These Forests Aren't Actually Forests - here's why

[@LeaveCurious]

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[@Stroopwaffe1]

I used to go Pheasant beating in scottish borders in the Yarrow and Etterick Valleys and up at Meggot Dam, some of the plantations were dark as he'll and the ones up at Meggot were at a 45 degree angle for 200+ meters straight up into the clouds. You could actually see new clouds forming in the morning above them as they warm up.

[@baldymagoo]

I live in the Highlands and we are blighted with Sitka plantations and the devastation of huge areas when cleared and generally re-planted very quickly. The forest lorries are a menace because of the speeds they do on rural roads, they all seem immune to speed limits. I just purchased 4 Native Scots pine saplings, One I planted in my garden in an area that wont impact the house in a 100 years, and three planted on a local island that has a mature stand of Scots pines and where my ashes are going in many years hopefully. Keep up the good work bud.

[@Wolf-Spirit_Alpha-Sigma]

In Poland, we have a lot of 'forests', but sadly like 95% of them are these artificial plantations of fir trees. These forests are ironically like a desert. Almost no birds, no other animals. Pure monoculture, it's actually very easy to get lost in such forest, because once you are in deeper, everywhere looks the same. Also, they are eerily quiet. How I wish there was a political will to restore these places to resembling natural. I love forests. The best place to regain inner peace.

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

I've seen some changes here and there made to make the commercial forests more diverse by planting other tree species but I suspect it's more about making them more resiliant than anything else. Close to where I live we have this kinda natural forest with old growth and diverse profile of species. There're also patches of old pine tree plantations. Those trees suffered a lot during last 5 years. Strong winds and pests decimated them. The only pines left grow in the more diverse patches of the forest. I suspect plantations might have similar issues I believe that we need more national parks and/or better protection for landscape parks. A lot of national parks have plantations within their territory which are slowly being rewildered. We could easily find a potentially valuable aera and turn it into a wild forest worthy of national park status

[@wedruskimistrz5122]

@@angelikaskoroszyn8495 Darling you need more BioIntensive, BioDynamic, Permaculture, Regenerative and most importantly Natural Indigenous Land, Forest restoration methods/techniques. Consciously Aware People like a call myself Earthlings must Own Forests, Lands, Flower Meadows for it to be private property. Forestry Commission just care for the grants and money being loaned from EU and rabbit hole is much deeper than you think it is. I just mention Red Fuel Barons and Oil Rigs, US election is pure proof of that and COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Just related all that information together and you shall see hollistic, entire, pure image what is happening around the World Love ;-)

[@wedruskimistrz5122]

FYI those are not Fir Trees in Poland Sir, yet Spruce Trees Together with nightmare Beech Trees sucking up all the Water around. So if you won't change your political parties in Poland into more Green Liberal Ones then you will have soon huge desert present like in Spain and Poznan county is already starting to develop there, because of silly monocrop/monoculture farmers with their USA focked up mindset....

[@voiceinthenoise3357]

It's surprising how many people aren't aware that non-native plantation pine crop isn't real UK nature. It's important that it becomes common knowledge, because until people see that this nature isn't normal, they won't see the need to change.

[@babaji_23]

those planted trees are terrible for the environment and the birds. The animals were used to living in remote, barren, heather filled plains for hundreds of years a change like adding massive planted forests is unneccessary.

[@ColchesterBridgeport]

@voiceinthenoise3357 these trees were never planted in order to restore nature. They are a crop for building material and other products made from wood. When you see one of these products marked as coming from a sustainable source, this is what it entails. I live in Scotland and would love to see a resurgence in native woodland, but that and Sitka plantations are not mutually exclusive.

[@riveness]

Farms as well

[@iwasapirateonce1639]

In Ireland many people think sitka plantation forests are natural woodland, I did when I was young; it's tragic really. So few native woodlands to compare them to,.

[@andreasnickel3858]

Planet Wild, Mossy Earth, both just incredible. And I am a proud supporter of both

[@Slothsnail]

Absolute heroes ❤

[@Nphen]

I support both orgs as well, and I search with Ecosia. I buy hemp clothing which I love. Hemp seeds are cheaper than hot dogs for a protein source, and healthier. So eating hemp is a good idea for our own health & budgets. But the sad truth is our governments need to step up to the plate. Just 1% of the US military budget could fund Africa's entire Great Green Wall. Senegal has support from locals to stop grazing until the land heals, but the gov budge makes the villages wait many months to get paid. No grazing & no pay means some villages have to quit.

[@Arthur.Morgan.0]

It’s pretty much impossible to come across a natural untouched forest in Scotland. Inline patterned non native Plantations are everywhere. Just go on google earth and try and find just one real forest. It’s so sad.

