunnel at ACT’s tree nursery, processing Aspen root cuttings for propagation.
🌿 Thanks to everyone who joined us at Ferry Wood, Ardpatrick this week to collect Aspen root cuttings.
These are now being processed at our Native Tree Nursery in Lochgilphead.
Another chance to get involved on 13 March at Glenan Wood: buff.ly/JfgeErX
#ScotlandsRainforest
Back to North Knapdale with Philippa, our Habitats Manager 🌿
This steep site was cleared of Rhododendron ponticum last June. Only light regrowth so far and good potential for native ground flora to return as light reaches the woodland floor.
Restoration takes follow-up.
#ScotlandsRainforest
ABCAN connects communities across Argyll and Bute who are taking practical climate action 🌿
Our first monthly newsletter is out now.
We’re starting a new themed approach, beginning with growing 🌱
Take a look: bit.ly/4aYvQGN
There are still some spaces available for our Aspen root cutting and propagation day next Tuesday 3rd March in Ardpatrick and Lochgilphead. Free to attend! 🌿 Sign up here: forms.office.com/e/muh93Bwhhv
Group of people by peat drain blocked with timber dams, now holding back pooled water across the bog surface.
Wide view of Caladh moorland during peatland restoration, with three excavators working across parallel drainage ditches and newly created peat dams holding water.
Close-up of timber dams installed in a deep peat drain, showing a central notch designed to allow controlled water flow and prevent erosion at the edges.
Coir log installed across a shallow erosion channel on peatland, slowing water flow and trapping peat sediment to support natural regeneration.
325 hectares of blanket bog restored at Caladh, Tighnabruich 🌿
Our latest blog shares reflections from a recent site open day and explains how historic drains have been blocked to slow water movement and support long-term peatland recovery.
Read more: buff.ly/PNAh7cr
📷 Clare Trinder / ACT
🌍 World first for Cardross Primary School
Congratulations to the whole school community on becoming the first Primary School in the world to achieve Carbon Literate Educator status!
Delighted to support this milestone through ABCAN.
Read more here: buff.ly/TPhFc8d
#CarbonLiteracy #ArgyllAndBute
🌿 Aspen propagation day 🌿
Join for part or all of the day. Lift shares available.
Free event. Woodland terrain so good mobility needed.
Supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Sign up: buff.ly/uDH4mLh
#ScotlandsRainforest
Group of people and a dog in the forest.
Dog with a large stick in it's mouth
North Knapdale site visit this week 🌿
A new potential volunteer site (with 'RhodoDog'!), contractor progress on track, and the Rainforest Squad finishing a section of work in Carsaig.
Encouraging to see restoration happening at landscape scale across this area.
#ScotlandsRainforest
Peatland Action Officer standing with monitoring equipment on a peat bund in a restored peatland gully, with shallow water pooling behind the bund.
It’s #WorldWetlandsDay 🌍
Wetlands store water in dry weather, absorb heavy rain and help filter pollution. They support wildlife and communities.
Our team are at Caladh today for a demonstration day.
Lucy’s on a peat bund, re-wetting a once-eroding gully. More soon!
🎊 Don’t miss your chance to win £1,000 in this weekend’s Super Draw 🎊
By taking part, you’re supporting ACT’s work across Argyll, from restoring rainforest to peatland projects and outdoor learning 💚
A great prize and a great cause.
Get your tickets: bit.ly/4qafykP
A side-on view of a red squirrel perching on a thin tree stump. It has bright orange fur and a long bushy tail curled up over its back. There are small drops of water caught in its tail, and its front paws are holding a piece of food.
Today is #RedSquirrelAppreciationDay! We’re delighted that this coincides with us collecting over A QUARTER OF A MILLION squirrel records. Read more about this fantastic achievement here:
scottishsquirrels.org.uk/2026/01/21/n...
📷 Raymond Leinster
Day in the life of our rainforest team in Tayvallich.
This is what thick Rhododendron ponticum looks like on the ground, and the scale our team are up against in Knapdale.
Link to find out more in the comments.
#ScotlandsRainforest #InvasiveSpecies
If you’re tackling Rhododendron ponticum or Himalayan balsam, this looks really useful. Practical community tips from Scottish Wildlife Trust. 👇
Want to learn more about lichens in 2026 (and why wouldn't you??) Scottish Lichens are running a series of distance learning courses. The first is lichens on trees
The team from Highland Access are making great progress controlling Rhododendron on steep, rope-access sites.
They’ve been working since December, using techniques like stem injection with promising results.
Supported by the Scottish Government’s #NatureRestorationFund, managed by NatureScot
