Well if you ever make it here you will be made very welcome.

Gives us all some hope.

FM could also meet with and watch Gordon Buchanan's two episodes of 'Snow Cats and Me'

Oh well reminded. I am going to watch this again. An amazing programme.

We need to get you over here to speak to our First Minister. 😀

I live with lynx in Finland and like it. They are quite harmless and very shy. bsky.app/profile/danw...

Not easy, bloody hard work 😅

The beech would also counter the oak, birch, rowan etc etc

I agree it is not black and white and the question around native or not is contested. I believe it is the right decision for this particular woodland.

I don’t consider beech as locally native so not best for biodiversity.

It is all relative. Very recently in this particular wood but I would argue relatively recently in Scotland as a whole compared to Scots pine for example.

The beech are more recent perhaps 20 years or so. They will be thinned out and all saplings cut back. Some of the others species I mention are perhaps 100+ yrs so removal will be slower as a major job. Any saplings/young of those species will be removed over time. Sitka is particularly invasive.

I would estimate the oldest is 20yrs give or take.

Passive rewilding versus active 🤔 In this case I believe some human intervention is required before standing a bit further back and allowing ecological processes take over. This ancient woodland has over time been planted with non native Sitka, Douglas fir, western hemlock and beech.

For many hundreds of years this woodland would have been oak, birch, hazel, hawthorn etc. Beech has been introduced by humans very recently and would not have been locally native. Unchecked it will dominate all native species and drastically reduce biodiversity.