EXPLORING SCOTLAND'S RAINFOREST | one of the world's most unique forest habitats

[@Kay-xb9cp]

I hadn’t realised the extent of the grouse shooting, nor the extent of the damage it causes the land. It would be wonderful to go back, in a time machine, to see these rainforest at their height, to see just how beautiful and extensive they were.

[@alexandrareuter327]

Oh yes, that would be amazing!! 💚

[@freeindeed13]

Thank you for this beautifully shot and produced documentation of both the magical rainforest and the tragic mismanagement of land. Our choice is simple; we either take care of our environment or it will stop taking care of us.

[@Merce-NTTerencetheDog]

Here in South Devon England, we have many rainforests segments. Most are expanding (slowly). There is a big effort and woods are starting to connect together (slowly). It would be wonderful to see you on Dartmoor, here are many rainforests, but the moor remains in large part , a wasteland. Dartmoor must re-wild.

[@iainwyper9661]

Very insightful video from my favourite area of Scotland. Ardnamurchan is a haven for wildlife and I've been going up there for over 30 years since I was a kid. This year we saw slow worms in the area you were in and Otters, Sea Eagles and much more over the rest of the holiday. My two wee girls thought it was amazing!! You are absolutely right though. Something needs to be done to re-introduce these forests as they are far too scarce.

[@sydbarret1973]

Fascinating…. Thank you for posting this…. I’m a great believer in rewilding scotland

[@ptbfrch]

Informative, chilling, hopeful, and beautiful at the same time. Thank you for a most excellent video!

[@brandyjean7015]

I too have always craved wild woodlands. When I retired, I moved almost 1,000 miles northward to live in a rain forested area of SW Washington state. Perfectly constant to live amongst misses, lichen & funghi.

[@alexandrareuter327]

Oh wow, that sounds amazing! Since moving to the countryside I keep craving even wilder and more forested places. One day I'd also love to explore more of America and all of its nature!

[@bc30stm]

Thank you for this insightful video! I lived in Glasgow for a year and really enjoyed exploring Scotland‘s wild sites. I didn’t know however, how interlinked the grouse shooting and privatisation of the land was with slow progress on forest restoration efforts. It’s a shame that profits of the few stand in the way of common goods. Thanks for sharing insights!

[@donspeight7921]

A brilliant video. You have packed so much into 10 minutes. An excellent summary of the temperate rainforests (and ancient Caledonian forests) in Scotland, the reasons for their demise, the threats they face, what can be done to restore these forests and the key organisations leading this restoration. I came across your video because I have just finished reading Guy Shrubsole's book. I am glad I did and will now watch your other videos. Many thanks for making this excellent video

[@kellihillebrand8341]

This was absolutely phenomenal! Thanks you so much for exposing this! You are a beautiful soul! Much love and respect from the USA❣️

[@jonblow8170]

Love the sound of the water running. And the soft rich colours ...

[@karinnovak5145]

Wow, thank you for this very interesting information, I did not know that Scotland has its own rain forest 😉. Let's hope that in the future it will cover a wider area again🙏. Beautiful autumn pictures of the forest👍🍁🌳🍂!

[@anderslangoks3813]

Beautiful video and accurate summary of the nature of Scotland.

[@Merce-NTTerencetheDog]

Your videos are excellent Alexandra. This is great that you promote the agenda for re-wilding. Love from England SW.

[@HakunaMaPumbaa]

Sehr schön beleuchtet das rainforest topic in den nordischen Hemisphären. Wir lieben die Caledonian Pineforests in Schottland und sind schon sehr gespannt wo die Entwicklung hingeht. Da gibt es ja seit einigen Jahren vermehrt Bemühungen den ursprünglichen Wälder den verdienten Platz einzuräumen. Liebe Grüße

[@vanhallaadventures]

I just found your channel and adore all these videos ❤ Scotland is such a beautiful country.

[@andreasissons7766]

This was so informative Alexandra. I didn't know the extent of grouse shooting.

[@alexandrareuter327]

I'm really glad you found it informative! :) I didn't know either! I was really quite surprised when I started learning about it.

[@meriamaltaf1287]

thank you for a wonderful video !

[@WaywardLifeSailing]

Thanks for sharing the info! I had no idea that is why most of Scotland is wide open. I thought it was all farming. If you love rainforests you would love western Canada. They are a religious experience for anyone who loves the land. We spend a lot of time sailing to many forests and exploring them like you have, and sharing those adventures on this platform as well. Forests really do make life much more enjoyable and full

[@animateworld101]

I recommend reading "The Book of Trespass" by Nick Hayes. I found it very useful in gaining insight into the mindset that created the large estates in the UK.

[@alexandrareuter327]

A friend of mine recommended this book to me less than a week ago! 😊 Two recommendations within a week... I will ask for it for Christmas! 💚

[@gordonp4675]

Land reform should be a major issue for the Scottish.

[@unixnerd23]

I can assure you it is.

