The River Am Beanaidh Glen Einich in the Caledonian Pine Forest of Rothiemurchus, Strathspey, Highland Region SCO 6722
The Caledonian Forests were formed at the end of the last ice age. Trees began to recolonise what is now the British Isles over a land bridge which is now beneath the English Channel. Forests of this type were found all over what is now the island of Great Britain for a short period, before the climate began to slowly warm and the pinewoods retreated north into the Scottish Highlands, the last remaining climatic region suitable for them in the British Isles (see Climate of Scotland). The native pinewoods which formed this westernmost outpost of the boreal forest of Europe are estimated to have covered 15,000 square kilometres as a vast wilderness of Scots pine, birch, rowan, aspen, juniper, oak and a few other species. On the west coast, oak and birch predominated in a temperate rainforest ecosystem rich in ferns, mosses and lichens. The forest takes its name from the Romans, who called Scotland Caledonia, deriving from the early Celtic word '*caleto-' meaning 'hard, strong'. A name recorded as being used by a local tribe or tribal confederation of native Picts or Britons called the Caledonii who were first recorded in a panegyric by the Roman poet Eumenius in AD 297. Today less than 1% of the original forest survives and the native pinewoods have been reduced to 35 isolated remnants.
Size: 3732px × 5619px
Location: Rothiemurchus Forest, Cairngorms National Park, Aviemore, Highland Region, Scotland
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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