Scots pine National Tree for Scotland call gathers momentum

Mature Scots Pine - RB
Glen Affric NNR

As Scotland’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Paul Wheelhouse, today formally launches a consultation on whether Scotland should have a National Tree, conservation charity Trees for Life welcomes growing calls for the Scottish Government and Parliament to establish a National Tree of Scotland, and to adopt the Scots pine for this.

 

The consultation on Scotland’s National Tree, requested by the Scottish Government, was launched by Forestry Commission Scotland in Edinburgh on the 3rd September 2013. ( Sorry I'm a bit late posting this. RB )

 

Alan Watson Featherstone, Trees for Life’s Executive Director, said: “The growing campaign for the Scots pine to be proclaimed Scotland’s National Tree is inspiring. The Scots pine is one of the world’s most beautiful trees, a powerful symbol of Scotland and a keystone species of the Caledonian Forest, which in turn is one of the country’s greatest national treasures.

 

“Declaring this remarkable and important species as our national tree in 2013, the year of Natural Scotland, would send a much-

The Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) - National tree of Scotland?

Scots Pine - Pinus sylvestris

Scots Pine - Pinus sylvestris

Glen Affric NNR
Scots Pine forest in the foreground with plantations on
lower middle ground; and behind is the open hill ground
left by centuries of tree felling and deer over population. 

From an article in The Scotsman by Scott Macnab

The Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) is also known as the Scots fir, the Guithais (Gaelic), Ochtach (Old Irish) and Giumais (Irish).

A petition lodged at Holyrood calls on MSPs and the Scottish Government to work in tandem with the country’s heritage and environmental bodies to take the proposal on.

It has already met with a 
positive response from the Scottish Wildlife Trust, but officials say there is currently no mechanism to create the new national symbol.

Petitioner Alex Hamilton said: “I believe that the vision of the future of Scotland should include a

Squirrel feeding signs - Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)

The forest I'm currently surveying to the east of the Corrimoney Falls is primarily Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) plantation which has not been thinned. Trees are close together with a herb layer of heath, bilberry, bracken and grasses, interspersed with areas of moss.

Red Squirrels are feeding both in the canopy and on the ground, but signs can be difficult to find where scales and cone remains drop within the herb layer.

At this time of year squirrels are feeding on green cones which are often torn apart in the canopy with the remains scattered over an area beneath the tree. Where fresh feeding is taking place over ground which supports the remains, the debris is easier to see, as shown in the next two images.

This is all canopy feeding but squirrels will also feed on the ground, sitting on a stump or moss mound and leaving a pile of torn or gnawed off scales around the cone remains.

The scales of older cones are gnawed off, leaving the cone's centre axis intact; whereas the greener, softer cones are usually torn apart from the base up, as shown above.

Pines can live for several hundred years and where one of these beautiful old trees has survived being suffocated by close planting, you'll find an area of bare ground, carpeted with pine needles, around the base of the tree. These old trees will be a regular feeding place when squirrels are present.

This last image shows a collection of cone remains.