A glimpse of the future at Allerdale

Granny pine with regeneration

Pinewoods have a very special place in my heart and for that reason I've always wanted to see the work they've been doing at Alladale's Wilderness Reserve. Set in a remote valley an hour from Inverness, they have a fantastic ethos, "to leave the land in better condition than it was found.” We chose a really glorious November day to visit and with lunch, map and binoculars, we set off up in the glen to check it out for ourselves.

Across Scotland there are some great works being carried out with a new initiative to discover ancient Scots pine underway. However, the future of Scotland's ancient pinewoods is far from certain due to heavy overgrazing, the resultant lack regeneration, and in some stands of the oldest trees, many of the pines in senescence are considered no longer able to reproduce.

Tree lined track up into Alladale

Our first stop was the at info centre telling us about the Alladale Wilderness Reserve project with notes on reforestion, peatland restoration and the reintroduction of the enigmatic wildcat. It is a huge area of 23,000 acres and they've also use ecotourism as a funding stream. Although way above the budget of most of us, the accommodation looks amazing and what a location!

Alladale Wilderness Reserve

Alongside you as you walk there is the very model of a charming highland river, dashing and full of vigour in its little rocky chasm. I could have sat there all day just at the river to be honest, next time I'll allow more time.

River Carron, Alladale

Leaving the river behind, our hike took us up the main track where we threaded up through the woods, through forest of  of birch and pine where crossbills and other birds were busy feeding in the afternoon sunshine. 

On past the big lodge, the track opens out to views over the valley and we did our best to spy an eagle but had to make do with a hunting buzzard and a pair of chatty ravens.

Higher up the glen the trees are harder to see, a flush of green in places, and a fantastic rake of mature pines in the boulder scree at the foot of Carn Alladale.

Regeneration of Scots pine on Carn Alladale

Pine wood regeneration

There, dotted amongst the long ruined walls of maybe an old sheiling, were some bold young trees looking so bright green against the heather and lichen-encrusted stone. Bolder still were the two pipistrelle bats making the most of the late autumn warmth to hawk insects over the old pines, we watched in amazement for nearly ten minutes!

Lunch was a fine picnic looking out over the vast landscape and we remarked that there was not a deer to be seen, or a tree guard come to think of it. There will be deer around somewhere of course but the policy here is to keep the deer density low enough to allow the vegetation, and all the resultant wildlife, to return.

View up the valley

We lay day-dreaming, imagining this view of the valley in 50 years, in 100 years: will a forest of pines stretch to the horizon, teeming with nature, and as a balanced and functioning, biodiverse ecosystem? I'd really like to think so. With already more than 1M trees planted it was great to see the growth of a future forest happening across the hillsides in between some splendid old granny pines.

Returning back the way we came, happy but weary, we slung rucksacks back into the car. Thinking we'd seen all the special things, I perched on the seat edge and was busy taking my boots off in the open doorway when something very special happened. 

There was a flurry of movement and from nowhere, a young male sparrowhawk was suddenly there, perched on the top of the door only inches from me. In one of those amazing freeze-frame nature moments, a wild bird, seeming to sum up all that was wild and free about this landscape, was shared a moment with me. For a moment we looked at each other, then the spell was broken and he was off, vanishing into the birch wood beyond, leaving me with a happy fuzzy feeling. I took it as a good sign, a reminder if you will, that wilderness is here, is in fact all around us, and if we do our best to encourage and protect it, it will come to bless us in return.

Birchwood in autumn