We need action not words to halt the decline of Scotland's ancient pinewoods

Sitting high on the slopes of Glen Derry in the Cairngorms is a tree. I have walked past it many times over the past few decades. It is a so-called “granny pine”, a Scots pine that stands alone – all that remains of a once more extensive Caledonian pinewood that stretched across large areas of the Highlands. Scotland’s ancient Caledonian pinewoods are remarkable habitats that form an unbroken link all the way back to the retreat of the ice 10,000 years ago.

Recent analysis by St Andrews University has revealed that the tree is one of the oldest in Scotland, dating back to at least 1477. It has lived through the Battle of Flodden, the Union of the Crowns, the Union of Parliaments and the industrial revolution.

For a century or so, this isolated but splendid living thing stood alone as the forest around it slowly died due to over-browsing by high numbers of wild red deer on what was then a prestigious hunting estate belonging to the Duke of Fife.

Now, however, a remarkable transformation is taking place. Since the National Trust for Scotland took ownership of Mar Lodge estate in 1995, it has embarked upon an ambitious programme of regenerating the Caledonian pinewoods.

The statistics are impressive. In 2011, there were 155 hectares of naturally regenerated pinewood. By 2016 this had increased to 835 ha and five years later it stood at 1,972 ha, a tenfold increase compared to a decade before. Now, in front of the tree born in the 15th century, stand a number of young trees, all naturally seeded and given the chance to grow freely by the reduction in browsing by red deer.

This story of is part of a wider success story in the pinewoods of the east of Scotland, a story that was highlighted at a recent conference on Scotland’s pinewoods held in Fort William – the first such conference for more than 30 years. Scientists, conservationists, government officials and land managers shared the latest scientific knowledge on our pinewoods and their health and reliance, focussing on the 84 sites across Scotland on the Caledonian Pinewood Inventory – the official record of the native pinewoods of Scotland. 

But it is not all good news. A survey conducted between 2018 and 2021 found that, nationally, 23 per cent of the remaining pinewoods are critically threatened. In the south west region comprising Lochaber and Argyll, where 36 of the 84 sites are located, 34 per cent of pinewood is critically endangered.

After more than half a century of effort to protect these irreplaceable ecosystems and symbols of Scotland’s natural riches, such statistics are shocking. Some of these sites have no statutory protection at all and even those that do are not in the best condition.

As someone who loves nature, who loves trees and who has a feeling of awe and wonder when walking through these woods, it makes me frustrated and at times angry that we have not yet done enough to ensure the future of our pinewoods. The good news is that this frustration is widely felt by scientists and government officials.

Back in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, northern governments had a bad habit of lecturing southern countries on the need to halt the deforestation of the tropical rainforests. Few ministers from the north faced up to the ongoing deforestation taking place in their home countries. Working with international NGOs, I remember environmental groups in British Columbia labelling the destruction of the temperate rainforest as the Brazil of the North. Here in Scotland, we highlighted the fate of Scotland’s ancient pinewoods which had been degraded to the point of extinction and whose future remained perilous.

Things are looking better now in eastern Scotland but in these isolated pockets across western Scotland they are dying. These ancient woods form part of the boreal forest and stand at the western limits of a range that encompasses the Sierra Nevada in Spain, the Balkans, northern Scandinavia and all the way across to Siberia, Mongolia and northern China. Scotland has an international obligation to take urgent steps to halt the decline.

Pinewoods were included as a priority habitat under the EU Habitats Directive in 1994. Thirty years later, far too many of these woods are still threatened with extinction. Back in 2004, the then Scottish Executive published a biodiversity strategy which aimed to halt biodiversity loss by 2030. We await publication of the current administration’s biodiversity strategy to 2045 which retains the 2030 goal.  

It is ironic that since 2014 more than 31,000 ha of new native woodland has been established with public money, but much of the most valuable existing woodland remains threatened. It is not hard to conclude that short term tree-planting targets are taking precedence over the serious and hard work necessary to protect Scotland’s pinewoods.

To say they are critically endangered is not hyperbole. On a damp October afternoon, 20 of us climbed high above the River Nevis and saw for ourselves the impoverished state of the Glen Nevis pinewoods. To many tourists they look majestic, but the reality is that this woodland is dying and will disappear unless swift action is taken.

With 2030 little more than five years away, we don’t need strategies and plans, we need action.