Killarney National Park - 2

Due to a “series of disasters” Ireland has one of the lowest land coverage % of woodland in Europe and even then a depressing area of that is under commercial forestry of alien trees. The oak woods in Killarney National Park represent a significant percentage of the remaining native oak woodland and are designated as a Special Area of Conservation.

The Killarney oak woods have been afflicted by the Victorian era enthusiasm for alien flora and fauna that saw many exotic trees planted including rhododendron and Sitka deer introduced for sport shooting. Unusually for conservationists they are in unanimous agreement that Rhododendrons and Sitka deer are not desirable for native woodland regeneration. The eradication of rhododendron from the native woodland is an ongoing affair undertaken by commendably enthusiastic volunteers and likely to take many years. Google satellite isn't much use either as rhododendrons form an understorey and what may appear to be broadleaved woodland from above is an impenetrable wall of rhododendrons as an understorey. Additionally in an effort to regenerate the woodland, exclosure fences have been erected to keep out the Sitka and native Red deer, the exclosures do not appear to have entrance gates for visitors. Nonetheless the woodland sans exclosures and rhododendrons is worth seeking out.

There appear to be several generations of oak trees with veteran pollards and coppice stools interspersed amongst maiden trees, pointing to changes in historic woodland management. In some areas a case could be made for natural regeneration, whilst in other areas the regular spacing of oaks in linear arrangement indicates plantations.  Much of the older oak woodland in the Forest of Dean originated from Napoleonic plantations for naval ship timber and oak morphologies in the Killarney woods bear a striking resemblance to the Dean oaks.

The Lusitania flora was also chanced upon, notably the Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) and Saint Patrick's Cabbage (Saxifraga spathularis).

Fruits of the Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo)

St Patrick's cabbages (Saxifraga spathularis) epiphytes on a veteran oak pollard.

The lichen communities are well represented.

Green satin lichen (Lobaria virens)

Tree Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria) and Green satin lichen (Lobaria virens)

There are also some fine viewpoints in the woodlands offering more expansive views.

Killarney makes a great base for exploring the National Park and I can thoroughly recommend it.

A Pembrokeshire bluebell wood

A weekend away in Pembrokeshire to catch up with friends and it is reasonable to suggest that the date was timed to coincide with the display of bluebells in Coed Tŷ Canol National Nature Reserve. I had last visited the Tŷ Canol woodlands at the end of March 2015  and this was my first visit in the month of May. Saturday dawned to a forecast of high wind and clear skies, sigh, nevertheless I had time for a recce to Tŷ Canol and ascertained that the woods were as atmospheric as ever, most of the sessile oaks were in leaf and bluebells were in flower, the harsh lighting and wind meant any meaningful photography was limited to recording the ground flora.

Enchanters nightshade, wood sorrel, hard fern, buckler fern and  bluebells.

On Sunday I persuaded Nic that we should visit Tŷ Canol on the journey home, coincidentally the weather was more photographically promising with lighter winds, showers, over head cloud with breaks for sunshine. The weather was amenable to making images of woodland in contrasting lighting with the quiet light of overhead cloud and intermittent sunshine allowing sunlit dappled woodland.

A far better appreciation and insight was gained into the habitats within Tŷ Canol with flora in leaf/flower denoting associations with deep shade, water logged ground, flushes and dry soils. The lichen and bryophyte communities for which Tŷ Canol is renowned for were once again pondered and once again a mental note made to make the effort to investigate these further. Nic summed up Tŷ Canol  perfectly in describing it as a 'special place' and 'nourishment for the soul'.

Ardvar Woodland SAC - Update

Following a visit in December 2015, I posted in January 2016 about why a woodland categorised as a Special Area of Conservation. is judged to be in an unfavourable declining condition due to 'overgrazing by large herbivores'. The post covered some history, background, news stories, articles, letters, quotes etc and ended -

It will be interesting to view the agreed Deer Management Plan covering the Ardvar woodland SAC and in a few years time visit to view what effect the deer management plan has on woodland regeneration.