[@LeaveCurious]

Yeah its certainly hard to do, everything's been affected either directly or indirectly my man.

[@Maxmorris12]

Not everything has to be doom and gloom that’s why channels like this exist because lots of people want to change that, The UK is at its highest forest coverage right now in 700 years

[@Debbie-henri]

Riparian woods are probably the only traces of 'real' woodland you are likely to find. Such woodlands are quite commonplace where I live in Scotland. But although they are very narrow, they bristle with wildlife, and make very important wildlife 'highways.' We do have some other little patches of natural woodlands here and there, but plantations are certainly more common. I think we may be a bit more unusual in that we do have a patch of 'ancient' Oaks on the opposite side of the valley, with Whortleberries growing underneath. Not sure how old they are, but they grow amongst patches of other plantation trees, Sitka the most prevalent, but also Larch, Birch and others. It is getting better. I have seen other plantations with patches of hardwood trees among them.

[@Solstice261]

The hebrides have a few small woods but yeah, it's essentially all been lost sadly

[@babaji_23]

i know

[@JHattsy]

I never realized just HOW dense the real plantation forests actually are until I was cycling up the back of Dundee past Henderston Quarry, it's an active plantation & cycling along the access road you can see into the 'forest', during the peak of summer on the sunniest days the ground was still so dark in there, absolutely nothing grows it's just all pine straw & it was deathly silent, didn't even see a squirrel.

[@Quercusssss]

Such a breathtaking contrast between that mother Oak and the surrounding plantation...

[@Schroinx]

The oak in the 4:25 is a free standing tree aand it seems it is dying due to the shadows from the pines. Someone should cut them down in a bigger radius, so it gets enough sun to survive. It does not look healty. Oak can regenerate leaves further down the stem, if it gets light. And while old, its an oak, so it can become very old indeed. As is may be so old that it carries many spieces, and planting a few oaks, that can take over, would also be a good idea indeed. Bring a biologist to it....

[@Solstice261]

It's so sad Scotland's forest Caledonian pine, temperate rainforest, it's so sad that they can't deal with clearences and now the support of plantations as carbon sequestration, I haate sitka spruce plantations and wish other forests where supported, specially when most of it is exported, that image of an ancient oak lossing against the spruce is so impactful, so amazing yet immeasurably sad, with the knowledge that when age takes it no oak will replace it, the attitude to non natives is very simple, the times when they are ok are the exception. Really excited about the many Caledonian and native forests recuperation, the twisting of the plantations in the Cairngorms is really cool, also the couple of trees coming back, aspen being recovered by mossy earth for example, thank you for bringing light to this issue because a lot of people still see forest parks as healthy forests when they are not

[@invisiblejaguar1]

Love that little hemp praise you gave at the end, we really need more of it in our lives. Hemp is literally nature being like 'hi humanity, here you go, enjoy building your civilisation'.

[@MurrayLivingston]

Very interesting video! I'm a nature photographer working on a long term project all about the Caledonian Forest and it's great to see the topic being discussed more, so thank you for making this film. The Scottish Pinewood Conference 2024 was just the other week which I would recommend everyone check it out for the most up to date information from leading experts and people on the ground. I believe all the presentations are available to watch on YT. I would say that there are a lot more nuances than presented here which is totally understandable for a short overview YT video on the topic but are worth mentioning in my opinion. When you dig into the details, issues like: landowners, species timber production rates, funding, policy, timeframes, planting vs. regen, fencing vs. culling, effects of climate change, native vs. non-native interplanting, involvement of eNGOs, shifting baseline syndrome etc. come up and must be wrestled with. It becomes a rather complex undertaking to actually implement effective regeneration on the ground. Restoring the "natural" state of these forests is going to take 20+ years before we even start to see results which presents its own issues in a short-term thinking economy. Mar Lodge in the Cairngorms is a good example of successfully implemented landscape scale deer management proving that natural regeneration can be done and is worth it, but that it takes a long time. Again, there are even nuances within that: east coast climate and soil appears to be much more favourable for Scots Pine growth compared to west coast, and allowances were made for stalking on parts of the estate, etc. The same project in Torridon may take twice as long. Across the board however, it was concluded at the conference that the number one step that needs to be taken is landscape scale deer management and the fastest way to implement this is going to be human intervention via culling. We need to see numbers of 2 deer/sq. km or less as opposed to the average of at least 10/sq. km we are seeing today in order to allow saplings of all species the opportunity to grow without overgrazing pressures. Fences have proven to be expensive and ineffective. 50% of fences erected in the last 10 years at original pine forest sites had signs of being breached. Fences also force additional grazing pressure onto unfenced areas. Reduced deer populations are healthier with lower mortality rates, lower birth mortality, etc. and average stag weights have been proven to increase in lower density populations which is of benefit to trophy/sport stalkers (see study from Corrour Estate). As much as many people like the idea of predators, the reality is that if it goes ahead, it will be a very slow introduction which won't provide the necessary change we need to see ASAP. It may be a way of maintaining deer populations in the future without the need for human intervention. Promoting an ecosystem that is resilient and diverse is of utmost importance if we want to see these places continue to exist in the future. Many of the native woodlands remaining today are not resilient and are actually in decline, but they can still be saved with immediate action. Again, thanks for making the video and I hope anyone reading my comment has learned a little bit more about the Caledonian Forest & now wants to go research a bit deeper on the topic! Cheers, Murray

