Wolves are back in the Netherlands. This leaves the UK as one of the few European countries without any wolves. Scotland could readily support wolves in the Highland - the population density is much lower than the Netherlands. It's time for their return.
The use of virgin pulp from forests for toilet paper should be banned immediately, and only toilet rolls made from 100% recycled paper allowed to be sold. This would increase the value of recycled paper and encourage more recycling - a win-win result.
Last week I was in Glen Affric for a filming project & we visited the site of Trees for Life's first fencing project, which protected an estimated 100,000 Scots pine seedlings from browsing by red deer in 1990. These photos show the same scene in September 1989 & last week.
I've been to Glen Affric hundreds of times in the past 45 years, but being there today really took my breath away. There was a remarkably thick hoar frost coating all the vegetation, especially the birch trees, and it transformed the whole area into a fabulous frozen forest.
Today is the 30th anniversary of the 50 hectare fence for natural regeneration at Coille Ruigh in Glen Affric. This was the first project I carried out to help restore the Caledonian Forest there - today I'm going out to celebrate & see the recovery that has taken place.
Wise words from one of Australia's leading climate scientists: "Failing to adequately plan for the known threat of climate change in a country like Australia should now be considered to be an act of treason." When will the OZ govt. wake up & act?
While the US is very vocal in protesting about the abuse of the indigenous Uighur people in China, it is heavily involved in the systematic destruction of the indigenous people's cultures in its own country. Native people everywhere need to be respected.
Here's another pair of photos showing the natural regeneration of a downy birch that has taken place at Coille Ruigh in Glen Affric since it was fenced to exclude deer on 14th September 1990. Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the fence, & the photo dated 2020 was taken then.
Once a year I photograph the 'champion pine', a naturally regenerating Scots pine at the Coille Ruigh na Cuileige site in Glen Affric that was the first practical project of Trees for Life when 50ha were fenced for regeneration in 1990. These photos show how the tree has grown.
It's official - I discovered a species new to science in the Caledonian Forest in Glen Affric! In 2019 I found the orange larva of a parasitic mite attached to a small hazel aphid, which has been described by Joanna Makol, a specialist in mites, as a new species, Lassenia newelli
1/3 I had another great day with
@IrishRainforest
today - we visited Uragh Wood, one of the few remnants of ancient woodland surviving in Ireland (those remnants cover just 0.1% of the country). It's a fabulous mossy wonderland, but there's no young trees because of overgrazing.
This identifies the problem with many tree planting schemes - they create uniform, even-aged monoculture plantations, not forests. It should give more coverage to solutions - protection of existing natural forests & ecological restoration of degraded ones.
It's time to stop using the word 'forest' to describe monocultural plantations of even-aged conifer crops, as they are not forests. While we will always need trees for timber, there is much greater need for restoring natural forests that will not be felled
Just imagine a sane, better world, where govts. actually cared about the future. They would meet regularly with young people like Greta, to seek their advice & then act decisively on it, & it would be fossil fuel executives who get arrested for protesting.
There are some trees that I photograph each year in Glen Affric, to monitor their growth as a result of the Caledonian Forest restoration project I started there. These ones show a hazel tree that was planted in 1996, with these photos being taken in 1999, 2007, 2016 & yesterday.
@IrishRainforest
When Trees for Life had wild boar on the charity's Dundreggan Conservation Estate in 2009, robins began following them around within 24 hours of their arrival - the robins have long ecological memories! In winter, the robins were eagerly awaiting the boar to clear the snow!
I spent 4 days on the west coast of Scotland last week, photographing the temperate rainforests and oakwoods in their autumn colours. These images are from Ariundle National Nature Reserve, near Strontian on the north shore of Loch Sunart.
I'm in Devon at the moment where I gave a presentation at the AGM of
@MoorTrees
today. As preparation, I spent the day yesterday visiting Wistman's Wood, a remnant of temperate rainforest on Dartmoor - it's beautiful but heavily overgrazed by sheep, so there are no young trees.
Tree planting is a positive step in our largely-deforested country, but the photo in this article shows the wrong type of tree planting - linear ranks of trees, all planted equi-distant from each other & tubed in plastic. We need to mimic natural forests.