A year on it seems appropriate for an update.

Natura 2000 Ardvar woods map - Special Area of Conservation

Firstly a clarification on nomenclature: The Ardvar woodland SAC area also covers the areas designated as Site of Special Scientific Interest SSSI, both are legally protected.

Illustration from the Deer Management in Scotland: Report to the Scottish Government http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/corporate/DeerManReview2016.pdf

16.6.2016 Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) issue a report Deer Management on the Assynt peninsula and of particular interest is the report background and an authorative timeline of events.

Background
6. The woodlands of Ardvar SSSI and SAC, notified for upland birch woodland and old, sessile, oakwood habitats respectively, are in unfavourable condition as a result of prolonged grazing pressure from red deer. This has led to an impoverished ground flora, poor age structure with senescent trees and little regeneration beyond seedling stage. The condition of the woodland has been unfavourable declining since formal monitoring began in 2004. A woodland age-profile study (Beck, 2007) indicated that much of the woodland was in urgent need of action to secure regeneration. In 2010 marked seeding monitoring suggested that a high level of deer damage was still occurring and that management measures put in place were not being effective. A recent survey (Clements, March 2015) shows that there has been a slight improvement recently in habitat condition with pulses of growth to sapling stage. These comprise approximately 15 - 20 hectares (5 - 7%) locally in pockets across the site and within the three main ownerships (although concentrated around Loch Nedd to the west of the site). However this is in areas that are fairly inaccessible to deer and the overall condition of the designated woodland remains unfavourable declining. 

Annex 4: Timeline
2008 - Woodland Profile Survey - highlights herbivore pressure at Ardvar.
2009 - Voluntary Section 7 Control Agreement (S.7) over 5 years established by the Deer
Commission for Scotland (DCS) between Ardvar Estate and John Muir Trust (JMT). (Assynt Crofters Trust) ACT declined to participate.
2012 - agreement breaks down and is deemed to have failed.
May 2013 - all three properties invited to join new S.7. Agreement is not secured and a
subsequent attempt at professional mediation also fails.
Early 2014 - Minister for Environment Paul Wheelhouse MSP informed that mediation
attempts between JMT and Ardvar Estate had failed and case was heading towards
imposition of a Section 8 Control Scheme (S.8).
May 2014 - SNH Board agreed Management Team’s preferred option to move the woods
into unfavourable recovering condition. Involved series of fenced exclosures on all three
properties accompanied by a S.7 across the whole of the APSG area. Key feature of
proposed approach was that it would address the long term woodland management needs
after fencing was removed. Accepted that if this was declined, S.8 may be required at some stage to implement proposed management solution. SNH Board wished message to be promoted to all parties and to include a clear steer about the possible use of Land
Management Orders and S.8.
September 2014 - relations re-established with the three properties; native woodland
adviser contracted to develop Woodland Management Plan, including fencing proposals.
March 2015 - Woodland Management Plan and fencing proposals agreed; negotiations
commenced for implementation of fencing plans with property owners (and crofting common grazing occupiers).
June/July 2015 - Assynt Peninsula Steering Group (APSG) failed to secure agreement for a Deer Management Plan across the wider Assynt peninsula amid disagreement within the group and between the group and SNH.
August 2015 - we notified our intention to seek a S.7 signalling the start of a statutory 6 month consultation period in which to secure a voluntary Agreement. Three months into the consultation, reservations about the S.7 process and distrust between parties was signalling that it would be difficult to get agreement.
October 2015 - SNH provided Environment Minister Dr Aileen Macleod MSP with a briefing on Ardvar situation in advance of giving evidence to the Parliament's RACCE Committee on the deer provisions within the Land Reform Bill.
November 2015 - SNH Chairman met with representatives of ACT to listen to concerns over S7 and explore underlying reasons. Chairman met separately with owner of Ardvar Estate later that month to listen to his views and concerns. Chairman also had dialogue with JMT over the Ardvar situation in August 2015 at a stakeholder meeting.
January 2016 - SNH Chairman and Director of Operations briefed the Environment Minister.
February 2016 - by end of the 6 month period we had only 3 signatories; broad consensus with S.7 underlying aims and objectives but members unwilling to commit until after a spring deer count.
March 2016 - count maps, figures and proposed cull targets provided to APSG. Members
again asked to sign S.7 but this yielded no additional signatories.
28 April 2016 - final attempt to get parties to sign S.7 to enable the SNH Board to consider whether further regulatory action required under S.8. No further signatures received and remainder confirmed their opposition to signing S.7.