[@simonbarrow479]

Thanks for your comment. Did the conference come up with action to reduce the deer population, as this seems to be the most important first step according to your comment?

[@MurrayLivingston]

@simonbarrow479 "landscape scale deer management" was set out as the most effective way to implement this - basically concerted efforts to cull and control populations over a large area and long period of time. Additionally, the Caledonian Pinewood Partnership was started off the back of the conference which is an alliance of landowners and woodland experts aiming to double native pinewood area by 2055. It sets out principles and calls for cross-sector action (find details online and via trees for life).

[@rkozakand]

At 1:30, you describe the extent of the forest in terms of football pitches. What would be more helpful is to understand what percent of Scotland, or the Highlands, were covered.

[@jointgib]

or a map with bits coloured in

[@UCCLdIk6R5ECGtaGm7oqO-TQ]

...and what the percentage is today.

[@gladeseason3462]

I recently was doing a wildlife conservation college course here in Scotland. We were out doing field work removing an old fence. And I just stood and looked around. We were surrounded on all sides by plantations. And it just made me so depressed. What have we done to our own country. I have hope but I have so much sadness.

[@Chilternwildcamper]

So sad yes, I love Scots pine

[@gladeseason3462]

@@Chilternwildcamper same

[@liamfinch4129]

My two pet hates in the "natural" landscape are forest monoculture and sheep!

[@lokiwun]

That opening shot is breathtaking👍

[@TheFabledSCP7000]

It is so lovely seeing actual Caledonian pine forest I would love to go to Scotland just to see them But I am poor :( Thank you so much for showing us such beautiful imagery and shedding light (hehe) on the problems

[@LeaveCurious]

I hope you get to see them one day!

[@Dancerlil]

I'm glad you mentioned hemp. I add it to my daily salad which I was eating as I was watching the video. Hemp clothing is super soft and sustainable. Time to go back in time as it were. Keep up the great work. Blessings one and all 😇

[@smoothscaly6312]

Thanks for the membership, I'm looking forward to see how the projects progress ❤

[@davidraffe3445]

More videos on commercial forestry would be great, specifically how it can be improved to maximise its ecological value and minimise environmental damage, whilst ensuring a valuable end product not just fuel pellets and paper. Have you considered speaking to FCS? I think they have improvement initiatives. I am currently resident in Kenya and the government here is fighting in the courts to lift a 5yr logging ban. This will likely result in unreliably regulated logging here in the near future, some of the timer from which will no doubt end up in the UK (as a major importer of timber). This highlights the importance of us as a nation being able to fulfil demand as locally as possible for this important resource in balance with the environment.

[@31Blaize]

Ah you went to Glen Affric! Awesome! I really need to go there.

[@Gilly9244]

10:48 I’m so glad someone with a platform and knowledge has acknowledged this

[@pcoristi]

Yeah, the first time I travelled through Scotland (early 90s) I was shocked to see so many "forests" comprised of straight rows of Christmas trees!

[@NaturesTemper]

Absolutely fantastic to hear people talk about this! I'm sick of people being ignorant to the plight of our forest.

[@markg3025]

Rob I appreciate all the work you do for rewilding various ecosystems. I must say I am impressed with the fact that your channel has grown to 81K. Job well done. Keep it up you have captured our attention.

[@Rumade]

In Japan, that beautiful oak would most likely be seen as a 神 kami, and marked as sacred with a rope. We need more of this Shinto mentality in the UK. Some trees, rocks, rivers, they just *are* kami, but we ignore that here

[@joerileijs9970]

These are NOT forests! These are plantations. These sitka spruce grow 4 to 5 times faster (I was told) in scotland and here in Ireland then in their native habitat. The result is a timber that is largely only used as a treated timber an treated fenceposts here in Ireland.

[@stephaniewilson3955]

There was a strong hemp industry just a century ago. It was banned for no good reason.

[@LeaveCurious]

Exactly, I'd be interested to learn about how and if it can come back.

