Future of ancient Scottish trees protected as NTS doubles woodland at treasured castle
The mighty oak will grow again.
A population of ancient trees is to be expanded after National Trust for Scotland bought up two new parcels of woodland surrounding one of its key castles in Aberdeenshire.
The charity purchased the land by Drum Castle in Aberdeenshire with a view to expanding its ancient tree population at Old Wood of Drum, which it described as one of the finest sites in Scotland for ancient oak woodland.
The Old Wood of Drum contains the last remnants of the once-expansive oak forest and former hunting ground given by Robert the Bruce to the Irvine family in 1323.
Now, oaks will be planted once more - along with other native broadleaves - after NTS almost doubled its woodland at Drum with the purchase of 50 neighbouring hectares from two separate landowners.
Philp Long, Chief Executive of the National Trust for Scotland, said: “The Old Wood of Drum is one of the few surviving medieval wood pastures and best collections of ancient trees in Scotland, and is an excellent example of the nature we care for within the Trust.
“The acquisition of this new woodland aligns with our Plan for Nature, a strategy that drives our contribution to Scotland’s climate and biodiversity targets and underpins our nature conservation priorities and projects for years to come.
“Woodland restoration features heavily in the Plan for Nature and wood pasture is one of the Trust’s priority habitats. At the Old Wood of Drum, we will deliver positive impacts for nature and for people.
“There are many complexities in delivering the long-term outcomes of woodland and wood pasture restoration, but a phased approach will safeguard the current landscape and continue its development. Our stewardship of this land will be in the public interest and is possible thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers who deliver practical habitat, species, footpath, and cultural site management, as well as provide visitor facilities and support services, environmental education, and interpretation.”
The charity’s team in Aberdeenshire is now working to improve the ecology of the new landholdings for the long term and create more connectivity between nature on the estate.
A commercial plantation of Scots pine, Norway spruce and Sitka spruce on the larger piece of land has now been felled with native broadleaves such as birch, alder, aspen and willow among new species planted. These will create the right environment which will allow oaks to grow.
Invasive non-native conifers and Rhododendron ponticum, which choke out Scotland’s natural wildlife, will also be removed.
Chris Wardle, the Trust’s Gardens and Designed Landscapes Manager in the North East, said: “Currently, there is very little established natural regeneration of oak within Old Wood of Drum, due in part to browsing pressure and in part to the lack of sufficient light where the seedlings have germinated. We have an ambition for the next 100-200 years to regenerate the wood pasture system across our land holdings, creating future ancient and veteran trees, particularly the ancient oaks that are such a historic feature of Drum. If we don’t start a new cohort of oak saplings now, there will be no ancient oak trees here in the future and the habitat will be lost.”
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