Birch wood, Ardvar SAC ~2015

28.6.2016 Scottish Natural Heritage posted a blog: Deer Management on the Assynt peninsula

30.6.2016 the 160th Scottish Natural Heritage Board Meeting discussed the Assynt Peninsula Deer Management and the open session minutes indicate that after some discussion it was agreed to

".. allow Assynt Peninsula Sub-Group (ASPG) a further ten months to demonstrate that it can manage the deer population collaboratively through the voluntary approach." With "two additional conditions, that an update on progress and delivery is presented to the Board in November 2016 and that SNH will reserve the right for early regulatory intervention if necessary."

On the same day SNH issued a press release - Last chance for Assynt deer management group

In October 2016 Scottish Natural Heritage issued Deer Management in Scotland: Report to the Scottish Government. Unsurprisingly Ardvar stands out as a notable failure to manage the deer population for conservation.

Deer Management in Scotland: Report to the Scottish Government 

In November 2016 Deer Management on the Assynt peninsula: Update on Progress report was issued.

November 24th 2016 The John Muir Trust generally welcomed the SNH Deer Management report to the Scottish Government. The JMT have previously written about the enthusiasm of Sporting Estates for high deer populations and the conflict of interest with conservation.

Ardvar SAC / Loch Nedd SSSI ~ 2008

On 6.1.2017 The Assynt Crofters Trust issued Response by the Assynt Crofters’ Trust (ACT) to the SNH Report ‘DeerManagement in Scotland’. The ACT employed a 'consultant' who sadly seems to have missed the salient point that the Ardvar woodland SAC designation is for its remnant old oak woodland :

91A0 Old sessile oak woods with Ilex and Blechnum in the British Isles. This complex of woods represents old sessile oak woods at the extreme north of its range in Scotland. The site includes the extensive and diverse Ardvar Woodlands, which are mainly birch-dominated with oak throughout, and the woodland at Loch a’Mhuilinn, the other component of this complex, to the north, which has small areas dominated by oak. The area of woodland at Loch a’Mhuilinn lies on the north-west coast of Sutherland near sea level where the effects of exposure on the growth form of some of the oaks are particularly well-demonstrated. The oaks are of special interest because they are the most northern remnant of native oak woodland in the British Isles. Both sites are very important rich oceanic bryophyte sites with good examples of the macrolichen Lobarion community. 

The absence of oak saplings or signs of oak regeneration from the 'consultants' report at least provides further evidence to underpin the SNH condition monitoring reports of an unfavourable declining condition for the Ardvar complex of woods. No doubt the SNH will point that out to the ACT in due course.

A rare oak, Ardvar SAC ~ 2015

Hopefully the SNH will also report in due course on the success of the Assynt Peninsula Deer Management Plan for the Ardvar woods.

Isle of Skye - Woodland and Wildlife

After the week in Kinloch Rannoch, the following week was destined for the Isle of Skye. Nic, had a holiday bucket list of tour operators and guides, for kayaking, boat trips and wildlife watching ... Which was fine with me, as she could drop me off somewhere, whilst she went kayaking/boat tripping/wildlife watching. As always the plans were weather dependent.

After arriving at the holiday cottage, unloading and unpacking, there was enough time for an excursion. The weather was negligible wind, very low cloud, rain and a calm sea, that pointed to a wildlife excursion, which in turn threw up a candidate location in the Kyleakin Hills, that held the promise of otter spotting and coincidentally with nearby oak woodland designated as a Special Area of Conservation.