[@stephaniewilson3955]

@@LeaveCurious they are growing some that is guaranteed to have so little active agents you would have to smoke a field to get anywhere. But it is all under licence and a lot of bother.

[@myggggeneration]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp_in_the_United_States#

[@user-rh2gl8ot8q]

@@LeaveCurious Hemp has great potential for cleaning up rivers like the Wye, it's a plant that's really hungry for NPK. Riparian strips of hemp along river banks especially down hill from chicken farms could stop a lot of the run off reaching the river. As it stands the home office licensing is onerous and not geared up to it being used in a small niche way like that. It's a shame how it's treated.

[@Nphen]

@@user-rh2gl8ot8q Hemp used to grow wild in fields, ditches, and pastures. Cows may have eaten it and produced milk that had CBD in it. Hemp should not only be cultivated on all the currently barren moors, it should be seeded around the countryside to add to the diversity of plant life. I can imagine wild animals eating the wild hemp seeds, and getting better nutrition, just like people. That would make its way up the food chain with predator reintroduction. There's a whole better world possible with hemp & rewilding!

[@lisaknight4549]

About 15 years ago ex took me to visit his home town, and then suggested a walk in the "forest". It was pine plantation. It was lifeless and half the trees were adorned with bright yellow wasp traps hung by the local council. Never been more confused on a walk!

[@eewilson9835]

wasps eat black beetle this is the reason forests go zombie3, eaten to the core, Yay Wasps!

[@UCCLdIk6R5ECGtaGm7oqO-TQ]

Hey man, I appreciate you saying things I'd like to say (and to be heard by many). People need to change their thinking.

[@nk53nxg]

Forestry Scotland is already changing policy for plantations. They are making wildlife corridors and reducing density, although still mostly monoculture. Mixed forest is always better, but commercially not as viable. We need a mixture of plantation and more natural, as long as plantation monoculture does not dominate. These plantations also acidify the soil hugely beneath them and prevent anything else growing.

[@jamestoday2239]

That also affects the quality of the groundwater.

[@nk53nxg]

​@@jamestoday2239 yea I know that first hand. I lived in rural Aberdeenshire between Alford and Aboyne and our private water supply started in a forestry plantation (sitka spruce) and it as so acidic it rotted the copper plumbing in the house, usually it made it porous first.

[@willieclark2256]

Can you and Duarte please do a podcast on storytelling and where you learned to do it?

[@Piwonia67]

As for the use of rowanberries, you can mix them with apples and make jam. Not very sweet (of course you can add some sugar or spices), a great addition to meat dishes. Don't eat them raw anyway. And bring back the natural forests! So much good stuff will come back!

[@wolfpackpete6408]

It's a few years since I looked into construction materials at all, but hemp is a very interesting one. It's a highly fire resistant insulation material, and for people conscious about their carbon footprint, it also absorbs greenhouse gasses until eventually needing replaced. Then when it's finally finished, it's a biodegradable material that won't cause harm to the environment when sent to rot away.

[@davidprocter3578]

You dont need to go back thousands of years to find the cultivation of hemp in the British Isles. Up to the turn of the 19th century Hemp powered all sailing ships, their ropes, their sails, sailors clothing and shoes. And a great deal more besides.. Unfortunately the unrestricted access to alcohol, opiates and cocoa in Europe and the USA led to a general lack of sobriety that impoverished and dragged down a great many souls. And in turn led to organizations like the temperance leagues and the Salvation Army. Due to their effects on the economy the industrial barons ensured that governments set about regulating both alcohol and the stronger drugs, and in the late Victorian period you start to see an ever increasing number of restrictions on back yard stills and pharmaceuticals. In turn this led onto the banning of Cannabis oil, resin and flowers. and here in the UK the heavily restricted licensing of the growth of industrial grade hemp, I think probably to protect growers in the colonies more than anything else. As I am sure you all know hemp still grown in considerable quantities abroad for rope, string and seed for bird feed and fishing bait. Here in the UK hemp still grown very quietly under license for both seed and fibre and trialing new varieties. For those of you that dont know the word canvas is a corruption of cannabis and the plant as a whole was a mainstay of the industrial revolution. Plastics which have largely replaced hemp products cannot last and whether governments like it or not hemp may well have to make a come back to replace oil based products.

[@raclark2730]

A certain company by the name of Dupont also facilitated the demise of hemp.

[@davidprocter3578]

@@raclark2730 Dupont ICI Shell BP the list goes on.

[@raclark2730]

@@davidprocter3578 The usual suspects indeed.

[@nl4064]

we need timber and htis is how you get it, but we should have other forest types where nature can thrive. We need laws forcing landowners to restore the natural forests, If all landowners behaved like King Charles on his deer staslking and grouse estates there would be no forests anywhere

[@thescotlandeffect3454]

Last year the Scottish Government said over 30 million trees were planted in Scotland, how can we tell what species were planted and are they mixed or just more monocultures.

