People Of Midlothian! Have you seen this?

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Jcat

And… this Community discussion, hosted by Midlothian Climate Action Network:

Spread the word!

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Power To The Pollinators continues! 18th Sept, 5:30-9pm

Posted on September 8, 2026 by Jcat

Power to the Pollinators 

Power to the Pollinators is a series of small events for local people to connect, learn and be inspired by moths and butterflies that spend time and take up home at the Three Hares Woodland.  We are now coming to an end  of our Power to the Pollinators series and have one more family friendly opportunity for you to engage with, Please see the flyer above for more information.   We are very grateful to Midlothian Climate Action Network for funding Power to the Pollinators as well as our very own moth trap, with additional support from Action Earth Volunteering Matters. 

Great News from Moth Camp

We held our Moth Camp on 29th August, and what a buzz we’ve had this year. 7 people camped out overnight at the woodland to spend time learning about moths, their habitats. moth identification skills and moth trapping.  As we are now transitioning into the Autumn months the moths that we observed were mostly brown apart from the beautiful Canary Shoulder Thorn, Sallow moths and a stunning Frosted Orange. Just as a note, the moths are attracted by light into the ‘trap’, are identified, then released unharmed.

We were really pleased that Mark Cubitt moth expert and Midlothian’s moth recorder took up our invitation to join us. Together we set up 4 home made moth traps that were constructed by Mark.  What’s so inspiring is the fact that you can, with a little bit of creativity and resourcefulness build your own mobile moth trap out of a variety of useful materials such as garden tubs, egg boxes, batteries and bulbs.  We also learned moth identification and recording skills with Ian Edwards kindly being the scribe while data was inputted.  

Thanks to everyone who joined us this year, hopefully see you all again at the woodland soon.

To learn more about our local moths please visit the East of Scotland Butterfly Conservation page here. 

https://butterfly-conservation.org/in-your-area/east-scotland-branch

Here’s some great news from Mark Cubitt – Moth Camp 2026;

‘Three of the moth species trapped were particularly interesting. None of them had been recorded in Midlothian before 2026. The Small Mottled Willow has had an amazing year; it is a migrant species and it has been found across the UK including across the Lothians this year. The Ear Moth is one of three related species in its family and hasn’t been reliably recorded in the county before. Finally the Devon Carpet has been spreading up through Scotland from further south over the last couple of years and this was the first record for Midlothian too.’

We hope to see you at our next event! 18th September, 5:30-9pm at Three Hares for Bat Watch, Moth Adventure and Bat Arts and Crafts.

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Moth Camp 2026!

Posted on July 27, 2026 by Jcat

Funded by Midlothian Climate Action Network Seedcorn Fund and Action Earth, Three Hares and Midlothian Wildflowers bring the next installment of the ‘Power To The Pollinators’ programme.

Last years Moth Camp was very successful, so we are bringing it back to marvel at these important (and sometimes overlooked) pollinators.

29th August at Three Hares Community Woodland, from 7pm. Camp out and discover the amazing moth species that can be found, with a chance to do some bat detecting too. Camping out not necessary, but recommended!

There is a compost loo at Three Hares and hand washing, however, no drinking water, so come prepared!

If you require any more info, contact midlothianwildflowers@gmail.com

Power To The Pollinators!

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Big Butterfly Count Family Day, Sat 18th July 2-4pm.

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Jcat

In association with Midlothian Wildflowers and supported by Midlothian Climate Action Network, Three Hares host their Power To The Pollinators Big Butterfly Count. Saturday 16th July, drop in from 2-4pm to count the butterflies at Three Hares, identify using ID guides, and we will log all results into the Butterfly Conservation’s UK wide Big Butterfly Count. Each butterfly count lasts 15minutes, but you can do more than one!

https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org

There will also be a chance to create your own butterflies, from Sycamore Samara (the papery seeds/helicopters) to take home.

FREE EVENT, just bring appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather, and drinking water as there is none on site.

For details on how to get to Three Hares please visit our website, and click on the ‘How To Find Us’ tab.