[@danielbyrne470]

Reclaiming our country from British rule is our main issue

[@alasdairmackenzie905]

What an insightful film. Very informative and so well made. Well done. It's time that the Scottish Government got properly serious on this issue and took all landholdings of over 100 hectares, except for working arable and livestock farms, into public ownership. These giant estates where the owners rule like feudal kings should be consigned to history.

[@hugepumpkin8094]

its a problem across the whole of Britain too

[@zayanminus]

Finally a video of exploring a forest without a stupid scary twist 😮‍💨

[@delmiller4184]

Thanks for the great video Alexandra.

[@puchottecapucin6883]

Bonjour, Yes, it is said that they have been planting trees (Trees for Life...) or at least protecting areas from deer grazing for years now. But nobody shows us those areas and the forest regenerating. Hou come ? That is what I would like to see. Merci

[@jamieloom22]

Thank you for another informative and inspirational video. Frankly I'm shocked by this human folly.

[@elenistavridou9082]

Σάς Ευχαριστώ ! 💝

[@thoughtfulsd]

Sad to see . Always wondered why Scotland had such barren mountains when the weather is just perfect for dense mountain forests.

[@iusorlando]

Stunning landscape... I would like to live somewhere close to that. Maybe, one day, I will. In my island there is nothing alike, unluckily. One question out of curiosity: is your accent Scottish?

[@alexandrareuter327]

I grew up in Germany but have lived in the UK for the past 9 years. So I think my accent is German with a bit of British English mixed in. 😊

[@iusorlando]

@@alexandrareuter327 Thank you for the answer. :-) I got it right, then, for I thought that your accent sounded German to me. I like it a lot, that is why I asked you. Look forward to your next video!

[@Daytona2]

Thanks for highlighting this Alexandra 👍😥 It's the unnatural numbers of herbivores prioritising the juicy new growth that has killed off much of the natural vegetation. 6.7 million sheep, 400,000 deer and half a million grouse are way too many for the ecology to cope with. These unnatural numbers are a result of man management. btw I'm a Downsman who loves the unnatural rolling grassy hills so I'm conflicted in terms of downsland. I think that I'd like a network of grassy tracks/rides and viewing points & wild camping sites left as unnatural cleared grass, with the rest returned to nature. The unnatural areas would probably only amount to less than 5%, so it's an acceptable compromise afaic. Similarly I'm relaxed about similarly limited unnatural land use to accommodate rural agriculture/industry across all rewilded areas.

[@alexandrareuter327]

Yes, I absolutely agree! 💚 My home is in the South Downs and I agree that it would be tragic to loose all of the UK’s rolling green hills. 

George Monbiot, one of the leading advocates for rewilding large areas agrees as well. His view is that when we are figuring out how best to manage our landscapes we need to make better distinctions about the different and sometimes competing claims about what we’re preserving or restoring, and why. So it is totally valid to want to conserve lots of the rolling hills, even the sheep farming and some of the grouse moors. But we should be arguing for that preservation on the basis that it is important living cultural heritage. And that there are people whose ways of life are wrapped up in it. All that needs protecting! What we should NOT do is argue that these managed landscapes are ecological treasures, wonders of nature that need to be protected against people for the benefit of the ecosystem. Bizarrely, as explained in George Monbiot’s book ‘Feral’, it’s really common for that to happen. Many people see the bare hills as unspoilt nature. In fact many ‘conservationists’ who love nature and dedicate their lives to it, end up doing kinda crazy conservation work, where they labour to ‘protect’ landscapes like these grouse moors with ‘biodiversity action plans’, in which the few species that do well there (e.g. a grassland beetle or mushroom) are identified as the nature that needs conserving, and the birch and oak saplings that are trying to reclaim the grassland are ceaselessly cut down in the name of biodiversity, although that forest that wants to grow would have much higher biodiversity! 

So some grassland needs preserving, but the things we gain and lose by preserving each bit needs considering. It’s all about having honest, informed and democratic conversations where we can balance the different priorities more reasonably. It’s totally possible to conserve many of the open views and grassy habitats and cultural heritage and rewild huge areas as well. In fact, by actually identifying the competing interests, it seems possible to do better for almost all of them! E.g. you can imagine policy that reduced the total area of land being managed for grouse, whilst actually increasing the number and diversity of people who can access grouse shooting (if they want to!). Similarly you could reduce the total area managed for sheep, whilst having land ownership policies that favour communities over agricultural corporations and so increase the numbers of people from sheep farming communities who actually get to have their own family farm. Sorry, that turned into a rather long comment... 😄 You can tell I'm passionate about the topic.

[@Daytona2]

@@alexandrareuter327 You're considerably more knowledgeable than me on the subject Alexandra 👍 Good to hear those arguments. Yeah, the long standing shooting and hunting associations with "conservation" in their titles are probably the first examples of greenwash. The then Prince Charles simultaneously being President of them and of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) destroyed his credibility on the issue long ago afaic.

