Losing More Moorland

Here's that lovely moment when one approaches the gate that leads onto....

....open moorland, when the artificial trees fall away and one can see the whole sky, even though, today, it was a cold, grey sky.

We had walked straight uphill from the house, through Golspie Tower and the Beinn Bhraggie woods, following the track which, if pursued to its end, reaches the summit of the ben.

By the side of the track we noticed a collection of similar bags to those we'd seen at Lochlundaidh, where they were tree planting, but all of these contained....

....non-coniferous trees, holly, blackthorn, alder, downy birch, aspen, hazel and sessile oak.

We've known for some time, from the new fences marching across the landscape, that this lovely open land was going to disappear under trees but it seems odd that the only trees delivered are deciduous. Are these the 10% deciduous trees which the Sutherland Estate was supposed to plant at Lochlundaidh, because we noticed few trees there which weren't coniferous? Perhaps I'm being overly suspicious; perhaps the estate is only going to plant native trees here; perhaps pigs will fly. I just wish I could at least believe that the big landowners are planting these forests for the good of the planet and not their pockets.

Never mind, on the way down through the forestry we saw a crossbill. These birds do appreciate a bit of coniferous woodland.