After parking up, there then followed some less than optimal map reading on my part, eventually Nic located a suitable vantage point for a wildlife watching vigil and was immediately rewarded, with an otter feeding on the shore. One pair of binoculars and two people, is never a satisfactory combination, so I went for a recce of the woods and on my return, was informed in hushed tones, that there were now two otters and clearly visible with the naked eye. A good start to the holiday, a few days of cloud and rain meant  this area was visited on further occasions and we were rewarded with more extended viewings of the two otters and also a large pod of dolphins.

 

The woodland contained older krummholz oak trees shaped by the wind and also a few wind thrown, uprooted oaks, still alive and adapting their canopy growth from their trunks horizontal orientation. It was also apparent that the woodland was regenerating, with seedlings and saplings of all the indigenous tree species present. The small downside was that the woodland grew over Torridonian sandstone, I have longed formed an opinion that Torridonian landscapes are some of more arduous to traverse and the woodland was no exception to that rule.



With the sea in close proximity, a high annual rainfall, the climate is decidedly Oceanic and the woodland appears an optimal habitat for communities of mosses, liverworts and lichens. The woodland certainly possessed an atmosphere, enhanced by autumnal colour in the canopy and field layer, rain wetted surfaces added vibrancy to the colours.



Heavy rainfall also posed problems with one excursion and streams in full spate, on a trip out to the Rubha an Dunain peninsula. The excursion was abandoned, when a safe fording point of an otherwise innocuous stream could not be found, without a tedious detour upstream and a look at the OS map indicated there was the prospect of fording a number of larger streams draining greater catchment areas. Every cloud has a silver lining though, on the return journey back to the car park, we watched a pair of white tailed eagles quartering the peninsula, before disappearing from view up into Cuillin Corries in Glen Brittle.

Heavy rainfall did ensure that waterfalls were impressive and the Black Cuillin had a certain atmospheric feel to them.

I'll cover some landscape photography and geology excursions, made in more clement weather, in the next post.

Elenydd trip report

An afternoon trip to mid Wales and the Elenydd. It was evident during the journey that extensive cloud cover determined that a walk in the Oak woods would be more productive than up on the hills. I was also curious to see how an area of woodland designated as Special Area of Conservation was being managed.

A wander along a stream led to a waterfall, where the combination of inclined cleavage, bedding planes and joints in the bedrock, contributed to a staircase of waterfalls. I thought this would have some potential later in the year with autumnal foliage and higher water flows.

It was heartening to see that the oak woods were naturally regenerating with oak, birch, holly and rowan trees in the form of saplings and seedlings. No plastic tubes were evident, so reduced levels of herbivore grazing were most likely the trigger for regeneration.

The woodland management also extended to leaving standing and fallen deadwood, increasing the biodiversity and rebalancing the woodlands naturalness. The trip was a good one, some stuff to ponder and to a laymans eyes the woodland was recovering.

An update on the Ardvar Woodlands Special Area of Conservation

I visited Ardvar woodland back in December 2015 and blogged about the unfavourable declining condition of this Special Area of Conservation. It seems the Assynt Peninsula Deer Management Group is still dysfunctional, as yesterday Scottish Natural Heritage released an article on Deer Management on the Assynt Peninsula. A decision is due in the near future on whether the Scottish Government will issue the first Section 8 Control Order of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996  requiring the Landowners to cull the deer population to a level that will enable woodland regeneration to take place.

Trip report part 3 - Abernethy and Rothiemurchus woodlands

Nic declareed she would visit the Highland Wildlife Park, which she did and thoroughly enjoyed it too, with informative lectures and some unusual fauna: the Snow Leopard and Amur Tiger were noteworthy. Captive wild animals, however well intentioned the reasons, I am not a fan of, so I dropped Nic off and visited Abernethy forest for a reconnaissance of its potential, as sadly the wind and weather were not the best for woodland photography.