[@Slothsnail]

I greatly dislike how they spread the misinformation on planting. Most is monocultures for wood. Terribly sad.

[@jlarts]

You could contact the forestry commission and request that information under the Freedom of Information act, if it's not already been published (I've been looking for it but there is a lot of documents on the subject both on the Scottish Government and the Forestry Commission websites)

[@ptonpc]

As @jlarts says, you can request it under FOI. The following is just some quick results from the search query "what kind of trees were planted in Scotland 2023" April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024 15,000 hectares of trees were planted as woodland in Scotland. That is roughly 30 million trees. 7,700 hectares were new native woodland. 73% of all new woodland in the UK was established in Scotland last year. The aim for the Scottish government is to plant 18,000 hectares of forest per year by 2025.

[@JarMaster]

One thing to mention about forrests is that most of the life is underground, alot of these discussions dont account for the mycelium communities and the tree species required to maintain them ( most have relationships with one one or two types of trees)

[@carridg]

What a great set of videos this is, facing up to the many difficult issues surrounding our managed countryside which we subsidise through our taxes. I spend a lot of time working in upland habitats as an Ornithologist. Forestry is by no means ideal and I'm not its greatest fan but commercial forestry isn't as bad as portrayed here. The rides and track sides can be quite biodiverse. The harvested areas look a mess but again they are wildlife-rich for a few years before the commercial trees dominate the canopy again. There will always be a patchwork of decent habits within a commercial woodland. With a nod towards more ecological practices like protecting ancient trees and improving connectivity, wider rides, pond creation etc they could be even better. Keep up the great work with this channel.

[@titanofserpents4315]

"The more chaotic an ecosystem is, the healthier it is." Couldn't have said it better myself. Perfect.

[@juha-mattikoponen1625]

Same thing here in Finland. Most of our forests are tree plantations and "Economical forests". So at some point someone has a plan to cut most of it down and maybe plant a new tree plantation after. And we also used to drain our swamps to make more room for these "forests"...

[@ColchesterBridgeport]

The reason that the plantations are so dense is to encourage competition for light which drives the trees straight up. (Best for building material) The first thinning goes to paper and chipboard. The next thinning goes to timber. The third crop is a clear fell all of which goes to saw mills. All of the virgin fibre felled for paper in Scotland goes to LWC (glossy magazine) production in a single mill. It is interesting what you say about the strength of hemp but tensile and tear strengths are not the only or even key properties required for LWC production. The print quality or 'printability' is more of a concern. Hemp may be better suited to packaging.

[@Katastra_]

In that case, are they even selling enough magazines anymore in this digital age that so much LMC is needed

[@ColchesterBridgeport]

@Katastra_ Yes, yes we are thank you.

[@ValQuinn]

I mean I would rather give up glossy paper in order for the ecosystem not to collapse.

[@CitizenAyellowblue]

A key word here is "goes". All products that are exported from these plantations are made up of the materials provided in soil and water at the plantation. In a very real sense, the biological and chemical wealth of these areas goes off site. As happens with all crops in modern agriculture. Since those resources are being exported faster than they are created, the land will become less productive over time without the import of chemicals to maintain "fertility".

[@ColchesterBridgeport]

@CitizenAyellowblue That sentiment is laudable and it is true of most cash crops. The land that these plantations grow on is left fallow to regenerate after the last crop which is a clear felling.

[@smatos69]

Hi, It's very rare that I comment, if ever, on your videos. I do see them all, or most. Just want to add a comment about the berries of the mountain ash. There are many in the mountain where I live, only at altitudes above 700m; together with birch it becomes the only tree species above 1400m (not naturally, oaks where the dominant tree before centuries of deforestation). The dark-orange to reddish berries of the mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), or rowan, are edible. Right off the tree. They are very acrid/bitter tasting, even when ripe. Main use is to make jelly as they are very rich in pectin, and also in vitamin-C. Many birds and wild pigs/boars make good use of this late-season fruit and disperse them wide and far in their droppings. Thank you for your videos, always enlightening and 'personal'. Keep up your good work. Cheers! P.S.: Glen Affric... Is that not where Alan Featherstone pioneered?

[@joedisco]

It looks like the ancient oak is being sheltered and protected by the surrounding non-natives, so best to remove them gradually rather than all at once. Good film though. We can definitely do forestry better - by not planting on peat for starters (thanks, Margaret Thatcher, who gave tax incentives for aforestation in the 80s...) Continuous cover forestry can also avoid the damage of clear-fell, and introduce more native trees gradually back into the mix.

[@la1sk203]

About the berries, you can eat them but the taste is an aquired one and ideally you wait for the cold of winter for them to finish riping.

