– 6 7 – T H E C A R N E G I E C L U B F  or most people, the Scottish Highlands conjure up visions of stark landscapes, characterised by rugged crags and sweeping melancholy moors. But once upon a time, before mankind started interfering, Scotland was covered in lush and verdant forests, flourishing with flora and teeming with creatures great and small – from red squirrels, lynx and wolves to beavers and brown bears. By eliminating any animals that posed a danger to us and our livestock, humans have severely disrupted the natural order of the land. Now, with lynx, wolves and bears banished, the deer finds itself free to procreate and graze in abundance without predators. As a result of these hungry herds, new saplings struggle to survive and thrive, leading to a drastic decline in natural regeneration. But we can’t blame it all on the deer: centuries of deforestation, felling trees for timber, plays the biggest role in the destruction of these historic habitats. According to The European Nature Trust, Britain shockingly has only one per cent of its natural environment left, but a report on the state of nature in Scotland – conducted by the RSPB in 2016 – concluded that ‘Scotland supports some of the most important native woodland habitats in the UK, including the iconic Caledonian pine forests of the Highlands’. Although native Caledonian forest now covers just six per cent of its original area, these remaining pockets allow us to experience the enchanting Scottish woodland in all its traditional glory. The Forestry Commission estimates that there are 3.8 billion trees of all types in Great Britain, with the majority – 56 per cent – in Scotland. However, at least 80 per cent of the UK’s woodland is relatively young – less than 100 years old – ancient woodland sites are those that have remained since at least 1600 (1750 in Scotland) and they embody the highest levels of biodiversity of any wooded environment. The Cairngorms National Park, 30 miles south of Inverness, is home to more than half of the surviving Caledonian forest, with two particularly picturesque sites to explore – Rothiemurchus Forest and Glen Feshie. Sir David Attenborough described the former as ‘one of the glories of wild Scotland’. Set against a backdrop of the Cairngorm mountains, it has a real sense of majesty. Rothiemurchus would have been at the heart of ‘the Great Wood of Caledon’ (as the Romans named it) and some of its 10 million trees are more than 300 years old. The ancient pine trees of nearby Glen Feshie were nearly lost completely to the insatiable appetite of grazing red deer: 20 years ago, land that had nurtured the native trees for 8,000 years was almost completely stripped. Today, however, sustained deer culling has seen this precious site salvaged and restored to its full beauty, with young trees and wildflowers blooming across the steep-sided glen to create idyllic hiking Opposite page: Loch an Eilein in Rothiemurchus Forest. This page, from top: a stag roams the woods; the 13th-century Loch an Eilein Castle grounds. ‘Nature is making a speedy recovery,’ says Dr David Hetherington, ecology advisor for the Cairngorms National Park Authority. ‘There are baby pine trees, birches, willows, junipers and rowans popping up above the heather almost everywhere you look. It’s an amazing place where one can watch male black grouse fighting in the morning mist, spy a golden eagle soaring high above the tree tops, or be startled by the world’s largest grouse – the turkey-sized capercaillie – crashing through lichen-festooned branches.’ North west of Loch Ness, Glen Affric is one of Scotland’s most outstanding areas of pic credit With five of Scotland’s most spectacular ancient forests within a two-hour drive of Skibo, discover the mythical magic of these native woodlands and why they deserve to be protected THE E NCHAN TE D WOOD WORDS Gemma Latham – 6 6 – E X C U R S I O N Visit Scotland, Steve McLaren