A leading member of West Kilbride Environmental Group has said that voluntary work and nature are hand in hand in the village glen.

Mr Angus Starling told the Largs & Millport Weekly News: "I agree a continuous and sensitive thinning of trees will be required over the next couple of years before they become too large.

" Some thinning has already been done where trees have been planted too closely. When the trees were first planted, with the help of the school children and others, the success rate could not be anticipated. The trees have thrived in good soil with little damage, hence some trees are tightly packed."

Mr Starling added: " In the long term many remaining smaller trees will be choked out by their larger and more robust neighbours as happens in nature.

The character of the wood will change over the decades, and the understorey grasses will be replaced with leaf mould, ferns and wild shade loving flowers as in the present glen. Paths can then follow comfort lines in open spaces, and it is hoped that human management intervention will be minimal in nature."

He concluded: "The dogs and their walkers already enjoy the area as does my wife’s small puppy. May it continue."

Pages of views and readers' letters in the Largs & Millport Weekly News this week.