A guided walk round Mayne Wood

Thursday evening (July 8th 2021), 12 Field Club members enjoyed a walk around the Mayne Wood, on the southside of Elgin, near Elgin golf course. This walk was planned and led by Mary Shand.

We walked along the foot of the old sand quarry (which used to supply sand to Elgin’s cement and concrete works in Edgar Road, which is now the site of Asda) and then climbed up through the woods to the top of the quarry with fine views south towards Birnie Kirk and the Rothes road. The trees here -Scots pine- were planted in 1952, but completely destroyed by the great storm of 1953 and replanted the following year.

The Sand Quarry was started by PETER CAMERON of Dolin Scotia using the sand and gravel to make concrete blocks for house buildings. Murray Timber Merchants bought Mayne House and the Land Anderson family the farm in 1952

We followed paths along the eastern edge of the wood, emerging at the foot of a large barley field which afforded views of Dr Gray’s, the Elgin skyline and Elgin High school, before descending to a track which led us along the edge of the golf course and back to the car park.

It was a cool misty evening, but there was no rain , and the walking was very pleasant. Many thanks to Mary for organising this and sharing her knowledge of this area.

On a side note we found a set of keys, which after mentioning on local social media were returned to the owner who had lost them a week before. Also a few stated they wished they had taken along a carrier bag to do a bit of a litter pick.