[@undefinednull5749]

what berries ?

[@erutuon]

​​​@@undefinednull5749rowan 2:43

[@r.hansen3205]

MSc forest and nature management here, one log of sitka spruce a maximum of approximately 40 % is sawn timber, 15 % plywood, 15-20 % paper/pulp and the rest for wood chips. But its all dependent on the quality and so on, for the first few thinnings spruce dont yield many good products.

[@sbdiaries]

So lovely 😍 walking through the Caledonian pine forest 🌲. Great 👌 and so very peaceful 😊thanks for your informative video. Have a great Sunday Simon and Beth ❤❤❤

[@adamzain6770]

To get the highland forests back, you would need to control deer and sheep numbers. The best way to do this is to bring back our extinct predators - lynx and wolf, to end driven grouse shooting which destroys ecological diversity in the uplands, and to remove uncontrolled sheep grazing. You wouldn’t need to plant any trees - they would just come back on their own, although some specific planting would speed the process up in some areas. If you want to reduce the pressure on our environment in a more general sense, you need to stop increasing the human population and let it naturally move to sustainable (i.e. considerably lower) levels.

[@Chilternwildcamper]

Yes sheep and deer means no natural regeneration, same in the Lake District, a sad bleak upland devoid of trees

[@zefugainspe]

They are already doing it in some parts of Scotland. I recently went for a hike in one such area and at the beginning of the trail you could buy deer steak😅

[@adamzain6770]

@@zefugainspe Efforts to control deer have been made for years - deer management groups, for example, where various landowners agree on a culling strategy. Despite this, deer numbers in Scotland have trebled since the 60s, and have stabilised at record high numbers. The Scottish government decided to change strategy in 2017, but we’ve yet to see this bear fruit. One problem is the sporting estates tend to want deer numbers high, so their culling efforts have been rather lukewarm. There are lots of complex issues, but in the long-term, reintroduction of predators - at least in some areas - would be the best option. The current high deer numbers are a net loss ecologically and economically, so it’s in everyone’s interest (except the sporting estates and their wealthy clients) to get numbers under control.

[@jlarts]

Sadly in Scotland the issues of forest management and land use are tied in such a way that makes it complicated to manage. In particular with so much land privately owned by large estates who only seem to care about hunting but hopefully things can change here for the better with the right policies in place.

[@tajinderpalsingh26]

Hemp is an invasive species in my area in North India

[@raclark2730]

Yes every plant needs to be reviewed for potential invasiveness before use. Should be fine in most parts though.

[@JMEon]

Watch the Riverwoods documentary on Scottish forests and their relationship with salmon. Some fascinating insights into what it will take to restore the landscape there. Narrated by Peter Capaldi.

[@bentownsend4017]

Love you and your videos , thank you

[@Charlie-sh2du]

Thank you for these videos. One other ecosystem that has been reduced is the American prairie. Less than one percent remains. It used to cover many many states.

[@Michael-ln7us]

Im guessing at some point those trees were planted for timber production? There is still a need to have these forests for sustainable quick grown timber maybe not in this location but their is still a need. If we dont grow timber we would have to import our timber. Native woodlands are without question an amazing thing and have an ecosystem which provides so much to so many creatures, birds and mammals.

[@patrickdoake6022]

We need timber sitka grows very well in scotland. As a individual tree they are long lived and grow to great height. Also windfirm if not packed like sardines. Answer for forestry is more species in mix leaving stands of natives in place when commercial trees felled. Use more than i type spruce where possible. Wood here mxd spruce larch with old broadleaves also(beech, sycamore elm, ash) lots of birds plants, deer etc. Birds feed on seeds of sitka, get good shelter. Spruce spaced and many fallen provide homes for bugs as they decay. Replanting some areas with oak, hazel, birch, whitebeam, willow, hawthorn, wild rose aspen etc. Gathering nuts, acorns etc locally, work ongoing (doing it myself as unoffical part of my job 🤔)

[@chrismccartney8668]

I think u need explain how empty deer chomped barren boggy hillsides were planted with conifers for Jobs and Business Reason. Iam lucky to live very near to Epping Forest Old Tree Forest part of the Great Forest... It comes right into East London (Wanstead Park). With deer and English Longhorn cattle..

[@philroberts7238]

He has done this in previous videos.

[@jamesbarry1673]

I remember in the '70s there was a bush to replant forests and that's why these patches started to pop up because of tax cuts

[@jonathanlovelace521]

Wanna reduce your paper use? Get an in-seat bidet. People often assume that toilet paper is made from the weird ends and leftovers and recycled bits, but that's rarely the case. Toilet paper is soft. In order to create soft paper, you need long fibers, and that comes from trees. In the US, lots of our toilet paper is sourced from tree farms. A lot of the rest mostly comes from virgin forest in Canada. That's right. Virgin forest is being cut to make toilet paper. The bidet won't just reduce your environmental footprint. It'll do a better job, feel better, and save you money.