Scots Pine plantation, natural regeneration and lichen heath, Abernethy Forest

Woodland floor, Abernethy Forest

I learnt that Abernethy Forest is growing on an extensive suite of glacial deposits and landforms, has extensive areas of Scots Pine plantations of varying ages and smaller areas of older growth woodland. There is evidence of natural woodland regeneration and areas of old growth native pinewoods have a highly visible lichen and bryophyte communities, the plantations not so much.

Harsh lighting and Granny pines, Abernethy Forest

One area in particular stood out for holding some photographic promise and was worth returning to. It was soon time to head back to pick Nic up from the Wildlife Park, grab some dinner and out again for an evening trip to Rothiemurchus Forest.

Regeneration in Rothiemurchus Forest

The plan was an evening circular walk taking in Loch an Eilein, Am  Beanaidh and the views from Whitewell. A navigational faux paux on my part meant we missed the path for Loch an Eiliein, sigh, the walk was extended along the Am Beanaidh to compensate.

Am Beanaidh

We stopped to have a chat with a backpacker, who turned out to be Nigel Schofield, Chairman of the Long Distance Walkers Association. He was on his way to Aviemore and had started walking from South Wales, 8 weeks previously, on a 950+ mile quest to reach the remotest hill summits in Wales, England and Scotland. A remarkable individual and an interesting life story, if he ever publishes a book on his exploits, I'll be sure to order it.

Rothiemurchus Forest

This area of the Rothiemurchus Forest, had much to commend: views to the Cairngorm hills, native pinewoods, bog woodland, moorland, stillwater, dynamic water courses and an interesting suite of glacial landforms. Inclement weather would provide great photographic potential for some sections of watercourses draining the hills, with rain bringing out the colours.

Bog woodland, Rothiemurchus Forest

Towards sunset, cloud increased and lowered, photography ended with a view to Lairig Ghru from Whitewell. A good walk, for the varied scenery, native woodland and habitats.

The next day was an iffy forecast for the hills and trips were made to Loch an Eilein, the RSPB nature reserve at Insh Marshes and an evening visit back to photograph large woody debris in Am Beanaidh and a silver birch wood in Rothiemurchus Forest. On the way to Loch an Eiein, we stopped off for look at Loch Insh from the North Shore and upon walking out from under a railway bridge were confronted with a close up view of an Osprey! No images, but we watched it for a while as it quartered the loch into a headwind before it disappeared from view to the east. Loch an Eilein is a popular visitor attraction and once again confirmed my belief that popularity has more to do with marketing, proximity of car parking, facilities and ease of access.

It was depressing to witness at Loch an Eilein the number of dog's unleashed by their owners, despite notices asking visitors to keep their dogs under control, I would estimate responsible dog walkers were in a minority of ~25%. Interestingly we had seen plenty of Lapwings, up in the wilds of Sutherland and Nic had seen Lapwings at the Highland Wildlife Park, where dogs are not permitted outside of owners cars. Anywhere dog walkers were prevalent and we didn't see any Lapwings.

The RSPB Nature Reserve at Insh Marshes was an interesting visit, sadly the Aspen stands were not in leaf, but an interesting walk nonetheless.

River Tromie ~ RSPB Insh Marshes Nature Reserve

In the evening I revisited the Rothiemurchus forest, where we had walked the evening before, as there were a couple of areas we had walked past the night before, that hadn't been photographed as we were endeavouring to reach the car without the assistance of head torches.

The attrition of storms and floods on riparian trees

Birch and Juniper ~ Rothiemurchus Forest

On arriving back, the Mountain Weather Forecast for the next day was about as good as it gets for hill walking and thoughts turned to a trip up onto the Cairngorms plateau.

Trip report Part I - A change of plan from the Far North to the Cairngorms NP

A cottage was booked back in January for a week at the end of May in the North West of Sutherland, plans had been made for walks, views, wildlife, flora, geology etc.

