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The oldest Scots Pine?
No tree symbolises Scotland, and particularly the Highlands, more than the Scots pine. Sadly, no one knows for sure where Scotland’s oldest Scots pine is.
The Glen Loyne 'granny'
The oldest one ever scientifically dated stands in Glen Loyne, Inverness-shire, and was estimated to be about 550 years old in the late 1990s by scientists from the Forestry Commission’s Forest Research agency. It was one of a group of ancient pines whose average age was put at about 440 years.
Unfortunately the Glen Loyne ‘granny’ pine is inaccessible to the public, but tree enthusiasts who want to enjoy the experience of being among very old Scots pine should head for Ballochbuie Forest, on the Queen’s Balmoral Estate.
Ballochbuie, Aberdeenshire
The exact location of the oldest Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) in Scotland is open to speculation. The original native forest was severely diminished over centuries, through the depredations of fire, grazing, encroachment and logging.
Despite this, there still remain several areas of native Caledonian pinewood which date back to the original ‘wildwood’ and, encouragingly, many of these are now being actively extended. Several such remnants exist within Ballochbuie Forest, part of Balmoral Estate in upper Deeside, Aberdeenshire.
One of the earliest recorded acts of native woodland conservation occurred in 1878, when Queen Victoria intervened in a major timber sale. She purchased Ballochbuie with the expressed intention of preventing the old Caledonian pines being sold to an Aberdeen timber merchant.
This pinewood has since been preserved by successive generations of the Royal Family, and now contains one of the largest remnants of Caledonian forest remaining in Scotland today.
It’s also one of the oldest: recent studies by Macaulay Institute of Aberdeen have dated Ballochbuie Scots pine to more than 400 years old. Precisely where the oldest specimen exists is still to be determined, but the visitor to Balmoral will gain a sense of the elderly - and of renewal through regeneration - by absorbing the spirit of these iconic heritage trees of Scotland.
Where to see the Ballochbuie Scots Pines:
The estate is reached from the A93 in Aberdeenshire. Turn off at Crathie village and follow the signs for Balmoral. Old trees can be found around the Glenbeg Burn area of Ballochbuie, 6.5km (4 miles) west of Balmoral Castle.
Images: copyright Archie Miles
