Findhorn man hopes to give nature helping hand with 'rewilding stick'

A FINDHORN man has come up with a novel seed-planting device which allows people to give nature a helping hand.

William Martin's "rewilding stick" is an adapted metal walking stick which can be used to plant seeds of native trees, such as Scots pine and oak, directly into rough ground, out in the wild.

The author is sharing his idea to "empower" others into making a positive impact on their local landscape at minimal cost and effort.

William (67) said: "The rewilding stick is simply an ordinary metal walking stick which has been modified, so it can be used to plant seeds while walking along at a normal pace. No bending is required, so it is easy on the back and legs.

"This method puts the capability of planting thousands of trees into the hands of an ordinary person.

"We are simply mimicking nature and giving it a helping hand to recover by getting seeds of native species directly into the ground where they are likely to do well."

William, who has a background in IT, said his device could enable an individual to plant 500 trees per hour.

His initial rewilding sticks have been made from various types of walking sticks, hiking poles and even from crutches.

The hollow metal stick has a blade at the end which gets pushed into the ground. The seed is dropped in at the top end as the stick is pushed into the ground, and is released by turning the stick a half turn.

William is hoping to start a local rewilding group to gather and plant seeds using the rewilding sticks.

He added: "Imagine what an active group of people can achieve, or one individual who makes it into a hobby?"

He said the method involved planting into existing cover, such as heather, rather than relying on fences or plastic spirals to protect the emerging trees, which reduces the cost and effort further.

William is now setting up a website to show people how to make and use the rewilding stick.

He had been lined up to present a talk on the idea to the University of Aberdeen's ecological group earlier this year but lockdown forced a cancellation.

He added: "If necessary, I’ll look at setting up a social enterprise to make and sell them, but the idea is now out in the public domain, so it is open to everyone."

William warned, however: "It is very important to use a rewilding stick responsibly and use it to plant native species which the local wildlife are adapted to. Planting things which are not native species can do a lot of damage to a local ecology.

"It is also important to gather seeds responsibly, so that we leave enough behind for the local wildlife to consume."

Anyone interested, or who has land available that they'd like to see planted out in this way, can contact William by email at wmartin@glorew.com.