Tree planting at Perthshire mountain biking centre Comrie Croft has seen 100 native species find a home on the hill recently.
And there could be many more to come.
Trees For Birthdays (TfB) is a new initiative between Tanzania and Scotland, set up to empower climate action by bringing communities together through planting and nurturing trees and other valuable plants.
It was co-founded by keen mountain biker Jen Newall from near Glasgow and her friend Shamim Zawadi, who lives in the east African country.
Jen met Shamim during the United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP26 - which was hosted in Glasgow last year.
The two became close friends and looked at ways to collaborate on their shared ambition to do something about the climate crisis.
The two green warriors are now connecting schools and communities with their Trees for Birthdays initiative.
And Jen was delighted when Comrie Croft’s Andrew Donaldson was open to their vision.
In April, with the help of family and friends, the first 100 trees were planted, and two weeks ago the work party returned to ensure the trees were bedding in OK and to provide some maintenance for the young saplings.
Jen, who lives just outside Glasgow, explained: “My stepfather Jim Scott, who lives in Comrie, shares the same birthday as me on April 11. I had been involved with tree-planting efforts in Uddingston and two weeks before we were due to do a community planting there somebody complained and opposed the plans so we had to put 500 trees in a temporary field until we could find a permanent home for them.
“When I told them I was doing my birthday trees at Comrie Croft they were really supportive of my idea and gave me 100 trees. It worked out really nicely, especially as Jim and my ages together equal 89 and our birthdays are on the 11th making 100 trees.
“They are all on one hillside and the idea is to grow it – as we invite more people to do their trees for birthdays, it can grow down the hillside.”
But Jen stressed that TfB is about much more than just planting trees.
She explained: “In Tanzania there are a lot of ‘ghost’ forests where a big corporation has planted trees to get a tax break but they have not done anything to help them survive or encourage them to thrive.
“A big part of Trees For Birthdays is nurturing and maintenance of the trees. In Scotland for us it was the bracken bashing and making sure they are not able to be eaten by deer.
“I’m back there this week to put some better protection round them.
“The other part of Trees for Birthdays is not just connecting with nature - there is the birthday and special occasion side of it and the trees are under your guardianship - but also everything that we do is in parallel with Tanzania.
“So when the trees were planted at Comrie Croft there was also a planting at a school in Tanzania.
“My mum teaches at Crieff High and is connecting the two schools so she has done a few things so far like teaching the kids Swahili and zoom calls, so it’s also about letting the schools develop that connection and exchange, and letting the pupils see the twinned forests grow.
“We will be eventually having planting parties for birthdays and special occasions but also there is a massive education and awareness element to it.
“We are in the process of putting together a pitch for funding for a climate change education caravan, which will go ahead of COP 27 at the end of September/October, and we will be visiting 40 schools in total - 20 in Tanzania and 20 in Scotland.
And she added: “For us it is more than planting trees.”
