Scottish Water has planted almost 80,000 trees on land near Barcraigs Reservoir in Renfrewshire as part of its drive to improve biodiversity, protect water catchments from climate change and lock up carbon on its land.

The new woodlands, which feature predominately native broadleafs and a small proportion of productive conifer, are split between two sites - one situated on 16.5 hectares of land surrounding the reservoir itself and the other further up the catchment at Springside and covering over 26 hectares.

The project will help stabilise the soil surrounding the reservoir so that less organic matter is washed into the water during the increasing periods of extreme rainfall which climate change is bringing. This will make the treatment process simpler and less energy intensive.

The trees will also provide an element of resilience against drought by holding more water in the ground, which is then slowly released into the reservoir, while improving biodiversity at the sites and helping to capture over 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over the next 60 years – the same as more than 13,000 return flights between Glasgow and Toronto.

Karlene Doherty, Senior Project Manager at Scottish Water, said:

“The two sites in the catchment of Barcraigs Reservoir form a significant part of our woodland creation programme this year and it is great to see these being delivered after over two years of careful planning and consultation with key agencies and stakeholders.

“This work will provide multiple benefits in terms of protecting water quality at the reservoir, improving biodiversity at these sites and also helping to store large amounts of carbon.”

One of the key features of the Springside site is Walls Hill Fort, thought to be the largest example of an Iron Age fort in Scotland, which played a central role in the design of the scheme.

Scottish Water’s delivery partner Bell Ingram worked closely with Historic Environment Scotland to ensure public access and sight lines to the monument were maintained, as well as incorporating feedback from Renfrewshire Council’s biodiversity team when considering which species to plant.

Bell Ingram Forester Tony Wilson said: “This was a really interesting project to be involved in, given the significance of the hill fort here - we have worked hard to ensure this was at the heart of the scheme, reducing the size of the woodland we’d initially proposed at Springside, moving it well back from the fort itself and choosing lower growing species of trees in key areas to maintain sight lines and public access.

“A lot of this area was historically grazing pasture for cattle and sheep and there isn’t really any continuous broadleaf woodlands here. One of the key things for me was to try and design a scheme that could bring that back to this part of the world and hopefully in the next 50 to 60 years, we will see a really native, natural woodland established here again.”

Scottish Water has delivered around 140 hectares of new woodland on its land across Scotland for the 2025 / 26 financial year, totalling more than 228,000 trees with the potential to capture 84,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over the next 60 years.