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Meet & Mow

Posted on July 1, 2026 by Jcat

Thanks to all the scythers who travelled far and wide to come to the Meet & Mow session at Three Hares on Sunday (28th June). It was a joy to behold such masters of their craft clearing swathes of bracken to help increase the biodiversity at Three Hares. We were careful to leave some corridors of bracken cover where we scythed, for wildlife, but we also look forward to the wildflowers that will now be able to grow in its place. It will need cut 3 times a year for about 3 years to stop it coming back so vigorously. We are seeing the difference in our Community Orchard, now on year 3 of being cut back by our incredible team of volunteers. The bracken here is much more sparse, smaller and weaker than the ‘triffids’ that were tackled this weekend. Last year the Orchard was also home to an incredible display of foxglove, among other smaller wildflowers, like Speedwell. Ideal for the important pollinators.

We also thank the other volunteers who came on the day to help bulk up our log pile, ‘lopper’ overgrowth on some paths and replace damaged tree guards to protect and nurture our young trees. Next volunteer day is Sunday 26th July, 11am-3pm. As always, it is open to all, no previous experience necessary. Just be sure to bring lunch and drinking water (none on site).

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‘Meet & Mow’ Session, Sunday 28th June

Posted on June 22, 2026 by Jcat

This months Volunteer Sunday will be a Scything Session, along with other non scything activities at the Woodland. Usual time of 11am-3pm.

The ‘Meet & Mow’ session is part of a programme of gatherings around Scotland, aimed at scythers who want to mow in a social setting and help cut some sward. https://scytheassociation.org/events/

At Three Hares, we will be clearing out a large amount of bracken for habitat creation. We will also scythe out the pathways around our community orchard as well as around some trees that need tending.

There will be a chance to learn about peening, honing and anything else scything related!

If scything is not your thing, we have plenty other tasks around the woodland to get involved with, no previous experience necessary!

Please bring lunch and drinking water (which is not available on site).


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What a month of May! And to come in June…

Posted on June 8, 2026 by Jcat

It’s been so busy with study, training and hard work this May. All go!

We started the month with a good walk around the land at Three Hares, with a forestry mentor, Sandy Davidson. We have been linked up via Community Woodlands Association and Sandy has been helping us begin our work to draw up a Woodland Management Plan for the next 10 years. We realised we need an update as we have fulfilled all the tasks on the original Woodland Management plan we devised as a Permaculture learning opportunity with James Chapman at the beginning of our lease back in 2014 (Go Team!). We discovered with Sandy more old alder coppice spots (we have more than we realised), and wonderful open patches of ground that we had earmarked for Tree Planting, but which would be better suited to supporting and increasing the wildflowers in these areas.

Some volunteers from Three Hares attended a Biodiversity Literacy Training Course, run by Edinburgh University as a pilot scheme. We enjoyed being together with so many like minded folk, doing great Community projects to benefit people and planet. Thanks to Edinburgh Uni for the opportunity. If you’re interested, find out more here: https://sustainability.ed.ac.uk/take-action/training/biodiversity-literacy

More training in May, this time at Three Hares, when Venture Trust Scotland returned to do their Outdoor Therapy training for Outdoor Practitioners working therapeutically, and trained psychotherapists wishing to bring their practice outdoors. We love the work that Venture Trust Scotland do, and were happy to welcome them back. What a joy to have time to be still in nature, observe, feel its comfort and be able to use it as metaphor within therapy or for a therapeutic journey. One of the participants was lucky to find a Cinnabar Moth and share with the group. What a beautiful creature!

Our May Volunteer Day was very productive. Care4Calais group absolutely get stuck in and achieve so much when they are here, we always love to see them arrive! Along with our other volunteers and a group from Wild Kidz, we stripped some willow, widened the very narrow corner of the river walk path by removing a couple of big gorse bushes, and created steps into the land at the main gate. We had the steps on the ‘to do’ list for a while, the new gate was our incentive to finally make access a little easier, rather than everyone having to navigate the slippy, steep slope! The Volunteers worked so hard!! Thank you!

