SIMON TREASURE wrote: > or the woodland being created by me at the Hall of Heddle. just > ordered my winter stock for planting, (hazel, hawthorne whitebeam, > willow ,alder, rowan and birch) a further 500 to add to the 1200 or > so already in the ground, to augment the three and a half acres of > naturalising garden landscaping i am doing. Sounds like a very attractive selection of trees, Simon. Do you find that they all do well on your land or are some more successful than others? Have you had to establish a shelter belt of some sort? None of the ubiquitous sycamore, I see! It's a tough tree but not exactly one of my favourites. I'd guess it must be about the commonest tree in Orkney, though. Maybe elder (boorwid) might be the next most common? However, I suppose it tends to be more of a big shrub than a proper tree. I don't know if you've come across John Burns's book "Gardening in Orkney and Shetland", published back in 1976? On trees he says: "Species you can grow with a reasonable chance of success are as follows: Lodgepole Pine. Alaskan and Washington Coast varieties. Sitka Spruce. Alaskan or Queen Charlotte varieties. Willow. (Salix capres) Sycamore. (Acer) Common Alder. Sorbus. (Whitebeam) Birch. Requires maximum shelter. Larch. Rowan. (Mountain Ash) Common Ash. Requires maximum shelter." As someone who lives in a part of Scotland that has suffered from blanket afforestation with Sitka spruce, I'd certainly be reluctant to see too much of that in Orkney, though it may be a handsome tree in some situations. I'm a little surprised that he says that birch requires maximum shelter, since I seem to remember seeing it growing quite happily in exposed coastal areas in the West Highlands of Scotland. I should think there's been quite a bit of tree-planting in Orkney and Shetland over the past thirty years or so, though, so maybe Mr Burns's information is a bit out of date. Norman Tulloch

Any one know if Orkney had forests in an earlier time,,like Neolithic or bronze/iron age? Or has it always been a bit sparse on trees? R -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Norman Tulloch Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 7:52 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ORCADIA] Wind SIMON TREASURE wrote: > or the woodland being created by me at the Hall of Heddle. just > ordered my winter stock for planting, (hazel, hawthorne whitebeam, > willow ,alder, rowan and birch) a further 500 to add to the 1200 or > so already in the ground, to augment the three and a half acres of > naturalising garden landscaping i am doing. Sounds like a very attractive selection of trees, Simon. Do you find that they all do well on your land or are some more successful than others? Have you had to establish a shelter belt of some sort? None of the ubiquitous sycamore, I see! It's a tough tree but not exactly one of my favourites. I'd guess it must be about the commonest tree in Orkney, though. Maybe elder (boorwid) might be the next most common? However, I suppose it tends to be more of a big shrub than a proper tree. I don't know if you've come across John Burns's book "Gardening in Orkney and Shetland", published back in 1976? On trees he says: "Species you can grow with a reasonable chance of success are as follows: Lodgepole Pine. Alaskan and Washington Coast varieties. Sitka Spruce. Alaskan or Queen Charlotte varieties. Willow. (Salix capres) Sycamore. (Acer) Common Alder. Sorbus. (Whitebeam) Birch. Requires maximum shelter. Larch. Rowan. (Mountain Ash) Common Ash. Requires maximum shelter." As someone who lives in a part of Scotland that has suffered from blanket afforestation with Sitka spruce, I'd certainly be reluctant to see too much of that in Orkney, though it may be a handsome tree in some situations. I'm a little surprised that he says that birch requires maximum shelter, since I seem to remember seeing it growing quite happily in exposed coastal areas in the West Highlands of Scotland. I should think there's been quite a bit of tree-planting in Orkney and Shetland over the past thirty years or so, though, so maybe Mr Burns's information is a bit out of date. Norman Tulloch ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Royce Perry wrote: > Any one know if Orkney had forests in an earlier time,,like Neolithic or > bronze/iron age? Or has it always been a bit sparse on trees? > R Here's something stolen from the website called "The Trees of Orkney": ________________________________________________________________________ *The History of Native Trees in Orkney* It is often assumed that the windswept Orkney landscape has always been largely open and treeless. However, it seems that Orkney, like many other