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This is Foyers, where I am based.  The woodland in the background is not one that I manage.  It is part of the National Forest Estate.  In other words, it is owner by the citizens of the UK and managed by Forest Enterprise.  Here in Scotland, the Government is presently consulting on the future of a devolved state forestry. You are encouraged to read this and make your views known.

Details here  http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/08/1075

I was fortunate enough to be managing a forest that contained a nesting pair of white-tailed sea eagles.  These fantastic birds are slowly spreading around the Scottish coastline.  Being a protected species, I had to be careful that they suffered no ill-effect from some future timber harvesting works that were being planned.  At the time, I did not know whether the adult birds had successfully produced offspring so, in cooperation with RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, I arranged for Justin Grant and Abigail Rhodes to climb the tree containing the nest and check the health of any chicks that were inside.  They were met with this young fellow!

A large stack of timber sitting at the roadside looks impressive, but it is not something to be too proud about.  Timber is sold by weight in the UK and it will be drying out and becoming lighter while it is stacked here. The sooner it is removed from the site and delivered to the sawmill (or other end user) the less weight it loses and the more money the client earns.  Furthermore, rapid despatch helps the client's cash flow as it could be several weeks before the income is received.

In this particular case, the site was close to the road, so the timber stacks were being assembled at a faster pace than usual.  The route to the market involved weak roads and there was a restriction in place on the amount of daily visits by timber wagons.  This compounded the problem by slowing-down the road extraction aspect of the job.  Just one of the many challenges when harvesting timber!

I was fortunate enough to be managing a forest that contained a nesting pair of white-tailed sea eagles.  These fantastic birds are slowly spreading around the Scottish coastline.  Being a protected species, I had to be careful that they suffered no ill-effect from some future timber harvesting works that were being planned.  At the time, I did not know whether the adult birds had successfully produced offspring so, in cooperation with RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, I arranged for Justin Grant and Abigail Rhodes to climb the tree containing the nest and check the health of any chicks that were inside.  They were met with this young fellow!

Cute feet....

One of the great aspects of the job is being out and about in the Highlands at times of the year.  I took this picture of Stac Pollaidh as I drove through the Assynt hills one late winter morning.  

I was planning a new deer fence to protect some woodland that had been classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).  This meant a long walk on a wintry day to find the best route.  I took this photo during a break in the weather.  I was standing on the lower slopes of Ben Stack and looking across to Ben Arkle on the fabulous Reay Forest Estate.

My client's woodland was not very accessible, but they did have an informal quarry area that, with some lateral thinking and the construction of a short extraction route for the site forwarder, provided just enough space to store and load the timber before it went off to the market.  Here, three wagons try to make the most of the available space.

This is a picture of Quinag that I took when working on a restocking plan on the other side of the water to the small settlement of Kylesku, North West Sutherland.

It was a cold day but, as can be seen, the air was clear and the views superb.  

The restocking was taking place after recent timber harvesting works and the plan was to plant native broadleaf trees to replace the previous cover of mature non-native conifers that had been felled and the timber removed.

Some people still think that timber is felled with chainsaws.  While this is partly true, most of the work on all but the smallest sites is undertaken by purpose-built harvesters.  Originally just an excavator with a harvesting head instead of a bucket, today's machines are built for the job and are very impressive to see in action. They make light work of the tree felling process and have many safety features to protect the operator. 

Here, an excavator prepares new ground for the planting of trees for a new native woodland.

The peaty soil is being turned over to create a weed-free planting position and to bring sub-surface minerals to within reach of the young plants.  This process also creates a drier planting position for the young trees which will help them to establish in areas of high rainfall or where soils can be waterlogged according to the season.

It takes a skilled operator to create the mounds at the correct spacing and to drive a heavy excavator through these remote and often boggy locations.

This is me, taking a break from surveying ground in Sutherland for a new native woodland.  With a few simple tools (a spade, a peat probe, an aerial photo or map, and a GPS) it is possible to quickly identify the tree planting potential of any given area of land.  

