Woodland Expansion in the Presence of Deer - Cairngorms Connect

Newly published Cairngorms Connect research demonstrates potential for forest regeneration in Scottish Highlands. By Dr Pip Gullett.

If you imagine walking through the British uplands, you probably picture wide open views and hillsides of heather, with the occasional patch of forest and maybe a birch or rowan tree here or there. What you probably don’t picture, is the abundance of native pinewood and broadleaved trees that would once have enriched our uplands.

In Scotland, native pinewoods now cover only about 1% of their former range, following centuries of human intervention – first felling the trees and then grazing the land with livestock. More recently, although livestock numbers have been reduced in many areas, trees have been battling against ever-increasing deer numbers. Whilst red and roe deer are a natural and important part of Scotland’s landscape, a human-induced absence of predators and historic land use means their numbers are unsustainably high over large areas, giving little chance for trees to re-establish in areas where woodland has been lost.

Restoring native woodlands to areas where they have been lost is a top priority for nature conservation and human society, and a key element of tackling the biodiversity and climate crises – this is reflected in significant government targets for expanding the area of native woodland in the UK. In recent years, some land managers have been expanding the area of native woodlands in Britain’s uplands, often through planting trees in fenced areas to protect them from deer. This can be an effective way of re-establishing woodland. But it’s not very… well, ‘natural’… trees and deer have evolved living together, and should be able to coexist in a balanced, healthy ecosystem. Meanwhile, fences are very costly and can cause casualties when unsuspecting wildlife collide with them.