parts of the British Isles, originally had an extensive tree cover. This consisted mainly of dense birch/ hazel scrub with a tangled understorey of roses and honeysuckle. Approximately 5000 years ago, the Orkney climate may have deteriorated, perhaps with an increase in on-shore winds. This may have started the decline of the woods, at least in exposed coastal sites, or perhaps the activities of Neolithic farmers (eg grazing, fire etc) brought about the rapid loss of most of the tree cover. Towards the end of the Neolithic period, there seems to have been a period of less extensive farming which permitted a minor regeneration of the woodlands. The blanket peat which covers large areas of Orkney today did not start to form until about 1800 BC ie. well after the woodlands had declined. Perhaps the loss of the trees produced more water-logged soils and this stimulated the peat formation. By Norse times, there were probably only patches of woodland remaining in sheltered areas. There are still unanswered questions about the original tree cover of Orkney - did it cover all of Orkney (including the outer isles), was it complete or in scattered groups, exactly which species were present and, was it climate or man (or both) that caused its almost complete, and very sudden, loss? ________________________________________________________________________ http://www.firth.orkney.sch.uk/trees/natrees.htm Norman Tulloch

On Sep 10, 2007, at 8:51 AM, Norman Tulloch wrote: Included in the Rousay Youth Club plantation was Hawthorn, which I found interesting. The Hawthorn is the Official Symbol of Mantoulin Island where we spend time, and the residents are called Haweaters. They are a doggedly determined and independent wee tree, with their own deadly sharp spears for protection from large critters. A bird landing in a hawthorn tree needs to be careful on landing so as to avoid becoming part of the tree. Other species grown on the Rousay plantation are: ash (don't know which variety) bird cherry beech (another variety challenge) common alder downy birch elderberry gray alder hazel mixed willow rowan sea buckhorn swedish whitebeam sycamore wych elm Seems there is no evergreens in the mix. The stie environment is unique, with a nice natural pond and marshland grasses and a stream. I would think that this effort will produce an ever improving example of pre-agriculture natural cover in Orkney, which I suppose will become prolific from a wildlife standpoint. Most of the above species would appear to be excellent grouse cover. I suppose in the initial stages the rabbits could be damaging if they are as common there as on Stronsay. stephen > SIMON TREASURE wrote: >> or the woodland being created by me at the Hall of Heddle. just >> ordered my winter stock for planting, (hazel, hawthorne whitebeam, >> willow ,alder, rowan and birch) a further 500 to add to the 1200 or >> so already in the ground, to augment the three and a half acres of >> naturalising garden landscaping i am doing.at they all do well on >> your land or are some more successful than > others? Have you had to establish a shelter belt of some sort? > > None of the ubiquitous sycamore, I see! It's a tough tree but not > exactly one of my favourites. I'd guess it must be about the commonest > tree in Orkney, though. Maybe elder (boorwid) might be the next most > common? However, I suppose it tends to be more of a big shrub than a > proper tree. > > I don't know if you've come across John Burns's book "Gardening in > Orkney and Shetland", published back in 1976? On trees he says: > > "Species you can grow with a reasonable chance of success are as > follows: > > Lodgepole Pine. Alaskan and Washington Coast varieties. > Sitka Spruce. Alaskan or Queen Charlotte varieties. > Willow. (Salix capres) > Sycamore. (Acer) > Common Alder. > Sorbus. (Whitebeam) > Birch. Requires maximum shelter. > Larch. > Rowan. (Mountain Ash) > Common Ash. Requires maximum shelter." > > As someone who lives in a part of Scotland that has suffered from > blanket afforestation with Sitka spruce, I'd certainly be reluctant to > see too much of that in Orkney, though it may be a handsome tree in > some > situations. I'm a little surprised that he says that birch requires > maximum shelter, since I seem to remember seeing it growing quite > happily in exposed coastal areas in the West Highlands of Scotland. I > should think there's been quite a bit of tree-planting in Orkney and > Shetland over the past thirty years or so, though, so maybe Mr Burns's > information is a bit out of date. > > Norman Tulloch > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ORCADIA- > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message