Archive for highlands

Beginning an ‘eco’ build… by felling a tree

May 4, 2021 Architecture, Ben Damph, Ben Damph Estate, Ben Damph House, Climate Change, Construction, Douglas fir, eco build, environment, Forestry, highlands, highlands, Larch, nature, new build, scotland, SIPs, timber, Torridon, trees, Uncategorized, wester ross, wildlife, wood 2 comments

It seems a strange way to begin the story of a new ‘eco house’, with the tale of felling a tree. But in terms of construction, building out of wood is one of the best things you can do for storing and absorbing carbon, and I did hug this tree first… Read more

My year planting trees

January 28, 2019 Ben Damph, Ben Damph Estate, environment, highlands, nature, nature writing, Rewilding, rhododendrons, scotland, Torridon, trees, Trees for Life, Uncategorized, wester ross, wildlife Comments Off on My year planting trees
Aspen planted in 1.8m tubes by Loch Torridon.

Aspen planted in 1.8m tubes by Loch Torridon.

Over the past year I have been involved in a project to plant 3,500 native trees on Ben Damph Estate in the Highlands of Scotland. It was a part of a Forestry Commission Scotland grant to improve woodland in an area previously infested with rhododendron ponticum. This blog is an attempt to exchange knowledge on the challenges of planting in a landscape shared with red deer and rhoddies, and a little bit of philosophy about the joys of planting trees…
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