[@alexandrareuter327]

Yes, totally agree on the greenwashing! I almost added a section in the video about the Royal family and their estate in the Cairngorms. It's pretty ironic that King Charles is so outspoken about environmental issues while also owning huge grouse moors... The video was getting pretty long so I left it out.

[@alancrowe7406]

Alexandra Reuter Are you aware of 'Highlands Rewilding'? A magnificent enterprise which I suport.

[@RosinaEspig]

❤️

[@proudlywild1491]

Excuse me! Would it be okay if I took some of this footage to make an edit for rewilding europe. I will shout you out!

[@LiterallyOverTheHillAdventures]

In order to restore the forests of Scotland you are going to have to have large scale deer hunting. Pretty much every person who is replanting forest in the UK is in agreement with regards to that. Three of the four species of grouse native to Scotland actually prefer forests and forest edges. Maybe a shift in hunting practices, the use of bird dogs, would encourage more forestation amongst hunters. I never understood "classic" grouse "shoots" where you are shooting, in most cases, hand raised birds that are flushed to fly towards the shooter. I love to grouse hunt, but I hunt in the US in forests with bird dogs where watching the dogs work is more important than how heavy the game bag is at the end of the day. Changing how hunting is done will go a long way in encouraging reforestation than trying to ban hunting.

[@customisedcolouringcumbernauld]

👁✨️🧝‍♀️🌙🪄🧚🪵🪵🌳🍀🌏

[@mettevunsjensen4094]

Mossy Earth are working with this forest.

[@Boats_N_Hoez]

Here in America we do natural burns but it’s a Native American tradition as well as scientifically helping the forests so they don’t get wild fires. But this is something else… we hunt grouse here with limits and we don’t deforest to hunt anything. What a weird concept to deforest a rainforest to hunt..

[@Beanboiwolf]

Yeah heather burning is huge for grouse shooters and it's terribly damaging to peat not to mention any plants growing amongst it that isn't heather sadge

[@KristinaMBuffetti]

This is so sad 😔😔

[@DanielF-ty3sb]

Extremely depressing!

[@frednorman1]

I disagree with you in that you imply that de-forestation in Scotland owing to sheep farmers and grouse hunters. De-forestation has been going in since ancient times as the population increased and required land for raising crops, as well as for timber and firewood. The same process has going on in the old growth forests on the Continent.. and there are great efforts now to re-forest Scotland.

[@alexandrareuter327]

Actually I think we agree! I mention those great reforesting efforts at the end, there’s lots to be optimistic about. I hope I didn’t imply that the land was originally cleared for sheep and grouse, you’re right on the history. My intention is to show that the landscape that people generally assume is Scotland’s ‘natural’ or ‘default’ landscape is actually actively managed (e.g. for sheep and grouse hunting), and that it could easily be otherwise. So I think that all stakeholders (everyone, but especially Scottish residents) should be involved in a discussion about how best to balance the different options for the landscape, and make policy that gets things moving in that direction. Because very very few people, if anyone, would ‘choose’ the current balance. The forest might originally have been cleared because of the people’s needs for firewood and land for subsistence crops, but historically because of land ownership patterns (which are different to those on the Continent, with more land in fewer hands) this land transitioned to new uses (sheep and grouse) that are not a close representation of what would best suit all the humans and non-humans of Scotland. I’m from the Continent myself (German) and though you’re right that the general picture is similar (historically deforested), actually the UK and Ireland are at the most extreme end of the spectrum. Most European landscapes have far higher forest cover. If Scotland’s forests could be restored to similar levels as in Europe, I’d be delighted! Norway has a very similar history of early deforestation as well as a similar climate and geology to Scotland, and is a great example of how that history does not need to determine how the landscape looks today. Check out this article on the Scotland/Norway comparison! www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/blog/reforestation-in-norway-showing-whats-possible-in-scotland-and-beyond

[@blossominglotus2348]

@@alexandrareuter327 Thank you so much for sharing the link 💚 Do you know which part of Scotland the trees get planted from Established Titles? It says they have signed the Tree Charter that is coordinated by The Woodland Trust…so I assume they are planting trees in Western Scotland but not sure. I’d like to know because I’m going to make a purchase and want to know where the trees are going to be planted 🙂 Thanks so much for all that you do 🙏💚✨

[@ericmcwilliams7629]

@@blossominglotus2348 Established titles have be found to be a scam, a venture capital based in Hong Kong. Hope that helps.

[@h-Qalziel]

@@ericmcwilliams7629 Established Titles are not necessarily a scam, they've just been misinterpreted. The problem is with the wording; Buying a plot of land from Established Titles will not officially make you a Lord or Lady, nor will the plot bought make you a land owner as it is deemed too small. Established Titles also do not plant the trees on the plots. The way Established Titles works is that they donate the money to tree planting charities like TREES and One Tree Planted, and have done so thousands of times already. For this work, they were awarded the 'Best Green Business Award in Scotland' for 2021. So, perhaps, giving your money to One Tree Planted, for example would achieve the same effect, cutting out the middle man, so to speak. However, charities like One Tree Planted plant trees all over the world, not just in Scotland.