Upland birchwoods

A recent trip to the Scottish Highlands, staying at Kinloch Rannoch and upon arrival it was apparent the autumnal colour palette of deciduous trees, meant plans needed to be revised, to take advantage of the photographic opportunity presented. The appeal of photographing upland birchwoods, increased after a frustrating trip up Ben Lawers, that achieved nothing more than the following a 'munro baggers trench' and some very infrequent breaks in a persistent band of cloud that blanketed the summits and obscured the views. Disappointing, as I venture into the hills for the views, not to tick off a hill list. The small consolation of the Ben Lawers ascent, was a brief, but impressive Brocken spectre.

I decided that my photographic ambitions be revised from summit views, to finding an autumnal upland birchwood, with hills in the background under an atmospheric sky and given the iffy Mountain Weather Forecasts, of high winds and low percentages of clear summits, it seemed a wiser choice.

Ordnance Survey maps were appraised for deciduous woodland, then cross referenced with online historic 1:10,560 OS maps and then satellite imagery, to eliminate newly planted or regenrated woodland. A comparison of modern OS maps and the 19thC OS maps, also lends credence to woodland historians assertions that some upland birchwoods are mobile in the Highland landscape. It soon became apparent that there were a number of locations to choose from and in absence of a strict definition, I decided that anything above the 300m contour line would be a reasonable basis to define an upland birchwood, ecologists would rightly beg to differ, but it seemed a reasonable cut off point for my needs. Locations were then assessed for : geology interest, interference of views from municipal infrastructure, expansive views etc and a list of potential sites arrived at to visit, weather permitting.

The weather duly obliged with sunshine and showers.

Of the upland birchwoods visited, some had been enclosed with deer fences to allow natural regeneration to take place, whilst others were left open and I can only assume that deer were being controlled, as there were signs of woodland regeneration with saplings growing. Where there were no deer fences or apparent controls on grazing pressure, the woodland showed no signs of regeneration. In all the upland birchwoods visited, Bracken was conspicuous by its presence in the field layer and adjacent landscape, prompting some ecologists to speculate that these were formerly Oak woods.

A ravine chanced upon, revealed the potential for the wider Highlands landscape, if the grazing regime changed. The mixed woodland consisted of: Aspen, Rowan, Hazel, Willow and Birch, that contributed to an excellent autumnal colour palette

The decision to lower ambitions from summits to lower elevations proved a good decision and some less visited parts of Perthshire were explored.