Caledonian Forest - Europe's Rarest habitat?

The Caledonian forest once covered much of the Scottish Highlands. But why does the iconic Scottish landscape look open and windswept. Let's find out...

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[redreuben]

Adding predators is more than just about reducing numbers through predation. There mere presence stops the deer from staying in one area too long, the predators keep them moving around to stay out of trouble. It’s like an automatic grazing management system.

[cliffwoodbury]

its sad that in ages past almost all of what is now called Scotland was a legendary forest and now it is a baren landscape. Hopefeully they can reverse all the deforestation!!

[alberteinstein]

Hello .

Just came to know about what happened to the Caledonian forests. I am very sad. I came to know about this through a ted talk of a person who reforests the area. Btw great work bro 👍☺️☺️

[vbysani]

really appreciate the effort put in the videos. These are the stories that all of us need to hear

[bjrnjohanhumblen]

Scots pine is the main conifer in western Norway too. The Caledonian forest just continues across the sea and is even bigger there. I live here in western Norway. Almost the exact same species and climate

[GeorgeTheDinoGuy]

This is a really great video, I’ve been fascinated by the Scottish highlands before they were destroyed by humans. Glad to finally find a video on it!

[luciana]

👏🏽"unique ecosystem" 🦌 🌲🌲🌲🌲 Beautiful pines!! #ecosystem #scotland. Well done! 😊

[QualeQualeson]

Pine forest is so nice for many reasons. I'd trade large parts of our dominant spruce for pine in a heartbeat.

On a side note, I'm listening to the man and looking at that fence and I'm thinking that he's either mislead or misleading. Fences don't solve these things. What works is letting nature be nature, and that means predators big enough to take deer, which means big areas largely undisturbed by humans and so on. It's all connected. But there's no way the primary sector will ever let nature govern itself.

This past winter, I saw a story in the news media here in Norway where a land owner was complaining about snow on the spruce cutting into his profit. And I realized that if he had the power to do so, there would be no more snow in the winter for anyone, just so that he could avoid damage to his future logs. All he sees in life is what is translatable to numbers in his bank account, and he's not the exception, he's the rule.

[teemu]

Very interesting to see what the lack of top predators does in the ecosystem...preventing the trees from expanding their area because there are too many plant eating animals. Everything is perfectly designed in nature and while some see predators killing prey as cruel, it is actually a necessity to maintain balance within the ecosystem.

[Bucketheadhead]

I’ve began eating Scottish venison instead of cow meat to help our trees. Get scranning for the Scots pine!

[DougGrinbergs]

4:22 FYI, in Colorado, USA, Rocky Mountain National Park has fenced willow and aspen areas to protect from elk grazing. They have gates for public access. If interested in ground-level images, you can look for Upper Beaver Meadows trailhead on Mapillary.

[gwynjames]

An amazing place when up around the Caingorms and Glenmore. Watching ospreys at Loch Garten. A forest to dissapear in an dbe still and know as Ray Mears says we are part of it.

[taekwondomartin]

I think limeting deer populations through hunting is probably the best option in this case. If populations go unchecked, the animals are more likely to die from starvation and diseases as well. So letting the deer population grow unsustainably is also worse for the deers welbeing.

[notommr]

I read CF Gordon Cumming (1883) it was the Vikings who torched all the forests in Scotland and since then its never been replaced. They were digging up hard wood trees in Lewis when digging the peats and still do.What about the sheep they seem to make just a mess of any young trees - any cull of sheep by chance?.

[louisputallaz]

How can I join this illustrious organization, question mark is not working for some reason

[jelledejong]

This channel is way too high quality for the views its getting

[sentinel_]

I love the nature of Scotland, Wales, The Isle of Man, Ireland and Cornwall, they are all different and the feeling in each is Unique but they have all one thing in common, those places are all beautiful and vast in wildlife

[Aj]

The Scottish dude had such a suiting voice. Almost made me sleep XD

[roberteckhardt]

If u wanna see scots pine dominating the landscape just visit Brandenburg; germanys largest sandbox

[trygveevensen]

Not gonna lie, those forests look a lot like the ones here in Southern Norway.

Mostly pine with some birch and aspen sprinkled in, ground cover is also the same