[@RichardEnglander]

5:30 this goes for people too, we are not tabula rasa who are solely the product of History.

[@Brenda-m8g]

Me encantan tus videos!😊

[@MarathonMan1981]

Was that oak the UK tree of the year? Looks similar to the one i saw on a BBC news article. Jaw dropping either way 😀

[@redwing3969]

That was indeed the Skippinish Oak voted the Woodland Trust's tree of the year.

[@MarathonMan1981]

@redwing3969 thought it looked familiar! The KZbin algorithm did good! Love to see it for myself 😃

[@knoll9812]

Restoration of native forest should be a priority for Scottish government . Amenity value alone. There is low hanging fruit. Small remaining native forest can be extended. Plant new trees on rhe nargins. The expensive bit would be fencing.

[@johnbaldwin143]

@0.28 seconds I had to pause because the whole of the UK has suffered the same progress fate. Materials over environment. We will suffer this for a while but eventuality we will choose to find the balance between farming and breathing! My slow worms are doing well just so you know!

[@MrFlyingguy]

you are doing good work, commendable in fact

[@Debbie-henri]

But could you grow and sell hemp to the paper industry easily? (Is there a paper industry in Britain any more? Or is it all Chinese these days?) Or would you be more likely to be arrested for growing it in the first place?

[@LeaveCurious]

Interesting questions, it certainly be a niche product at this stage and i don't think you'd be arrested for growing hemp.

[@ptonpc]

I know UPM Caledonian in Irvine still exists. I think there is one further North.

[@knoll9812]

Grown small scale in Suffolk. However lots of bureaucracy. Goes in cosmetics. Problem is that plantation wood is low quality and good mostly for paper and cardboard. They will fight to keep the market.

[@bod9001a]

one of the issuees With growing hemp in the UK is it needs to be processed on site, so that means you need an expensive facility at each farm

[@jamestoday2239]

Love native forests for so many reasons but is there a way to provide for the need for timber whilst rewilding our landscapes? Obviously we used to do things differently and exploitation isn't new as many of our woods were cut down in the drive to plunder and pillage in order to enrich the upperclass, but the needs of everyday people were more grounded in the landscape around them regarding the woodland when the aristocracy would give them access, through activities like coppicing. So how does demand for wood sit with our modern understanding of the importance of the forest in all its complexity? Is consumption level a fundamental element in this as I'd imagine?

[@wasylbakowsky5199]

That open grown oak is a survivor, was never forest grown, that is why it has those huge, thick, spreading limbs. Doesn't represent original Scottish forests in any way. In North America, they plant conifers, and over time, they succeed into mixed wood, and finally hardwood (in areas with good soils). Thing is, Scotch pine were planted massively in eastern North America, and they are brutal in their effects on ecosystem restoration. Plus they used mountain stock, so they grow really twisted and shitty, even in good soils. Foresters FFS

[@knoll9812]

Thing is Grow Scots pine in Scotland

[@raclark2730]

Hemp is a hardy and relatively low resource demand crop, It can also grow in a wide range of climates. Hemp all the way.

[@SirUnjawsh]

Reading the comments section is very surprising - a large portion of Scotland's economy is supported by Sitka Spruce plantations with the pine forests producing around 1/10th as much for the nation. The productive conifer plantations should be viewed as an in-between heavily commercialised agriculture and natural forests - the comparison in the video is plain wrong. Also with regards to the breakout of a typical Sitka tree which is harvested - around 70% goes to construction (beams for houses etc), 10% would be fencing/palletwood, 10% paper and 10% for sustainable energy production (biomass). The Caledonian Pine forests cannot produce the quality or volume of timber needed to house people in the UK!

[@InfiniteRadius]

No forest is real or even present until you focus your attention on it. All springs from within, the gift from ourselves to ourself 😊

[@raphlvlogs271]

Pinus sylvestris is notoriously intolerant of shade due to the short light coloured foliage

[@DGT73]

I live in the highlands and this is an education.

[@hrekila002]

Why don't you do a hemp video? I would be extremely surprised if there isn't a hemp plantation going on, somewhere in the UK. It would be nice to get a modern angel on it, its uses and how to go ahead with it in the future

[@3rdrock]

Looks like you could do with some of those winch guys getting busy around that old oak tree. How much would that cost?

[@jordanhamann9123]

These sorts of plantation forests are a big problem in the pacific northwest of the USA as well. They become especially bad when they're allowed to go wild; you don't get a healthy forest out of it, you get a watershed-scale megafire.

