Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fears Tyrebagger Wood will become ‘barren landscape’ as more trees to be removed

Several sculptures and art installations will also be removed as part of the latest clearing plans.

A lot of trees have already been removed from the Aberdeen forest. Image: Mike Simpson.
A lot of trees have already been removed from the Aberdeen forest. Image: Mike Simpson.

Fears have been raised that a popular Aberdeen woodland will become a “barren landscape” if more trees are cut down.

Tyrebagger Wood, on the outskirts of the city, was badly hit by storms in 2021 and a huge clearing project has been under way since.

Now a walker has noticed more trees have been marked for felling.

As part of the clear cutting, several sculptures and art installations – which kids have enjoyed discovering as they’ve walked through the woods over the last 30 years – will be removed.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has insisted the work is essential for safety reasons, and said the sculptures are being removed as they fall into disrepair – as there has never been any maintenance plan in place for them.

Tyrebagger carpark and trails were closed following Storm Arwen. Image: Scott Baxter/ Dc Thomson.

A big change and ‘not for the better’

But Mike Simpson, who walks in the wood every day, said he is very concerned by the size of the area marked off for clearing.

He said: “Quite a large swathe of trees have already been removed (following Storm Arwen)

“The prospect from what I’ve seen (in the earmarked area) is that it’s going to be at least twice that – possibly three or four times more.”

The 58-year-old raised concern about the impact on wildlife, and claimed his family – who have lived nearby for 30 years – have already noted dwindling sightings of red squirrels since 2021.

Mr Simpson is also disappointed that several remaining art works from the sculpture trail will be removed.

While some have been vandalised or deliberately taken down over the years after no plan was made to maintain the works, Mr Simpson said the remaining displays are “not insignificant”.

Mike Simpson with his dog Geddy in front of the art installation Cloud Point. Image: Mike Simpson.

One of these includes the sculpture Cloud Point by Alan Watson.

Mr Simpson said the future of the popular recreational area for “people far and wide” is looking quite bleak.

“It’s going to be a big, big change,” he added. “And definitely not for the better.

“It’s just going to be a very bleak, barren landscape if they do what they want to do.”

‘Do all we can to protect remaining sculptures’

Part of the boundary line marked out in the forest. Image: Mike Simpson.

Forestry and Land Scotland said the proposed felling was down to health and safety.

East region manager David Leven said: “Unfortunately, the work we are planning at Tyrebagger – where the trails remain closed for safety reasons –  is a knock on consequence of the severe winter storms at the end of 2021.

“Large areas of Tyrebagger were affected at that time and we have since cleared much of the windblow damage from those events.

“However, this opened up the forest to further windblow damage and high winds have blown down exposed and previously sheltered trees – many of them very large trees –  that have blocked trails and made the forest unsafe to visit.

“There is also a significant concern that some mature trees are at risk of falling across the A96.”

The two areas earmarked for clearing at Tyrebagger. Image: Forestry and Land Scotland

Unstable trees which will cause further damage if impacted by storms have been inspected and marked for being removed.

As such, two areas have been marked for felling – one along the A96 and another deeper in the forest.

Addressing concerns surrounding the sculpture trail and impacted art installations, he added: “Over the years, these installations have been systematically removed as they have fallen into disrepair but we will do all we can to protect the few remaining pieces.”

Conversation