June has begun just as productive, with a group of 6 who work within Edinburgh University at the close by Easter Bush coming to volunteer as part of their ‘Day To Make A Difference’ initiative. The group undertook the first scything session of the season, working in the Orchard and on some paths. Thanks to them and to our super scything Sima for facilitating.

Thanks also to The Green Team who were cutting back overgrowth on some of the paths and making a difference at Three Hares too, even in the VERY wet weather they experienced that day. We look forward to welcoming them back again too.

What’s next? Our Volunteer Day on the 28th June will be a special ‘Meet And Mow’ scything session. This is part of a wider programme of events running across the country. More info here about the wider programme: https://scytheassociation.org/events/ We will be removing more bracken on the land, to enhance the biodiversity. Come along and give it a go! 11am-3pm.

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Thank you Volunteers!

Posted on April 27, 2026 by Jcat

Yesterday, Sunday 26th April, we had our monthly Volunteer session. Thanks to all our volunteers, including a 12 strong group of Refugee/Asylum Seekers with Care4Calais. We managed to flip our compost toilet back upright, as it had been blown onto its side during the storm at the beginning of April, and repaired any damage. This means that groups who use Three Hares and rely on the access to a toilet are able to come back to the land once again. Our beautiful entrance sign that was painted by Leo a good few years ago now was also damaged beyond repair by the same storm. We were sad to see it go. However, an info sign that we had commissioned, from Sally Somerville-Woodiwis, now has a new home.

Other work included extending the bog bridge and replacing missing tree guards from our young trees, to ensure their protection from browsing.

It was such a productive day, great company around the fire, and of course, some time to enjoy relaxing on the land, skimming stones on the river and admiring the beautiful apple blossoms in the Orchard.

Next Volunteer Day is Sunday 31st May, 11am – 3pm, all welcome!!

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Great start to the year, 2026!

Posted on April 20, 2026 by Jcat

Loving that Spring has well Sprung by now, but whilst flora and fauna were still all tucked up, Three Hares were busy! In February we planted more trees in our Community Orchard and added some extra protection from deer to our Orchard fence. Fruit trees need a lot of room to grow, but to fit in more trees to the space we created some Espalier frames around the inside perimeter of the deer fence. We have planted 8 more heritage variety Apple Trees along this wire fence line, all that are suitable for Espalier planting. We source our Apple Trees from the wonderful Appletreeman.

We did this with help from both the Edinburgh University Architecture Faculty Climate Awareness group and then finished the job off on our regular Volunteering Day at the end of April with help from Care4Calais Refugee/Asylum Seeker group and our dedicated core team of Volunteers.

The work has been funded by Crown Estate Scotland Environment Grant and Volunteering Matters Action Earth Grant.

We also had a party! At the end of March the wonderful Ceilidh Collective hosted a Three Hares Fundraiser Ceilidh in Edinburgh, with music from the incredible Greater Spotted Ceilidh Band! It was an excellent evening! We thank everyone who came to support us, all the creative people who donated prizes to one of the best haul of raffle prizes ever know to humankind (!!), to all the volunteers who put in so much effort, to the musicians who had us all reeling and jigging, and, of course, to the Ceilidh Collective for making it all happen. Thank you!!

If you would like to be involved with Three Hares, or wish to come visit and find out more about us, come along to our next Volunteer Day on Sunday 26th April from 11am – 3pm…or indeed the last Sunday of any month. See you there sometime, hopefully!

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Ceilidh!! and Vol day date change…

Posted on March 20, 2026 by Jcat

Have you got your tickets yet for the fundraiser ceilidh on 28th March in Edinburgh? https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ceilidhcollective/1962199 Dance to raise much needed funds to cover the running costs of Three Hares, so as we can continue to thrive and support the groups that we host at the woodland. The incredible Greater Spotted Ceilidh Band are providing the tunes. There will be bar and raffle, all hosted by the wonderful Ceilidh Collective.

Our usual monthly Volunteer Day lands on the last Sunday of every month. That would be the day after the ceilidh, so we are moving it forward to THIS SUNDAY, 22nd March. 11am-2pm. Sorry for the late notice!

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