Wood Hill Wood - Alva

Site Description

Woodhill Wood is located on the southern slope of the Ochil Hills, between the villages of Alva and Tillicoultry, to the north of the A91. The OS grid reference for the main entrance is NS 896 977. The lower boundary of the main body of the wood is at an altitude of approximately 90m, whilst the upper boundary is at approximately 390m above sea level.

The slope of the site is extremely steep, both from the north to south boundary, but also into the east and west boundaries fast flowing burns have carved narrow, steep glens.

The woodland is very visible in the landscape, being the only woodland on the southern slopes of the Ochils in the immediate area. Neighbouring land use to the east, north and west is hill farming with sheep grazing. To the south, there are houses, a horse paddock, golf course, and a woodland park.

The underlying rock of the Ochil Hills is igneous rock of the Devonian period, of an intermediate (between acidic and basic) nature. This gives rise to soils of the Sourhope soil association. These are drifts, derived from old red sandstone, intermediate lavas. The soils are generally brown forest soils. However, at Woodhill Wood, the soil layer is extremely thin and totally absent in certain areas where bare rock or scree forms the ground surface.

The woodland at Woodhill grades from mature high forest, of closely spaced trees and a dense canopy cover, on the lower slopes, through pole-stage regeneration, to scattered mature trees and open grassland on the hill tops. The predominant species are sycamore (mostly on the lower slopes - P1940s), ash (mostly on mid slopes - P1970s), and Scots pine, larch, oak and beech (mostly on upper slopes - P1880s). Other species scattered over the site in small numbers include birch, wild cherry, rowan, yew and elm (both un-diseased and dead), and there are also distinct blocks of sitka spruce and western hemlock (P1960s). There are groups of western hemlock in the south western block, a small area of Sitka spruce in the south eastern woodland block, and a plantation of Sitka spruce in the north western corner. Larch is found mainly in the Silver Glen on the west, and in patches on the top of the treeline right across the site.

The under storey generally consists of dense patches of ash regeneration, elder, blackthorn and hawthorn scrub, and occasional rowan regeneration. The under storey is most abundant and varied in Silver Glen, but throughout much of the mature woodland an under storey is absent. Rhododendron used to form much of the under storey in places, but is now sparse after years of control.

Ground flora in the woodland varies from none, in areas where the soil cover is of stony scree and the canopy very dense, to dense bracken and brambles on some parts of the lower slopes. There are large areas in the mature woodland where the ground flora is exclusively dog's mercury. Higher up the slope, the ground flora consists of soft grasses, that become coarse and acid tolerant at even greater altitudes. There are substantial areas of bracken, small patches under the tree canopy in the south west and large areas beyond the treeline, particularly in the west of the woodland. Mosses are frequent over the mid slopes, particularly on rocks.

At the upper elevations of Woodhill, the woodland begins to thin out, with groups of scattered trees amongst grassland. Along much of the northern boundary, which is the point of greatest altitude, the site is devoid of trees. The grassland in this area is predominantly composed of acid tolerant species and blueberry is prolific. It is evident that grazing animals, deer and occasional rabbits, feed in this area, maintaining a closely cropped sward. The steep, almost cliff-like slopes below the grass plateau, are covered with either soft grasses or bracken and scattered trees.

There is plenty of deadwood throughout the wood, with both standing and lying dead trees.

There is a number of old mine shafts and adits in the western part of the woodland near Silver Burn. First opened in 1714 the mines were finally abandoned in 1770. The principal metals recovered from these mines were silver, cobalt and arsenic.

Whilst silver mining at Alva has romantic connections with the Jacobite rebellions, the cobalt mining has important associations with the production of the blue glaze (Littler's Blue). The shafts and adits pose a potential safety hazard and are thus fenced off and signed as dangerous.

There are three sites of archaeological interest in the wood. These are not scheduled ancient monuments, but remain of historical interest. All three sites are located in the west of the site, in the vicinity of Silver Burn. The first is on the west side of the burn, and is a circular enclosure. The structure is of unknown date and function. The other two structures are both on the east side of the burn, north of the tributary, but south of the Sitka spruce plantation. These are both formed from a series of turf enclosures of unknown date, although they are suggested to be from the late/post-medieval period rather than prehistoric. Both of these sites are thought to have served some kind of agricultural function. All three of the structures occur in areas of ground that are currently un-wooded.

The wood is described in the Ancient Woodland Register (NCC) as being ancient wood of long-established plantation origin. The site is believed to be one of the oldest plantations in Scotland, having been planted in the middle of the 18th century. The funding for this planting project is thought to have been derived from the silver extracted from Silver Glen, under the direction of the then owner, Sir John Erskine.

Little is known about woodland management between the 18th century and the 1940s, although timber extraction obviously occurred. In the 1940s the Forestry Commission planted much of the lower slopes with sycamore. Further Forestry Commission planting was in the shape of blocks of conifers planted in the 1960s. The wood was purchased by the Woodland Trust in 1990, with grant aid from the then Countryside Commission for Scotland. A small extension was gifted by Clackmannanshire Council in 1994. Works since acquisition include erecting safety grills over mine entrances, rhododendron clearance, path construction, felling a larch block and replanting, thinning sycamore, and fence renewals.

Most visitors to Woodhill Wood use either the main track leading from the council car park NW to gain access to the Ochil Hills beyond, or use a section of the track to the east as part of the long distance multi-use route towards Tillicoultry. Less frequently, walkers use the circular path (approximately 2km long) which starts from the car park, heads NW up a vehicular track, then climbs steeply uphill on a narrow path (before SilverBurn). This path then runs fairly levelly across the middle slopes, before dropping steeply down again to join the Council path and heading west back to the car park. There are 3 viewpoints on this path with superb views to the south.

The paths and vehicular tracks have a rough stoned surface, over most of their route.

Levels of public pedestrian use could be described as medium (WT access code B), with occasional use of the paths by horse riders and mountain bikers. Forth Valley Orienteers run an annual orienteering event in the wood, and the Geologist Association have recently been running silver panning events as part of the Scottish Geology Festival.

Just south of the wood, there is a car park (owned by Clackmannanshire Council) with a joint information board, a play park and picnic benches.