Occasionally,  simple timber harvesting projects can be complicated by off-site factors.

Here, a new permanent bridge was required along an old estate road that was being upgraded so that the 44-ton timber wagons could reach the harvesting site.

A specification for the bridge was included in the tender for resurfacing the road and competent contractors were invited to submit a price for the work.

Young pine and native broadleaved trees (birch, rowan, willow, alder, holly and aspen) are delivered to a restock site.  

These are cell-grown trees and they would remain in the bags for a few days before being distributed across the steep and remote site by helicopter.

A helicopter taking bundles of fence materials to a woodland creation project in a hard-to-reach area.

Enough materials for a one hundred metre length of new deer fence are gathered into each individual bundle and taken out to be distributed around the new fence line in a process called 'laying-out'.

The forest manager works with the fencing contractor to ensure that everything goes smoothly and that the right materials arrive in the right location.  For example, some bundles may have an added field gate or may contain extra timber if the ground is particularly rough.

Moving materials around by hand is a slow and expensive business and it can be hazardous if the ground is soft, steeply sloping, or just plain remote.  Despite appearing to be an expensive luxury, helicopter layout can often be cheaper and is always safer.

This is a picture of deer fence materials waiting to be distributed ('laid-out') around the perimeter of a new native woodland.  Each contractor has a slightly different approach. Here, the bundles are separated by deer stobs.

It is not unusual for fence materials to be laid-out by helicopter when the site is not very accessible.  It is not cheap, but it compares favourably to other methods and is always quicker and often safer.

The picture shows an unusually-good Silver birch (B. pendula) sawlog.

A client wished to restock his woodland with a pine and birch mix and had very specific requirements for the work.  I could not obtain the correct specification birch planting stock from the usual suppliers, so I suggested that we could gather seed locally and have it contract grown in a tree nursery.

Because timber production was a primary objective, a straight and lightly-branched phenotype was preferable.  To this effect, I located and visited a stand of birch near Inverness that exhibited the desired characteristics.  The owner of the stand was very kind and allowed me to fell a few trees to gather viable seed from the catkins hanging in the crowns.  

With some trepidation that there would be no viable seed to gather if my timing was incorrect, the trees were felled and the seed sent off to be cleaned and subsequently planted.  

Germination was excellent and I was rewarded with some fine planting stock in subsequent years.

Several years ago, during an unusually cold and prolonged winter, I was working on a woodland establishment project on a farm.  

Late one day, a sudden snowstorm prevented the farmer from putting extra food out for his sheep.  The weather worsened and he could get access to them for a couple of days.  In their hunger, the sheep ate anything they could find, including the bark of this mature Scots pine!

I thought it was interesting that there was such a well-defined line where the bark was suddenly beyond the reach of even the most stretchy sheep....

The colours in a stand of pine and larch are picked-out by the late evening sun.

It was great to walk among these trees and proof, to me, that owning and managing woodland isn't just about the timber, or even the wildlife and the environment. Trees and woodlands provide amenity benefits and aesthetic values too.

Gaultheria shallon ('Shallon') provides great for ground cover for game birds and can be very useful in a garden situation. Unfortunately, the very characteristics that make it so suited for these jobs (spreads rapidly; thicket forming; shade tolerant) can make it a nasty invasive species in the wrong circumstances. It likes the Highland climate and I have seen it spreading through native woodland and along the edges of watercourses. 

I saw this small grave on private land in Ardtoe while I was undertaking a tree survey. I guess a dog is buried here. What a fitting resting place!

There are plenty of good reasons for clearing land of Rhododendron ponticum. In this case, it was infected with the plant pathogen Phytopthora ramorum so it had to go. 

I was asked to survey the spread of Rhododendron ponticum across a private estate. It was everywhere: private gardens, timber stands and, as this picture shows, native woodland. 

