The Cairngorms National Park Scotland
Scotland's ancient Caledonian pinewood forests once spread across thousands of kilometers of the Highlands. They now remain at just 84 sites and cover 180 km2 in the north and west. However, the forests aren't just Scots pine rich. Juniper, birch, willow, rowan and aspen trees are all native pinewood forest species. The forests are ideal habitat for a vast number of plant and animal species, some of which are endemic to Scotland and rely upon the Caledonian forests for their survival. The forests are now well protected as their conservation status was established at the Rio Biodiversity World Summit in 1992. "The preservation project has run for 10 years and for most of the important Caledonian pinewood sites is ongoing without an end date," says David Jardine, the Forestry Commission's Inverness based Forest District Manager. The UK's only endemic species of bird, the Scottish crossbill is one of the major beneficiaries of the project. You'll find crossbills in and around the forests of Glen Affric, Abernethy, Cambus O'May and the Tay Forest. It's a very vocal bird.
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Keywords: alba, aviemore, cairngorms, deo, einich, fauna, flora, glen, heritage, highlands, inverness-shire, kingdom, loch, national, nature, park, places, region, reserve, rothiemurchus, scotland, scottish, travel, uk, united, wildlife