Black Wood of Rannoch 

The trip started well with a stopover on the Friday at Kinloch Rannoch, with a dusk and dawn visit made to The Black Wood. The hotel porter seemed bemused to see someone heading out for a walk in the rain at dawn. The Black Wood is a remnant of the Caledonian Forest, a Natura 200) site, Special Area of Conservation, Site of Special Scientific Interest and managed by Scotland's Forestry Commission. I last visited it in 2008 and well overdue a return visit.

Field layer diversity in the Black Wood of Rannoch

The blaeberry was flowering in the wood field layer and despite the rain, bumble bees were out gathering nectar and pollinating the blaeberry.

Blaeberry flowers

Bog Beacons were conspicuous in the wetter places of the wood.

Bog Beacons

The attrition of storms on the wood was evident with wind thrown branches littering the woodland floor.

Wind throw

Some parts of the wood had an interesting dynamic of Scots Pine and Birch trees.

Mosaic of Scots Pines and Birch woodland

My visits have only scratched the potential of the Black Wood and a note has been made for a more extended visit in the future.

The trip up the A9 and onto the single track roads through Sutherland passed soon enough and we reached the holiday cottage on schedule. It was a warm and sunny afternoon, opening the door to the accommodation revealed a cold and damp interior. A dead bumblebee on the duvet, a dying beetle on the floor and other assorted dead invertebrates added to the unwelcoming atmosphere. A further surprise was an information notice over the kitchen sink that stated the tap water wasn't fit for drinking and instead bottled water was supplied instead, sadly there were no bottles of drinking water anywhere. Further disappointment was an inspection of two cups for a restorative not beverage suggested that hygiene standards had slipped too. Oh, and the hot water was courtesy of a wood burning stove, which meant lighting and stoking a fire to ensure hot water: you really do need to to actually experience this to appreciate the convenience of gas/oil/electric boilers. This may sound like first world problem territory, but the prospect of spending a weeks holiday in this most unwelcoming of accommodation was beyond the pale. We decided we would bail out and find alternative accommodation. Sadly, the internet wasn't accessible and it seemed from the cottage instruction book that guests needed to call a number and sort any access problems themselves.

Fortuitously, the owner then turned up and after introductions, I expressed some forthright opinions. He blamed an error on the cleaning roster of the estate for the the state of the accommodation, confirmed he had never personally stayed in the accommodation and appeared to have some difficulty in accepting that opening an email from his phone outside on the mobile phone network was not the same as internet access. He offered to fully refund the £460 booking fee and also offered to let us stay overnight whilst we sorted out alternative accommodation. Without hesitation we accepted the offer of a refund, declined the second gesture and left, to find internet access. It was hugely disappointing as the location was superb, but we were also hugely relieved having dodged a bullet.

With one exception, all previous visits to Scotland had been to accommodation owned by Scottish residents and these have been exemplary. Our one and only previous poor experience of holiday accommodation in Scotland, was also courtesy of a sporting estate owned by English gentry. So if nothing else, sporting estates have some consistency in providing underwhelming accommodation in our limited experience.

Rose Root, Strathy point, Sutherland

The Tongue Hotel had no room availability, but the bar area had wifi and over coffee the quest for accommodation began. We established the following :

• A lot of accommodation had been already been booked on a long term basis by contractors for renewable energy developments.
• Durness was the focus of a week long running festival, The Cape Wrath Challenge and that had seen accommodation booked far and wide.
•  Coast 500 visitors, and other tourists to the area meant overnight accommodation in the local area was at a premium.  

A patron in the bar kindly helped by suggesting we drive along the coast road to Thurso and check out the BB's / guesthouses for vacancies, this seemed the best and a room was available at The Sheiling, Melvich, the owner, room, facilities and home cooked breakfast were all superb. We had dinner at the Strathy Inn - very good - and managed a couple of hours at Strathy point: taking in the views, looking for cetaceans and photographing the flora. Next morning we contacted Sykes Cottages, a company we had booked accommodation with before and were able to talk to a representative. There was no accommodation available in the NW Highlands, widening the search to wider Highland area and a rental property in Kingussie was available, we booked it and headed south.

Scottish Primrose, Strathy Point, Sutherland