Scotland’s Native Pinewoods

Scotland’s native pinewoods are all that remains of the Great Wood of Caledon. Once a huge native forest that extended across most of Northern Scotland. Climate change and exploitation by man has reduced the forest to less than one per cent of its natural range. Even so today the remnants are still the largest area of continuous old forests in Britain. These wild woods still harbour many of the original species of birds and animals that are specially adapted to this habitat. Some like the Scottish crossbill are found nowhere else in the world. The forest is also a refuge for pine marten, red squirrel, crested tit, osprey, golden eagle and many more species. Plants such as the delicate twinfower and invertebrates like the northern damselfly and narrow-headed wood ant are found almost nowhere else in Britain. The woods of Speyside and those further east are subject to a colder drier climate than the pinewoods to the west of the Great Glen. These western woods grow mostly in glens with a northerly aspect. At their western extreme they could be classed as part of the temperate rainforest.