THE news that the Scots pine is proposed for Scotland's national tree is welcome: the old Caledonian pine woods are among the most beautiful places in Scotland ("Scots pine branching out to be symbol of the nation", The Herald, January 7).
However, the statistic confidently and repeatedly related by pine wood charities that only 1% of the area once occupied by Scots pine remains under pine today is highly misleading. It ignores the research both of environmental scientists like Cindy Froyd, formerly at Cambridge and now at Oxford University, and Richard Tipping at Stirling University, and of environmental historians.
There is, in fact, no way to tell how much of Scotland was covered with pine at any one time in the past, as the tree came and went in different places at different times, the variation in range primarily driven by climate. It probably reached its peak more than 4000 years ago when its range stretched, unevenly, between Caithness (briefly even to Hoy) and Stirlingshire. Its decline between then and about 2000 years ago was dramatic, and apparently mainly due to natural causes, though the spread of prehistoric human farming and grazing by domestic animals must have had a part to play.
By the time the Romans came the extent of Scots pine was possibly in aggregate not vastly greater than today, and at the end of the Middle Ages the great majority of the woods that were in existence then are in existence still, though some may have been larger. Perhaps a dozen woods have vanished (or almost so) since 1600, mainly in the rainy west or at high altitudes, during the so-called Little Ice Age of the 17th century when wet, wind and cold increased.
Old tales that attribute the decline of the pinewoods to the Romans, the Vikings and the English iron masters of the 18th century are just plain wrong, though still retailed with gusto by (for example) Chris Packham on the BBC in a recent Autumnwatch programme.
Scots pine in Scotland is at the western edge of its world range, and very susceptible to climatic change. It is admirable to be allowing pine to regenerate more widely in and around ancient woods like Abernethy and Glen Moriston. To be planting it in places where it has never grown before, or only grew many thousands of years ago in quite different circumstances of climate and soil (for which the Forestry Commission will even give grants), is not restoring lost ecosystems, but making up new ones.
T C Smout,
Chesterhill, Shore Road,
Anstruther.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article