Trees, Trees and More Trees

THE ASPEN

 

One weekend I decided to go somewhere different from my usual favourite places, so I headed out to Glen Cannich, the next glen north of Glen Affric.

Near some oaks I was astounded to discover a very large stand of aspen trees (Populus tremula) that I hadn’t been aware of before. There were hundreds of straight-trunked large trees growing together, and I suspected this stand hadn’t been seen during the aspen surveys we’ve done in our target area for forest restoration over the years – if it had been found I’m sure I would have heard about it! As I explored it, I realised that it’s the largest aspen stand I’ve seen in the areas where Trees for Life work. Later, when I checked the aspen database in our office I couldn’t see any reference to it, so somehow it had been missed until my trip this weekend! This is very exciting, both because of the fact that aspen supports a range of rare species of insects, mosses and lichens, and also because it could provide a good new source of roots for us to propagate aspen in our nursery.

Alan Watson Featherstone