The Glen Clova members of Scotland's Rural Past (SRP) - a nationwide project which supports local communities across Scotland to investigate deserted rural settlements dating from the medieval and post-medieval periods - were focusing on a site at South Inchdowrie when they came across a brash-baling machine which can gather and bale brushwood into bundles for use as fuel in wood-burning power-generation plants.

Kirriemuir historian and a member of the local group, David Orr, and his fellow members, were looking at the remains of a glens home and surveying the site when they became aware of a large machine working in the woods above them.

"Most of us are familiar with agricultural balers in the countryside but this was the first time that a brash baler had been in use in Glen Clova," commented Mr Orr.

"Brash in forestry is the clippings, branches of trees and dead underwood. Tilhill Forestry are the woodland managers and contractors responsible for this innovation.

"Tilhill tell me the brash bales are utilised in wood energy heat and power plants and the machine we saw was a standard timber forwarder chassis fitted with a John Deere brash baler.

"This machine produces bales cut into three metre lengths, providing an unusual sight as they are laid out higgledy-piggledy over the hillside, before the forwarder returns to collect them.

"This is a relatively new practice in the UK and certainly a first for the glen. Government support for renewable energy/low carbon and the high cost of oil are driving change in this area.

"The trees which were felled were just 20 years old. The felling was undertaken through the felling licence process for a number of objectives, including landscape diversity, habitat rehabilitation, deer control and sporting development."

Mr Orr went on to explain how he happened to be in the area when the brash baling was taking place - pointing out that the work being carried out by the local team was helping preserve a rural way of life long since gone.

"Until recently, the majority of Scottish people lived and worked in the countryside," said Mr Orr.

"This rural way of life, the backbone of Scottish economy and culture for hundreds of years, has now changed dramatically.

"Most of the settlements have now been abandoned, leaving only the crumbling remains of villages and farms dotting the landscape. There are literally thousands of these derelict settlements across Scotland, many of which have not been documented in any detail, if at all.

"These remains represent an invaluable record of Scottish rural life during a fascinating period of change that spans both the agricultural and industrial revolutions and the clearances.

"They form a vital part of Scotland's history, yet we know so little about them or the way of life for the people that lived in them."

Mr Orr added that, over the next three years, projects will be developed by the Scotland's Rural Past team working in partnership with communities, organisations and individuals across Scotland.

The work of the Glen Clova group has been unearthing a little bit of life at South Inchdowrie in Glen Clova dating as far back as the late 1700s.

"We know that from 1794 to 1808 Donald McPherson and Jane Gordon (with at least seven children born at South Inchdowrie) lived in the area before moving over the hill to Glen Prosen.

"Then, in the 1851 census, we find James Lindsay (aged 63 years) was farming 16 acres and 300 acres of heath while living at South Inchdowrie Farm House with his daughter Betty Lindsay (aged 20), who was employed at home. Some of these rigs were still visible until the trees were planted 20 years ago.

"James was helped on the farm by Alexander Edward, agricultural labourer (aged 36) and William McNicoll (aged 12) was the cow herd."

Reflecting on the sight of the brash baler at work on the site, Mr Orr commented: "I can't help but wonder what Donald McPherson and James Lindsay would have thought of such a machine working on their land."

If you want to know more about the work of the SRP Glen Clova group, the only Angus group of its kind, log on to Scotland's Rural Past website (www.scotlandsruralpast.org.uk).

You can see the group members' findings and photos from their last recorded site, lower down the Glen Clova at Rochteth.