Dappled shade

Here are a few more photos from PAWS survey work on the west coast at the start of this week.

A woodland glade

Bracken coming up

Among the conifer trees

Moss and Ferns

Split oak.......

This big oak tree split right down the middle in the storms on Monday.

Red deer in the woods.....

VIDEO- If you go down to the woods today.......

This was an interesting find out in the woods this week. People had hung all sorts of cuddly toys, garden gnomes and trinkets from trees over a large area, often in very ingenious and interesting ways. "Prayer trees" are often found in parts of the Highlands.....this area was a variation of that. Each person is obviously trying to out-do the rest, or devise their own particluar interpretation. The overall effect is quite remarkable. I I had not been trying to do some surevy work, I could have stayed for hours.

This was interesting.....six little wrens hanging by threads from the branches, turning around in the wind.

Will blog some more tomorrow.

Salt burn

Large parts of Scotland got hit by fairly extreme spring time storms on Tuesday. On the west coast, the wind was laden with salt, and this has had a big impact on young vegetation

The fronds of this fern are blackened, withered and droopy

These hazel leaves look as if Autumn has arrived already, all yellows, browns and muted greens
Blackened & withered ash
This year's growth on the oak tree is still clearly green, however the leaves are all black and shrivelled.

PAWS surveying on Loch Arkaig

Here are some pics of a very wet day surveying plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS) on Loch Arkaig, north of Spean Bridge.

VIDEO- Some commentary......

Could'nt resist referring to previous west coast experiences...!!

Among the conifers.......

And again.....

And again.....

And again.....

And again.......

Next door.....

PAWS plantations have been cleared on neighbouring ground. Broadleaves are left standing, but there are not very many of them, and this approach does not really retain woodland conditions. However, thinning these remote plantations is usually out of the question. A lot of broadleaves are being planted here, and hopefully much of the ancient woodland interest will survive, and there will be greater flexibility in the next generation woodland on this site.

Survivors.......

If the above stands were cleared quickly, the result would be like this. The priority should be to clear around the oak trees and stabilize them before clearing the wider area. In this situation thinning of the woodland is not really an option.

Arkaig pinewoods in the rain

You can see how heavy the rain was here. The white flash is a mountain burn in the distance.

Waterfall at the entrance to Glen Arkaig

Three hours later after a lot of rain

Video- Quite a noise!

Another waterfall

Through the branches.....

Closer.......

Wet.....

Two rowan seedlings.......

Hello!....some deer pictures

Through the windscreen

And again.......

Deers escaping....

More deers.....over the wall

springtime fiddles?

Here's a fern still emerging. This springtime growth is known as a fiddleneck, because it looks rather like the neck of a fiddle (the scotch for violin). Ferns are one of the unsung glories of the native woods of western Scotland

The Last Root Collection of the Season

This week, I undertook the last aspen root collection in the North East for this season. The aspen tree is growing on a crag at 450 metres above sea level. Despite the overcast day, there were lovely views across the valley.

The warm weather has meant many aspen are coming into leaf early.

The roots have been sent to Highland Aspen Group tree nursery in Kingussie to propagate new aspen trees for planting next winter. Some of these young trees may even be planted back on this site.

Oaks on Mull

Here are two contrasting types of oak found within a couple of hundred yards in a woodland on Mull. Above looks as if it is an open grown tree: the branches spread in all directions, and the main trunk is short and stout. The trees in the background have the same characteristics.

Whereas this stand is more typical of the old oak coppice woods of Argyll: lots of oak stems all crowded together and forced up to find light.

Birds nest orchid

A first for this wood in Argyll, here's a close up of a flower stem of the birds nest orchid

..& one showing where it is growing on a ride through the wood. It's an unusual flower in that it does not depend on the sun for energy, collecting energy from dead vegetation in partnership with a fungi instead.