oil on canvas,
36cm x 46cm,
Iain White, 2018,
£360
High in the Ryvoan Pass between Glenmore and the Abernethy Basin remnants of the former pine forest survive beyond the present boundary of closed woodland as scattered stunted trees in open moorland. Bleached trunks and pine stumps attest to its former extent.
Indeed, over much of the Highlands the current treeline is entirely artificial having been supressed by felling and timber extraction, grazing by deer and sheep, and or muir burning to manage the habitat for grouse. Often all that remains, as here, are isolated and often stunted trees, tree stumps or bleached dead trees. In the past the pine forests would have been succeeded at altitude by sub-alpine woods and scrub of birch, willow, and or juniper depending on local conditions.