I found these signs of feral pigs throughout an area where I was undertaking a survey. I did not realise that they had spread so far along the Great Glen and was initially puzzled as to what could be disturbing the ground in this manner. It obviously was not deer and seemed rather extensive for badgers (my first thoughts). Then the penny dropped: I had seen something similar before in the Forest of Dean, where feral pigs had become a local cause celebre for the ground disturbance they were causing.

I was seeing these puzzling scat throughout an area in which I was working. It was only when I saw the ground disturbance that feral pigs had caused in other nearby areas that the penny dropped: I was seeing pig faeces.

I was asked to produce a management plan for a small woodland along the Moray Firth. The owner required one to support a planning application and also wanted advice on how to best manage his birch and other broadleaves for timber production.

The owner would spend long hours working in his wood and cleverly addressed one of the common problems associated with a lack of welfare facilities by building this self composting toilet.

The view was great but I bet the midges meant that you wouldn't want sit around for too long to enjoy it...

In an ideal world, it would not be necessary to return to a site once the work had been done.

However, things are rarely 'ideal'.

In this case, a rhododendron bush has been cut down and glyphosate applied to the stump (the horizontal chainsaw cuts where the chemical would have been applied are clearly visible).

Rhododendron can be a pernicious weed and, as in this case, the chemical treatment was not quite enough and new shoots have appeared. In two to three years this will be a substantial bush once more so a further timely treatment now will save both time and money.

It is a good idea to dig a few soil pits when planning new woodlands.

This area of pasture on a farm was clearly much better than many places where new woodlands are usually planted in the uplands.

However, surface water was collecting (visible in the picture) so I decided to see what was underneath the grassy sward.

Here, an upland sheep farmer wished to increase tree cover on his land. He had previously planted new woodland nearby with support from early incarnations of a forestry grant scheme.

In this case, the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) was offering sufficient support to make even a relatively modest new woodland financially worthwhile so I was asked to prepare a plan.

The plan was approved and the establishment work should start in the autumn of 2017 when the pre-planting ground preparation begins. 

A Tigercat harvester working on steep ground in Sutherland, Highland

Mechanised extraction of timer on steep ground in Sutherland, Scotland

Spring and summer 2018 were fantastic. Hardly a drop of rain and some very high temps.

I took this picture when driving along a very hot and dusty forest road in Strathconan.

At the time, I was contracted to Forestry Commission Scotland for about ten weeks, spending one day a week checking pheromone traps in various woodlands around the Beauly Firth.

The traps were intended to attract and catch any Pine tree lappet moths that happened to be present. This was undertaken as part of an annual monitoring programme for this non-native species, which is known to be breeding in woodlands near the small town of Beauly.

Strathconan Forest was an outlying area, well beyond the known breeding grounds of the moth and I found no Pine tree lappet moths here during my checks. Monitoring was undertaken with the kind permission of the landowner, whose assistance was invaluable in monitoring the spread of this species.

Nordman fir Christmas trees, bagged-up and ready to go to the market.

This plantation was for sale at the time and a prospective buyer asked for my thoughts on quality of the crop and its potential for generating future income.

In addition to assessing the crop through digital mapping (to establish the productive area) and random plots in the field (to identifying the stocking density and tree sizes) I also investigated access constraints and other site conditions.

Hybrid larch (Larix x eurolepis) positively glowing in the landscape during the autumn, when its needles change colour before dropping. Unlike many other conifers, it is deciduous.

Sunrise over an area with potential for planting-up as a new native woodland.

The ground was a little too peaty in this location, but the sun shining on the russet grasses made up for it.

Elsewhere in this parcel of land, my findings were more promising, with shallow peat on top of mineral soil.

If a machine (excavator with flail attachment or similar) can get into a rhododendron stand, it can make light work of the bushes at significantly less cost than motor manual methods.

Both the damage by the flail and the subsequent thick mulch of shredded plant matter helps to suppress new growth from the remains of crowns. Where it does occur, it is usually fairly straightforward to find it and treat it with herbicide.