Here on Forres High Street local school children are striking for the climate in solidarity with
@GretaThunberg
@HollyWildChild
& many others, outside the office of the local MP. Great to see them speaking out like this.
I was in Wakehurst & Chiddingly Woods SSSI in West Sussex recently & there are some fantastic old yew trees there, with their roots growing over sandstone outcrops. One looked like it was imitating the strangler figs growing over the ruins at Angkor Wat in Cambodia!
@GretaThunberg
How sad it is to see lies & such hate being directed against you. Many, many people have tremendous respect and admiration for that you're doing, and the clarity with which you speak. As others have said, keep focused on the positive & all the good you're doing - you're a star!
This is a good article, giving an accurate portrayal of wolves based on actual experience, instead of the demonised propaganda image of wolves that is frequently featured in the media. It's time to bring these apex predators back to Scotland.
Ecological restoration or rewilding is not just about reinstating large charismatic mammals such as beavers or wolves. It's about reconnecting all the strands in the web of life that we've broken, and those often involve little creatures like insects.
This news about rain falling on the highest point of the Greenland ice sheet should be a headline story everywhere. It's an unmistakeable sign of climate breakdown & the massive impacts that will cause, but it's mostly ignored by the media & politicians.
This is one of my favourite old Scots pines in Glen Affric, overlooking birches in their autumn colours & Loch Beinn a'Mheadhoin. It always reminds me of those statues of dancing Hindu deities with multiple arms - this tree really looks like it is dancing in its own slow timing!
This will be a disaster for the ancient Bialowieza Forest, a World Heritage Site that is supposed to protect the last primeval lowland forest in Europe. This border fence will prevent the movement of animals in the forest & will cause animal mortalities.
I'm in SW Ireland visiting a kindred spirit,
@IrishRainforest
, who is restoring temperate rainforest on his land. Here he's beside a royal fern, with other regional specialities St Patrick's cabbages (on an oak trunk) & a Killarney fern, as well as a sputnik spider on an oak leaf
When I was in London last week I went to a Chinese restaurant in Notting Hill and was totally shocked to see that they still had shark's fin soup on the menu. It needs to be banned from restaurants in this country now.
When I was in Glen Affric last week I visited the 60ha Meallan exclosure that was fenced in 1991 & planted by me &
@treesforlifeuk
volunteers in 1992/3. Great to see the young planted Scots pines & naturally regenerating birches & rowans growing well amongst the old & dead pines!
Another pair of photos showing the natural regeneration of Scots pines at Coille Ruigh in Glen Affric since 50 hectares were fenced there to exclude deer on 14th September 1990. Monday was the 30th anniversary of the fence & it shows how Nature recovers when we give her a chance.
This was a very welcome sight one foggy morning last week in Glen Affric: a couple of old 'granny' Scots pines surrounded by a new generation of young pines & birches, in an area where deer have been excluded. Reducing browsing pressure enables forest recovery - it's very simple!
When my wife and I were staying in our caravan near Glenuig in Moidart last week I came across this oak tree (Quercus petraea) in the temperate rainforest there. It must have been blown partially down at some stage & has grown in this beautiful recumbent form.
This just shows how skewed & perverted our 'justice' system in the UK has become. Greta & 25 others are charged with 'public order offences' for trying to save the planet. The real criminals are the govt. ministers & execs plotting o use more fossil fuels.
It was another beautiful day in the Caledonian Forest in Glen Affric today - windstill, and with the last leaves of autumn on some of the birches. In the middle of the day some mist rose up from the valley below, creating these ethereal & atmospheric vistas for a few minutes.
Excellent opinion piece about the school strikes started by
@GretaThunberg
that have spread all over the world. The only mistake is that it says the first UK school strike will take place this Friday. Children in Ullapool have been striking for 8 weeks.
When I was in Glen Afric yesterday I came across a great example of the blood-spot lichen (Ophioparma ventosa) on a rock. It derives its common name from the colour of its apothecia (which release the spores of the fungal partner in the lichen) & each one has a unique shape.
Wise words from the leader of the Kayapó people in the Brazilian Amazon. Everyone who is deeply connected to Nature feels the pain of the planet at this time. All political leaders should be required to study with people like this before taking office.
