Bananas in Highland?

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Green hairstreak

Disguised as leaves, a pair of green hairstreaks hang out in a juniper bush.

Cherry blossom

Bird cherry is abundant along the R Enrick in Glenurquhart.

Treeline woods

Last week, I spent a day at around 600m altitude on Coignafearn Estate, collecting cuttings from montane willow with Diana Gilbert, who has just finished her PhD on montane scrub. The cuttings will be propagated at Highland Aspen Group's tree nursery at Kincraig.
As the picture shows, montane willows only survive where deer can't reach, so we needed a reasonable head for heights.
As well as a few bursts of adrenalin, we enjoyed several sightings of golden eagle and ring ouzel. And a few smaller creatures, some of which feature below.

Most of the willows were in flower

Willow pollen is an important food source for early invertebrates, such as this bumblebee

High-flying wasp refuelling

Basking in the sun, this lizard is sloughing its old skin

Blackthorn Blossom

The leaves below are bird cherry.

Wider........

Big birdie.......

If you click on the image, you will see there is a male osprey sitting at the top of this dead tree.

Rhodendron ponticum in the spotlight

Rhododendron ponticum is increasingly recognised as a major threat to woodlands, especially in the west of Scotland, where the conditions are perfect for this invasive evergreen to take over native woodlands. It is such a succesful weed that it has caught the attention of the BBC, who are making a film on weeds.
A crew from Blast! Pictures were in Cowal capturing some footage as some of the crew from Kilfinan Community Forest Company get warmed up for the task of removing the ponticum from their forest. Here's some of both crews working away
Chris Collins, who is presenting the programme & KCFC's David Blair talk about some of the problems associated with having ponticum in your forest.
Chris was up for having a go at tackling the ponticum himself: here's David showing him the ropes.
The programme goes out on BBC4 in June.

Giving away aspen trees..........

Highland Perthshire aspen trees, propogated at Edinburgh Zoo by RZSS, are being distributed this spring to eight different sites in Perthshire and the Angus Glens. Each site is receiving 6- 8 clones free of charge, the objective being to promote the species, the project partners supporting work to help the species, and to increase the genetic diversity present at a number of key locations.

Richard Barclay (above right) plants aspen in an SRDP-funded woodland creation scheme at Innerhadden, Loch Rannoch last month. Below you will see deliveries to two other sites today, plus a planting afternoon at Bamff Estate on Sunday.

All the trees are being donated to people who we know will look after them.

Closer...a happy man

A happy Tober Brown

Tober Brown of Tombreck, Loch Tay side, took delivery of some aspen clones today. They will be planted in to some new SRDP-funded shelter belts that he has been planting this spring. Well done Tober.

Mark Hayes with two of the aspen clones delivered to Comrie Croft today

Comrie Croft shop front

Rain shower passing over Loch Earn

Looking the other way......

Growing Up With Trees

Last week I visited a primary school that has been on our Growing Up With Trees programme for two years. The schools collect native tree seeds from nearby woods and set up their own tree nursery, starting the seedlings in pots.

These tree seedlings have been kept in a cold frame quite successfully for 2 years, although they would do much better in separate pots, and better still in the ground. The brown leaves on the Oaks are last year's. The trees are still alive though the nutrients in the compost are probably exhausted, so they are really just clinging on.

The school is going to transplant them into their wildlife garden. This needs to be done before the sap rises and they come into leaf.

Tree Nursery gone mad

This structure would be ideal for a tree nursery as posts and rabbit netting can be attached.

Unfortunately there are actual trees in it already. The staff don't know when these were planted. Maybe it is a very old tree nursery. The trees should be planted in the ground at 3-5 yrs old, depending on species. These are more like 20 years old.

They will have to be removed, roots an all before the soil can be prepared and the seedlings transplanted. Somebody is going to have their work cut out.

Spring getting moving in Argyll

This ash seedling in a small fenced regeneration area is not showing any visible signs of spring yet. However ash are one of the last trees to break into leaf
Spring flowers get there first, with this primrose, or first rose, making a fine display
The first of the violets are also providing a dash of colour on the woodland floor

Successful Projects in Highland perthshire as well.

Following on from Carol's good news below, we had a successful application in Highland Perthshire where one of our clients was successful in a six- figure application to put in trials and footpaths at a tourism business, with tree planting and management work also in the pipeline as well.

We have also had some succeses through the RPAC- bypass route for woodland creation.