Scottish Caledonian Pine Forest

[adampembs]

Travelled to the “Black Wood of Rannoch” – which is one of the largest remaining patches of ancient pine, which are found only in the highlands of Scotland, and only in a few scattered pockets.

The main part of the wood is an SAC and off-limits to the public. The footpath we took (a 5 hour hike with stops for photos) skirts through some of it.

There was a patch of veteran trees (apparently up to 400 years old) which is quite thinned out, with birch and other opportuninsts filling the gaps. The understorey is also quite thick, making fungi more difficult to spot. There is another area with younger pines (~100 years old) with more fungi to see. Apparently, deer are a problem, and are killing the saplings, so the forest is still being eroded.

I was expecting to see lots of fungi from the pine area, but fungi being what they are, were either not visible or easily found.

There is a large part of the forest given over to larch & spruce plantation. This is also quite rich with fungi.

The most stunning area for fungi was a gorgeous area of heathland, with birch (some very old and covered in moss and lichens) along with rowan, juniper, bilberry, wild raspberry etc.

This was covered in fruitbodies, and most of my photos are from there. The aim was not to identify them, but just for the experience, so I didn’t collect anything, and attempted to photograph without pulling any up, using ones already knocked over by animals or taking photos from underneath. The few I pulled up were from large troops.

Too many photos to post here – the whole album is at https://picasaweb.google.com/109992784178366536566/BlackWoodOfRannoch?authuser=0&feat=directlink” class=”bbcode_url”>https://picasaweb.google.com/109992784178366536566/BlackWoodOfRannoch?authuser=0&feat=directlink

[Wood Wanderer]

Interesting shots Adam, got me thinking (from a totally theoretical position I might add) as to whether it might be possible to create a web album with a link for all the great shots already posted on the Fungus of the Day thread. Not quite a WAB Gallery but better than nothing ….

What do others think, feel free to call it a rubbish idea … 😆

Cheers

John

[Leif]

There are many lovely photos on this site and it might please visitors to see some pages of them laid out nicely. Not a rubbish idea.

Our green waste bins are black, and the non green waste bins are green. It should be the other way round. Now that is a rubbish idea.

[adampembs]

Wood Wanderer wrote:

Interesting shots Adam, got me thinking (from a totally theoretical position I might add) as to whether it might be possible to create a web album with a link for all the great shots already posted on the Fungus of the Day thread. Not quite a WAB Gallery but better than nothing ….

What do others think, feel free to call it a rubbish idea … 😆

Cheers

John

Great idea (and one that keeps me awake at night)

Possible….yes

Easy…..no

[Author]

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