This shows the madness of the UK today. It's simple to release 60 million enivronmentally-destructive non-native pheasants & partridges each year to be shot, but if you want to release a beneficial native species- the beaver - huge bureaucracy is involved
This is the conifer mazegill fungus (Gloeophyllum sepiarium) on the underside of an old pine log here at Findhorn yesterday. The gills on the fungus live up to their common name, by being very maze-like in their pattern.
This is excellent news from South Georgia, & it shows that when humans stop exploiting other species they will recover in numbers again. Nature has a remarkable self healing ability & we need to learn to assist that, not block it as we do most of the time.
Have you ever looked closely at the bark of an old Scots pine in the Caledonian Forest? It's composed of multiple layers of beautiful organically shaped flakes. As they break off they reveal different colours underneath. These are all from a single tree in Glen Affric yesterday.
The frost in Glen Affric today was truly extraordinary. It formed these remarkable needle-like shapes on the vegetation, such as here on the catkins of a young hazel tree. I've never seen frost like this before!
Thousands of young people are striking all over the country today, demanding action to counter the threat of
#climatebreakdown
. Some in London have brought traffic on Oxford St. to a complete standstill. The BBC fails to give any coverage of this on their Home Page - disgraceful.
Late in the day in Glen Affric yesterday, after all the frost had been melted by the sun, I was looking west along the glen, over some old Scots pines, when a grey heron (Ardea cinerea) flew over the loch & landed in one of the trees. It was a great gift at the end of the day!
The selfishness & greed of the present generation is utterly unconscionable & beggars belief. The fanatical adherence to endless growth, overconsumption & blatant disregard for the future has to stop. Govts. are not fit for purpose; we need radical change.
Whilst tree planting is good in principle, it needs to be done on an ecological basis, not on commercial timber production lines. Better still is to facilitate the natural regeneration and expansion of surviving natural forests - Nature knows best.
Some more photos of Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) & birches (Betula spp.) in their autumn colours in the early morning fog on Sunday in the Caledonian Forest in Glen Affric. It was a magical morning of almost otherworldly beauty ...
This report highlights the fact that many govt. tree planting schemes are not ecologically-based, but instead drive the creation of more monocultural tree plantations for industrial purposes & profits. We need to restore natural, diverse forests.
Humanity has been a selfish species for far too long, taking over vast swathes of the planet & driving many species to extinction. We need a completely different culture now, which is focused on restoring the Earth & giving back to Nature more than we take
Riparian corridors are vital in providing the connectivity between habitats. A priority for rewilding efforts in the UK has to be returning our riparian zones to ecological health - most of them are deforested, canalised etc. Bring back the beavers now!
1/2 I had to take my car to a local garage for its MOT test this morning & when walking back about a mile to my house in the snow, I came across this great example of the yellow brain fungus (Tremella mesenterica) on a dead stem of a gorse bush beside Findhorn Bay.
It's been suspected for years that military sonar has negative impacts on marine mammals such as whales - this report provides confirmation of it. The military needs to be held accountable to ecological values, not given free rein to do whatever they like.
It was an absolutely fabulous day in Glen Affric today, with early morning mist, beautiful autumn colours on the birch trees, perfect reflections in Loch Beinn a'Mheadhoin in the absence of any wind & a great sense of peace & beauty everywhere. A very special day indeed!
Many if not most of Scotland’s grouse moors would become open woodlands if they weren’t ‘managed’ for grouse. In Scandinavia what we call red grouse is known as willow grouse and it lives in open woodland and tree-line montane scrub. It’s time to restore our land & ecosystems!
Scotland's wasteful grouse moors - most never eat grouse, but a fifth of our land is given over to it - Read the story of our recent research below:
Help us change the face of Scotland here -
Large cruise ships like the ones shown here are floating ecological disasters, causing massive pollution from the dirty fuel they burn and huge amounts of waste from the excessive consumption patterns that are typical of the passenger lifestyle on them.
Glen Affric is best known for its old Caledonian Forest characterised by Scots pines and associated species. However, in the gorge of the Affric River the confined topography & spray from cascades on the river create a micro-habitat of temperate rainforest, as these photos show.
I spent a wonderful day in Glen Affric yesterday, where autumn is unfolding in great and colourful beauty just now. While we often associate autumnal colours with the trees, it was the blaeberries which really caught my eye - they are particularly bright red & yellow this year.
