For the last 25 years DA Shanks have been preparing ground for tree planting across Scotland, using 360-degree excavators to build mounds of earth into which new trees can be planted. Davey Shanks was one of the first to pioneer this method in Scotland, and he now has his son Dave working alongside him. Davey started in the woods when he was eighteen, extracting timber using horses on local estates before moving on to forestry ploughing for a number of contractors using a Caterpillar tractor. Dave told me, a lot of the time when he was a youngster was spent travelling all over Scotland with his mother, Christine, including trips to the Nairn and Forres area to join his father on sites where he had been working all week. The family spent time together in the caravan that was Davey's home, and whilst there, Dave got his introduction to working in the woods.
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