Forestry and Land Scotland

Have you heard of the Last Ent of Affric? Named after the tree-shepherds from the Lord of the Rings, this ancient wych elm has escaped the ravages of Dutch elm disease.  This made Glen Affric the perfect spot to transfer thirty-five young elm trees from Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.  We are planting 200 trees over the next year to protect the species from Dutch elm disease. Disease resistant saplings are planted to encourage cross-pollination. 🐝 It's almost the end of #NationalTreeWeek and we're highlighting our work from the past year to conserve Scotland's native tree species. 🌲 Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/dif-aHpE

What a night that was! Thanks again to all our entrants, judges and sponsors! Without you, we would not have been able to champion the very best of woodlands and forestry! And here again is the full list of all those celebrated: Climate Change Champion Winner of the Climate Change Champion Trophy: The Future Forest Company for Carston, Ayrshire Commended: Forestry and Land Scotland for Barnhill, Perthshire Community Woodlands Awards Winner of the Small Community Woodland Group competition: Westmuir Community Development Trust for Westmuir Community Woodland, Angus Highly commended: TreeLink Stirling Winner of the Large Community Woodland Group competition and of the Tim Stead Trophy for overall Community Woodland Award Winner: Highland Perthshire Communities Land Trust for Dùn Coillich, Perthshire Highly commended: Urban Roots Glasgow for Malls Mire Community Woodland, Glasgow Farm Woodland Awards Winner of the Scottish Woodlands Ltd Trophy and Farm Forestry Award for Young People: Matthew Imrie at Hillhead Farm, Torrance, Glasgow Winner of the Fountains Forestry Award & Lilburn Trophy for Farm/Croft Woodlands: Nicholas Marshall at Baddinsgill Farm, West Linton, Scottish Borders New Native Woods Award Winner of The Woodland Trust Scotland Trophy for New Native Woods: Scott and Hannah Farquhar for Constablewood Estate, near Largs, Ayrshire Quality Timber Awards Winner of the James Jones & Sons Ltd Trophy for New Commercial Woods: Dalnavie, Alness, Highland – Potanow Forestry LLP, managed by Tilhill Forestry Highly commended: Knowes & Keltie, Perthshire – Woodland Invest, managed by Scottish Woodlands Ltd Winner of the award for a Single Stand, Compartment or Small Wood and the Hunter Blair Trophy for Silvicultural Excellence: East Loch Ard Forest – Lochan Spling, Trossachs – Forestry and Land Scotland Winner of the John Kennedy Trophy for Multi-purpose Woodlands for Whole Forest or Estate: Cawdor Estates, Nairn Winner of the Dulverton Flagon as a special prize for the successful balance between commercial forestry and competing objectives: David Shepherd and Annie Griffiths for Craggach Woodland, Inverness-shire Early Years Award Winner of the Alba Trees Ltd Early Years’ Trophy: NewCroft Childcare and Forest School near Keith, Moray Runner up: Johnston Nursery in Kirkcudbright Schools Award Winners of the Crown Estate Scotland Schools’ Trophy: Selkirk High School Runner up: Leader Enhanced Provision @ Duns, which is based at Duns Primary School #SFWA24 #NationalTreeWeek  

Today we welcome the first commercial enterprise to move into Glen Prosen - The Bothy Distillery Bothy Trading 📢 This new enterprise forms part of our wider strategy to create new jobs and bring economic and social opportunities to the Angus Glens to benefit local communities. The Bothy Distillery will develop sustainable tourism in the area and allow visitors to connect with Scotland's heritage.  The announcement follows an extensive public consultation that included taking expressions of interest to find suitable uses for the various estate buildings. Moving in spring 2025 the business already has strong local roots, and we look forward to this new venture supporting existing and new jobs in the area as well as fostering sustainable tourism. Find out more by heading to the link in the first comment 👇

Did you know wild apple trees are important for rare woodland pastures and wet woodlands? 🍎 Due to hybridisation with domestic apple trees this species is becoming rarer and rarer.  Which is one of the reasons our team at Newton helped find space for a new wild apple orchard.  This project will provide a clone bank of wild apples. This can be used to plant wild apple trees in forests across Scotland to help with biodiversity and protecting the native species. You can hear more tree conservation stories for #NationalTreeWeek 🌳 in our latest blog by heading to the link in the first comment 👇

Beavers Arrive in Loch Ard! Last week, in partnership with Forestry and Land Scotland, our team released a family of five beavers into Loch Ard Forest. These new arrivals now call a carefully restored wetland habitat their home, complete with ponds and native woodland created by FLS. Beavers first arrived on FLS sites in the Trossachs through natural dispersal almost 10 years ago, and Aberfoyle was naturally colonised by dispersing beavers around two years ago. The releases in Loch Ard Forest will help support and increase this naturally expanding population, contributing toward the goal of actively expanding the beaver population into areas where they can bring real environmental benefits as part of Scotland’s National Beaver Strategy. This release, like others, has only been made possible through our close collaboration with Five Sisters Zoo. Read more about the release here 👇 https://lnkd.in/ezrQXcvv

📣 We're hiring! Join us and help us sustainably manage Scotland's forests and land: ➡️ Health and Safety Advisor, Oban For more information and to apply head to the link in the first comment.

This week is #NationalTreeWeek. This is held by The Tree Council every year to mark the beginning of tree planting season. 🌲 To mark the occasion we are highlighting some of our conservation stories from the past year. The Caledonian Forest is home to the iconic Scots pine tree. Over the past year our team have traversed our forests to collect cones from these iconic trees. Every tree needs to be individually climbed to collect these cones. This work has produced 75 sacks of Caledonian pine cones - enough to yield 3 million seeds. Learn more about our work by following the link in the first comment 👇

Strengthening the Spey Population Over the last few months, our restoration team has been thrilled to work with land managers and partners to release further pairs and families of beavers at sites owned by WildLand Limited, the quieter southern shores and lochans of Loch Morlich, owned by Forestry and Land Scotland and private land between Kingussie and Aviemore. This marks another exciting step in establishing a wild population in the Spey catchment, as granted under licence from NatureScot and in realising the vision set out in Scotland’s Beaver Strategy. Across Europe, it is common for beavers to inhabit freshwater systems popular for human recreational activities, where their engineering enhances biodiversity and creates engaging natural spaces for people to enjoy. Naturally shy and typically crepuscular, beavers are expected to avoid direct interaction with people. However, we ask you to remember that they are sensitive wild animals. While they may share our spaces, it is crucial to give them the respect and quiet they need to settle into their new surroundings. The return of beavers to the Cairngorms National Park has been led by the Cairngorms National Park Authority, working closely with partners, land managers, and local communities.

Find out more about the Cairngorms Beaver Project here👇 https://lnkd.in/eBj5rarc

Can you guess the hill from this 3D map? Today marks Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day! From land management plans to restock and environment programmes, GIS is key to our work. We can now record more information in the field than ever before, with nearly 500 of our team using mobile GIS applications regularly.  Over the past two years we have captured one-third of our forests and land using LiDAR, a remote sensing method that enables us to build up a digital model. Explore some of this data in a 3D GIS scene that covers part of our West and Central regions. Link in the comments. Image: ©Getmapping Plc and BlueskyInternational Limited 2024.

📣 We're hiring! Join us and help us sustainably manage the nation’s forests and land: ➡️ Procurement Specialist (x6), national team ➡️ Assistant Operations Manager, West Region For more information and to apply head to the link in the first comment 👇