It was a dull, dreich day in Glen Affric today, but the rain gave fullness & vibrancy to the lichens, which really add great character & personality to the downy birch trees in their autumn colours. It was a magical landscape - like something out of Lord of the Rings!
@GeorgeMonbiot
Coverage has increased, but is still limited. 3 people killed in a ‘possible terrorist incident’ in Utrecht got more exposure than 90% of a city & ‘possibly 1,000 killed’ in Beira. Media are complicit in keeping people cowed by fear of terror, but ignorant of
#ClimateBreakdown
My wonderful family members recently gave me a high quality slide scanner for my birthday, so I've begun going through old 35mm transparencies & scanning them. These photographs are from a trip to the far south of Chile in December 1996, from the Torres del Paine National Park.
Here's another inspiring example of teenagers taking positive action to help create the future they want in the world, instead of the depleted, impoverished, polluted & overheated planet the older generation is bequeathing to them.
Last week I spent some days in the Beasdale SAC near Arisaig on Scotland's west coast. It's a remnant of temperate rainforest of European significance & although it looks mossy & beautiful, it's overgrazed by deer, so there's no young trees, & is being invaded by rhododendrons.
These actions of netting trees to prevent birds nesting are such a sad statement about how out of touch with Nature people have become. It's almost unbelievable that they would resort to such extreme actions in order to protect their financial interests. Time for radical change!
My TedX talk on 'Restoring the ancient Caledonian Forest' in the Highlands of Scotland has just reached the significant milestone of half a million views! If you haven't seen it yet, it's at:
In the Affric River gorge in Glen Affric there's a small area of temperate rainforest with characteristic beautiful lichens - these were all on a goat willow tree (Salix caprea). Clockwise from top left: Pannaria rubiginosa, Lobaria virens, Nephroma laevigatum, Lobaria pulmonaria
Here's another excellent piece from
@GeorgeMonbiot
, who hits the nail on the head as usual. We need a completely different paradigm for society, in which the goal is not capitalism & endless growth, but instead is the Restoration of our wounded and biologically-depleted planet.
It's exactly the same over most of the NW Highlands. This photo shows the island in Loch a’ Bhealaich, west of Loch Affric and near the Falls of Glomach. Hyperherbivory is keeping landscapes like frozen in a condition of bare minimum biological productivity - it's appalling.
"belies its inhospitable environment." The only thing making so much of Rannoch Moor inhospitable for the trees is hyperherbivory, as shown by the healthy woodland on the islands of the lochans.
Another photo from the 30th anniversary of the Coille Ruigh fence in Glen Affric on 14th Sept 2020, & the comparison image from 1990. In places like this, the regenerating trees have grown slowly because of poor/wet soils, but they are creating heterogeneity in the forest.
When I was in the Beasdale native oakwood in Lochaber yesterday I came across the largest patch of green satin lichen (Lobaria virens) that I've ever seen. This spectacular lichen is an indicator of temperate rainforest & in the Highlands is usually found on oak trunks like this.
With every high tide, the waters of the Moray Firth create a new work of natural art & great beauty on the coast at Clashach near Hopeman by rolling the water-smoothed rocks into new positions on the undulating sandstone bedrock.
Out on the Findhorn Hinterland today I found a stunning patch of these lichens (Cladonia coccifera agg.) with bright red apothecia on them. Even on dull days in winter there's always some radiant colour in Nature, if you look closely enough!
This is symptomatic of all that is wrong with our modern society: massive subsidies paid to rich landowners for habitat destruction - deliberate burning of moors - so that hunters can slaughter grouse. Criminal, ecological madness masquerading as 'sport'.
Some more photos from the frosty day in Glen Affric yesterday. The temperature of - 8 C meant that all the trees & other vegetation were coated in a thick layer of spectacular frost crystals.
Autumn is the best time of year to spot aspen trees, as the distinctive brilliant yellow-gold colour of their leaves makes them stand out from the other native trees in Scotland's forests. I've been enjoying their beauty at various sites in the last couple of weeks.
Thanks to everyone who liked my post about 30 years of regeneration at Coille Ruigh in Glen Affric. Had a great day there yesterday. Here's some comparison photos from 2010 & 2020 - one view from inside the fence, the other outside, showing the growth of pines, birches etc.
