Gathering Sitka spruce cones for seed
Photograph taken by Don MacCaskill and image courtesy of Bridget MacCaskill, Strathyre. Don was based as Head Forester at Inverinan from about 1960 through to about 1968 before transferring initially to Allean Forest and then Strathyre Forest in1972.
No information on this image but going by the style of the safety helmets must be in the 1970s or 1980s. In the early 80s there was a temporary shortage of Sitka spruce seed as imports from Canada had dried up. Foresters were encouraged to check out good quality stands of spruce and if they were thinning or felling those stands to delay that operation until the cones were ripe and ready for collection in August/ September. Once the trees were felled the cones were collected in buckets and bags very often by forestry workers and worker family members. A very sticky operation hence the use of gloves.
The man facing the camera has a name label on his helmet but too indistinct to make out but looks like J Mac------ or some 8-9 lettered name. Of course it is possibly not his helmet!
Can anyone name the two men who could have been based in Strathyre, Dunkeld or Allean Forests or anywhere in Perthshire?