Woodland Walk at Falls of Foyers

Here is a great little woodland walk at the Falls of Foyers in Invernessshire. The waterfall is well worth a look, and the path passes through a nice open Scots Pine wood.

On a slope........

Many of our best Scots Pine woods are on steep slopes. Because this makes them difficult to access, some of our most iconic wildlife, such as capecaillie, are found on such sites, because disturbance from people is not as frequent, if at all.

Uplifted.......

You can see that the root plates of these trees have been lifted up a bit by the wind, but not enough to topple the trees.

Scots Pine trunks

A paler shade of pine

This tree was growing directly out off a rock and is a lot paler in colour than the other trees round about.

phoenix trees

"Phoenix Tree" is the name used to describe a tree that regrows after it has been blown over.

This is a good example: you can see the moss covered original stem of the tree lying flat, with a mini woodland of new trunks growing up.

This elm limb is also a bit of a phoenix. It cracked and started to break away from the main trunk, however it hit the ground before it was completely severed from the main trunk. Over time the limb has grown new roots where it is touching the ground (it's the same thing that happens when you layer garden plants). The rest of the main trunk snapped off in a gale, so this limb is now the mainstay of the tree.

elder budburst & primrose appear

Spring seems to be happening in a far more condensed way in recent years. This elder is in a sheltered sunny spot and is usually the first tree in leaf in this wood. In contrast to the alder and the elm it produces leaves early in the season, while it's one of the last trees to produce flowers.

Primroses, the first roses of Spring, are also appearing in sheltered spots.

wych elm flowers

At pretty much the same time as the alders, the first tree flowers that rely on insect pollination appear. Dutch elm disease has not reached much of the highlands of Scotland, so we still get to see wych elm in flower.

The flowers are pretty discrete, but make a bit more of an impact when seen as part of the characteristic branching of the elm canopy.

alder in spring

Alder catkins are less well known than the hazel, however they are just as attractive

As with hazel, the catkins produce the pollen, which is carried by spring breezes to the flowers, shown here. It's too early in the year for the tree to rely upon insects to act as pollinators

This alder is still carrying a few cones from last year. Successfully polinated flowers develop into these seed bearing cones during the summer, and the small and light seeds are distributed by wind and water during the late autumn.

Forestry Commission Headquarters

Part of our role is to ensure that the importance of native woodlands is recognised by Government and its agencies. This often involves meetings in Silvan House which houses the headquarters of Forestry Commission Scotland, as well as being the HQ of Forestry Commission Great Britain. I was at a meeting of a sub group of the Customer Representative Group, which is looking at the space between trees that we should leave when we plant a new native woodland. This open space is important for many of the animals and plants that live in woods.

Forestry Commission lease their building, so probably do not have control over this small stand of trees at the entrance. However it's crying out for a bit of silvicultural love and attention, and I sometimes wonder when one of the foresters who work there will take a bit of direct action!

Promoting Public Access

Many native woods are interesting and enjoyable places for people to walk and exercise, and Scottish Native Woods often get asked to help with access provision. Grants are available for managing access, and the Forestry Commission in particular are very helpful in providing signage that directs people in an appropriate manner and confirms to them that it is perfectly OK for them to be there!! The signs shown here were obtained free of charge for schemes where FCS provided grant assistance for bigger works.

Another variation......

And another one.....

Rhododendron Ponticum originated in Victorian gardens and is now rampant in woodlands. It shades out the native plants on the ground and nothing will grow underneath it.

Volunteer Work Day - Flisk Wood

Flisk wood is a picturesque site overlooking the Tay coast in Fife, and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The view of the Tay is blocked by the invasive Rhododendron Ponticum.

Hazel catkins

Hazel catkins in Argyll are fully developed now, and releasing pollen when the wind blows.

hazel flower

The red hazel flower is far less obvious than the male catkins, and is easily missed. If wind blown pollen from the catkins successfully reaches the flower, then a nut will start to form

nitrogen nodules on alder roots

Here's a section of alder root, showing the nodules formed by the nitrogen fixing actinobacterium Frankia. This ability to "fix" nitrogen helps alder to grow in wet and nutrient poor soils where other trees would struggle to survive.