In October I found an unusual red fungus growing on dead branches of an eared willow in Glen Affric. I suspected it was the Scarlet splash fungus (Cytidia salicina), a scarce species with only a handful of records in Scotland, & this has now been confirmed - an important record.
In Scotland's Caledonian Forest the rowan tree is vastly outnumbered by birches & it can easily be overlooked. However, in autumn its pinnate leaves turn beautiful & distinctive colours & it can be more readily distinguished from the birches, like these ones in Glen Affric.
Storm Ciara brought snow to Glen Affric earlier this week, and the fierce winds & driving snow resulted in the trunks of Scots pine trees being coated with a thick layer of ice on their windward side - I've not seen this phenomenon in the UK before, only in Scandinavia.
This is the madness of our times - logging companies desperate to log the last old growth forests in Nova Scotia, when almost everywhere else has already been clearcut. Canada is a wealth country with no need to carry out such ecological vandalism.
Here's an inspiring positive news story about another successful restoration & rewilding project. We need to publicise stories like this to counteract the depression, numbing & helplessness that can result from the barrage of bad news about the planet.
This is another photo from my day in the Caledonian Forest in Glen Affric last Sunday, when the autumn colours of the birch trees were at their peak - seen here amongst the old Scots pines overlooking the mirror-calm eastern end of Loch Beinn a'Mheadhoin.
This is such a heartening sight to see - healthy & vigorous young Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) & birches growing up amongst the old 'granny' pines in the Caledonian Forest in Glen Affric. It means this ancient forest will continue to thrive long into the future.
‘The trees are trying to tell us things’: the ecologist championing Britain’s ancient forests.
"If we want to look at the health of Europe, we only have to look at the health of the trees. Our single biggest obligation is the care of our ancient trees.”
I spent a wonderful day on the Moray Coast east of Hopeman yesterday. From there to Covesea is a wonderful landscape of sandstone cliffs, caves, rock formations & beaches. Although the days are short now & much life has retreated for winter, there's always beauty in Nature ...
It's not just the trees in the Caledonian Forest that turn beautiful colours in the autumn. The blaeberry plants (Vaccinium myrtillus) do so as well, bringing this stunning palette of vivid tones to the forest floor in Glen Affric yesterday.
In 2002 I co-organised a conference called Restore the Earth, which called upon the UN to declare the 21st century the Century of Restoring the Earth. It didn't seem successful at the time, but today, we have the official launch of the UN Decade on Ecological Restoration!
In Glen Affric on Sunday the birch trees had not yet reached the peak of their autumn colours, but were nevertheless already looking spectacular, especially those with large quantities of old man's beard (Usnea filipendula) & other epiphytic lichens n their branches.
Tonight at 10pm on BBC4 the 2nd episode of the TV series 'Restoring the Earth: The Age of Nature' will be broadcast. The first episode last week was excellent & inspiring. I'm pleased to say that I will feature in it tonight, in a section about restoring the Caledonian Forest.
When I was in Glen Affric yesterday, the Affric River was partially frozen in some areas. That created sections of totally still water which produced perfect reflections of the trees above, framed by the irregular patches of frozen snow/ice on the river.
Wherever beavers have been reintroduced they produce ecological benefits as the riparian ecosystems return to a healthier more balanced state. Beaver reintroductions should be carried out all over the country, to help restore the UK's depleted landscapes.
On the dune area of the Findhorn Hinterland today there were some spectacular examples of these lichens with red apothecia (Cladonia coccifera agg.) growing in clusters together.
I've just posted a new blog, entitled 'A shieldbug extravaganza', about the diversity and abundance of shieldbugs I found on a birch tree at Findhorn where I live. It includes lots of photos & some video clips, as well as fascinating information, & is at:
Nets over hedges to stop birds nesting, spikes on branches to keep birds off trees & now this. It's desperately sad that people are so disconnected from the living world that they carry out acts like this. In the face of such hatred we need to stay strong in our love for Nature.
The ugly face of the British Countryside hangs dead birds from
@ChrisGPackham
gate at his home will Countryside Alliance who have been doing so much to demonise & intimidate Britain’s best loved naturalist & broadcaster condemn this cruel thuggery
@CA_TimB
@CAupdates
@MarkAvery