UKC

Came across this little fellow today, the tree that is not the grinning Frenchman, he just seems to follow me about:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/55682113@N08/16357721745/

Scots pine I think at over 800m on an exposed ledge on Mainreachan Buttress, Fuar Tholl. We were both moved by its pluck and ability to to survive in the face of some pretty bad odds.

What hardcore trees have you met?

In reply to DaveHK:

terrible picture, can't see tree at all, just grinning Frenchman

we need to record these 'plucky plants' properly

In reply to DaveHK:

Here's an article with information on the tree line in Scotland.

http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/advisorynotes/26/26.htm

I'm sure it helps that there's probably zero grazing pressure where the tree is sited- which also appears not to accumulate any great depth of snow. It doesn't look like an old stunted tree, a remnant of nearby woodland now vanished. Rather, it looks quite a young tree, but the nearest coniferous forest cover is some miles away. If it's a blow-in from there, it's remarkable to find it in isolation, at 800m.

In reply to DaveHK:

Yes, the goods odds in its favour was the lack of sheep.

In reply to DaveHK:


Looks like a spruce to me.

In reply to felt:


You could well be right, Scots Pine was a guess.

In reply to llechwedd: That paper needs updating a little, must have been written some 15 years ago. The ideas are correct but many of the references (especially to the situation elsewhere in Europe) are now very dated

When surveying vegetation I've occasionally recorded trees on cliff ledges at up to 600 m, usually pine, rowan or birch. There's a nice sequence to the north of Craig Meagaidh where scattered trees give way to willow scrub just as in Norway - its bouldery /blocky scree which I guess keeps the grazing to a minimum. I think my 'record' was above Glenfeshie where I noted a Scots pine at something like 900m but it was only about 20 cm high in the lee of a large boulder

In reply to Phil1919:


I remember Ron Greer referring to them as TGBs or Tree Gobbling Bastards. To be fair though, the sheep that could graze that ledge would also be worthy of your respect!

In reply to DaveHK:

Yes! However, its the ones lower down I resent the most....and the deer!

Someone posted a great pic of a dam wall somewhere in the Alps a few years back, on which some vegetation had grown, and there were goats high up on it having used small ledges to gain access. It was quite a shot. Lots of exposure for them, none of them roped up.

In reply to DaveHK:

It is definitely not a pine. Its a spruce, probably sitka or norway.

In reply to Doug:
Strange you should mention Glenfeshie and the stunted Scots Pine. For me, one of its' marvels is the great size and profusion of Juniper there, albeit along the floor of the glen. Even the smaller ones have root systems much bigger than the bit above ground.

Back home, in Snowdonia, Juniper is rare. When I see the one in nearby Cwm Griainog, half way up the Atlantic Slabs, hunkered down against the rock, inches high, it feels like a reunion with an old friend.
Life, enduring. Tenaciously persistent, holding out against the changes and depredations. I like to think that it natural growth, finding its way there as its' forebears have since the glaciers departed. A bit like the Brown Trout in some of the feeder streams into the Ogwen which became isolated millenia ago, denied migration by the development of waterfalls downstream.
Such things are precious and easily overlooked.

In reply to Doug:

I've always loved the name of that doyen of krummholz science, Walter Tranquillini.

In reply to llechwedd:

Cheers for the link, I'll check it out later.

Last time I was on that crag I saw a pair of Golden Eagles. It's a pretty special place.