How much native Caledonian pinewood is there in Britain?
After the last Ice Age, native pinewoods covered thousands of square kilometres in the Scottish Highlands. Today, native Caledonian pinewoods are found at 84 sites in the north and west of Scotland, covering around 180 square kilometres. What species live in native Caledonian pinewoods? Native Caledonian pinewoods provide habitat for a wide range of specialised boreal species. Plants include blaeberry (bilberry), creeping ladies tresses, twinflower, one-flowered and serrated wintergreen. They are specialist mosses, such as the ostrich plume moss, and a rare group of fungi known as tooth fungi. A wide range of mammals include key species such as the red deer, specialist feeders on pine trees and pinewood plants such as the red squirrel, and rarer species such as the pine marten and wild cat. Bird species include the capercaille and crested tits that have restricted ranges based in the native Caledonian pinewoods. Crossbills, including the large billed parrot crossbill and the Scottish c