[@Kacperrr33]

Has there been any progress on reintroducing the lynx?

[@ajaxtelamonian5134]

Guy i was working with had an EA representative basicallt say that any parcels of land under 30,000 acres wasnt worth bothering with. I think EA. N just had the whole room go quiet with how silly the statement was.

[@HSstriker]

when you see that oak you understand why the gaelic world has so many folklore...

[@DGT73]

Thanks

[@LeaveCurious]

Thank you!

[@qualicumwilson5168]

Of course you realize ALL second growth (read started with no trees present, like a planted forest) form a dense complete cover canopy? ALL OF THEM (well at least any the produce a forest). Then only shade tolerate tree species grow up to start to form an old growth "style" forest. You do also realize that a forest planted in "normal old growth density" still has a closed canopy. It just produces weaker wood (larger growth rings, for a longer time)) with far more limbs and less high value wood (you know, the only wood useable for carbon capture). I guess that is what some people want. I guess. You can pull trees over, but soil disturbance is NOT a requirement in the early seral forest progression. Just falling some trees is cheaper and less environmentally damaging.

[@joseenoel8093]

Terrible, my mother in law was from Carradale, I've been 3 times, I didn't think those bare hills so lovely, I'm a chick forest technician from Montreal, good work, good luck, re-wilding rocks as does Sylviculture! Xox

[@malcolmjcullen]

Is this a re-upload? I'm sure I saw it before. Maybe on Mossy Earth, I get you guys confused all the time.

[@wildflower3379]

So many commercial trees, so few natives. What is the Scottish Government thinking subsidising non-native Sitka planting? All Forestry Scotland's efforts and funding should be directing to restoring Scotland's natural habitat. Travelling round I see bare over-grazed hills interspersed with blocks of Sitka. So much more needs to be done.

[@MonkeyWhoWouldBeKing]

"I don't think you can eat rowan berries straight off the tree" news to me you can eat them at all? (at least if you want to repeat the experience)

[@undefinednull5749]

you can even eat them raw in small amounts depending on your digestive tract resilience.

[@knoll9812]

Pretty nutrition after leaching bitterness. Famine food

[@AutumnMycelium]

Dose anyone know where that big tree is?

[@jimglynn67]

thats a grandfather tree you're next too. find the grandmother. it'll be near by

[@jimglynn67]

and it'll be the same tree by root

[@jointgib]

what an amazing oak

[@suedfrucht44]

2:45 unfortunately hard to understand. What tree with berries is that, can someone educate me?

[@philroberts7238]

Rowan tree berries

[@suedfrucht44]

@philroberts7238 cheers

[@ralphh85]

Strong bow? Do they have no class up there? If it was a Stella I wouldn't complain 🙄

[@davidbettney785]

Some may say it's like the population of the UK

[@BarryGrumbine]

Hemp. Yet another victim of big oil. Well, coal. Hemp once powered all shipping until it was displaced by steamers.

[@georgemiller8964]

Non natives don't have a place in Britain aside from specific isolated places!

[@qualicumwilson5168]

Re 10:48, that old oak would be the only tree pictured in that frame that hemp would actually outproduce ("OUTGROW") per square foot year. Old trees do get all the respect but when was somebodies old grandparent given some respect by you just visiting and talking to them. Start respect with your own old relatives please.

[@knoll9812]

You can do both.

[@rraqua1279]

Gosh i hate pine trees they look so cold... always looks better to have a bit of everything. If I'm planting a forest there'll be abit of oak a bit of cherry some holly and a touch of palms 😂

[@arcan762]

11:00 jumpscare

[@ngaourapahoe]

I suppose this foreign forest has altered the soil ?

[@Greenmahn333]

👍

[@אסףבר-ל7ר]

Ozzy Osbourne-Crazy Train(Piano cover)Gamazda

[@bryanbadonde9484]

Hemp can be made it into paper. Legalise hemp now!

[@bryanbadonde9484]

Ha I sent this seconds before you brought it up!

[@knoll9812]

It is legal

[@knoll9812]

Hemp replaces food crops

[@jamielandis4606]

It’s sad that Scotland doesn’t care more about their own native plants and animals.

[@garchompy_1561]

hemp can also make biofuel, which would go GREAT with scotlands Brewing industry and oil refining industry. Scotland really does have a lot of related expertise in areas related to biofuel production, if only we could sway the UK government to aknowledge that as an option instead of forcing all our eggs to be in one basket by banning new internal combustion vehicles from sale outright even though the engines arent the problem, its what theyre running on. Biofuels are just batteries of solar power after all, and they can be made from waste (either literal sewage or food waste, or even the other plant matter that you dont eat from a plant)