At the end of the Winter it is always a thing to go over to the Acarseid Mhor (Big Harbour) Forest to check out winbdblow, to see how much plastic is on the beach (And in the forest). It is a must. So this Saturday after a glorious Friday a grey day took us to the Woods.

Not the best photo, the light was weak and this makes the forest look like it is predominantly Birch. But nothing could be further from the truth. If anything the Birch is invading the forest, for sure it is the only thing that gets away quickly but in this forest there are more questions than answers.

The forest which has been described to me by the many visitors as naturally Scottish, true Re-Wilding, the way that all of Scotland should look like is none of the above.

The forest was planted by the owners way back most likely 180 years ago. I suspect the climate was much more benign than it is to-day. For one thing the pines on the other side of the hill there are very straight but the younger trees are much windblown. I am sure a scientist somewhere could explain but although there are some fine stands of Aspen, good holly, lots of Birch, the main species are a mix of hardwoods such as beech, sycamore and oak with larch quite common. See Stephen Bungard’s Blog on ‘The Flora of Raasay and Rona’ . Like many forests in Scotland it was established in the 1800s probably for shooting, there are records of Rona being a shooting destination back in the day when the man who planted the trees owned it: Edward Herbert Wood

Although I have to say I have heard good things about Herbert Wood, especially his wife.

But back to yesterday 2nd March:

There are a lot of granny trees here, (not Granny Pines as some of the Pine is actually Corsican , good for Maritime locations) much damaged by the wind, with lots blown over. A haven for mosses and all that the damp west coast climate will allow to grow. It is a magical place with a heronry, upwardss of 28 Herons, roosting Sea Eagles and in season all sorts of birds. Even woodpeckers.

I always wondered why there were so many dead pines on the windward side of this forest and only found out lately from a book I was reading (which I have since lost) that this area of dead pines are the result of a visitor starting a fire which got out of control but happily it went out before it could destroy the whole. The gallery below is the first part of our walk through the ‘big’ trees.

Coming down through the first part into a hollow there are outstanding beeches, some old oaks and one in particular where a branch had snapped off, leaving its leaves on until now.

I guess the wind never had a chance to blow them off. There are good signs of paths and workings throughout the area and you wonder what was there initially. I am positive there would have been a nice walk with views, perhaps benches, who knows, but in the middle of it there are still metal posts from the 150 old + years old fence. There are two here in the photo below.

Also in the photo there is this rock of white stone (Skye Marble) where did that come from? Who knows but there is a bit of an old dyke to the left of it so I guess when building the dyke the white rock was part of it, but no sign anywhere near where it came from. The dyke obviously was part of the fence that crossed this peninsula, but where it is does not make sense with regards to the forest growth ??

Just about to head of to the ‘beach’ when we spotted 5 deer watching us, they were across on the face above yet another working of runrigs, they are everywhere on Rona and gives some idea as to how the populatiuon at its peak tried to survive. 1900 200 souls!

It annoys me a bit when I hear Re-Wilders banging on about Nature Depletion, have these folk any conception of the population that lived on the land, scratching an existence, not a living by any means. Every Glen had much larger populations than now. Or the history that has gone before. I understand from my books here that post 1745 the Highlands were basically set alight. I rest my case.

The mosses, the lichens, the bogs, the fallen trees give the imnpression of a very wet climate and there is no denying it. But the drains are all filled in (naturally), the water has nowhere to go, it is after all a planted forest, so should it be managed or should it be left alone. I guess the guy that wrote the book on ‘Atlantic Rainforests (Guy Shrubsole) would class this as an ancient Rain Forest, Nope, it is not, but it is showing the classic signs of a West Coast forest. I understand a Rain Forest is a forest with continuous canopy?

Back to reality, Plastic!!!

Here is the reality of living in a windy, coastal site in Scotrland, plastic. Whether from boats, fish farms (the new polluters), or just blown off the land. Not to mention what comes from America. Every year we get festooned with plastic, when you take it to the Council dump they throw a fit, where’s your appointment they cry. For goodness sake do you want a clean country or not (for free I would add, as you are not paying me to collect it or deliver it to the dump) Rant over. But seriously the rubbish around Rona is shocking. We will have a major collection shortly, the first decent calm day and when we buy a new dinghy.

Nice to see the catkins getting going another sign of Spring coming, a wee bit rise in light and temp, excellent.

On route still to the beach, the birch is pretty dense and the ground was just like a sponge, great that the deer knock off the old branches from the birch, it certainly makes walking through the forest easier.

We did not get to the beach after all of that, the cliff was too wet and slippy for us to get over. I did not take a picture because the place where we go to the ‘Beach’ was pretty dirty with plastic, I should have but I was annoyed to see it and got ratty.

More later on our walk to-day.