Scotland's leading conservation volunteering charity, working to rewild the Highlands. We provide habitats for wildlife by planting forests for the future.
Trees for Life is rewilding the Scottish Highlands. Hopeful and bold, we are committed to creating nature-rich landscapes that include and support people.
Breaking news – new hope for beavers in Scotland! Following our court challenge to the Scottish Government, licensed beaver killings must halt and all previous beaver killings authorised by NatureScot have been deemed unlawful. Read the full story here:
Red squirrels GO! 🐿️
Last week, 17 red squirrels found a new home in Arisaig, helping bolster the population of this endangered mammal on Scotland’s west coast. Arisaig is the 11th population we have created since starting our translocation project in 2016.
Rewilding success🙌
Eoghan Daltun has spent 14 years restoring biodiversity to Ireland's Beara peninsula. A rewilding pioneer, Daltun fenced the land to keep out feral goats and sika deer, removed invasive plants, and let nature do the rest. The results have been amazing 👏
Pine martens have returned to the south of England. The population living in the New Forest is the biggest it’s been for more than 100 years. These curious, nocturnal animals continue to expand their range in the Scottish Highlands.
Today we are launching a crowdfunding appeal to raise £40,000 to protect Scotland’s endangered beavers – by challenging the Scottish Government’s policy over its failure to make the killing of beavers a genuine last resort.
The fight to restore Scotland’s forest-dwelling wildlife has just got a feline boost!
Scotland's first-ever wildcat release will take place this summer in the Cairngorms, strengthening the area's population - and paving the way for future releases 🐾
One-in-five Scottish beavers were killed last year, making a mockery of their protected species status. The future of beavers in Scotland is at risk. Please help save lives by signing and sharing this petition.
#movedontkill
#conservation
#wildlife
JOB OPPORTUNITY: Beaver Management Officer 🦫
Could you help bring beavers back to the Highlands?
The role's focus is facilitating coexistence, particularly in Glen Affric, where work is underway to enable a beaver release next spring.
Details here 👇
Magnificent, fantastic, brilliant, wonderful and exciting news! Golden eagles have moved into an artificial nest we built at Dundreggan and reared a chick. Check out the full story here:
Last week we started moving trees up the mountain to our newest planting site, Carn na Caorach. This 700-acre site will be transformed into a beautiful wild forest full of life.
Otters have come to Dundreggan! We have long suspected they were on the river but this is the first confirmation. We are delighted to welcome them to the estate.
Scotland has joined the
@RewildingEurope
family! Last night we launched
#AffricHighlands
- a large-scale, 30-year rewilding initiative that will connect nature, people and livelihoods so that all three can support one another to thrive.
As winter sets in we are nearing the end of the planting season. Our trainee Angus has been out delivering trees to Dundreggan's higher altitude areas. We're planting here to restore the important montane habitat that has been lost, bringing much-needed life back to the hillside.
Here's a moment to celebrate. People, rewilding and farmers joining forces to find the best outcome for nature. A group of us joined
@argatyredkites
last Friday to share the magic of a 2nd beaver release, including the farmer who’d requested the relocation. More of this please!
You often see rowan trees growing under old Scots pines. This tells us that a bird has used the pine as a perch spot to feast on late-summer berries and leave its droppings. The Caledonian forest is built on these perfect partnerships of give and take. Everything is connected.
Our red squirrel reintroduction project is on BBC Winterwatch, tune-in tonight at 8pm to watch! Since 2016 we have been creating new populations of red squirrels throughout the northwest Highlands – where they are free to expand and thrive.
Hopeful news for the Caledonian forest’s iconic ‘dancing’ bird.
Ecologists say there are early signs that capercaillies are beginning to recover in the Highlands’ remote forests.
Thanks to rewilding efforts to restore their natural habitat, the population is now increasing 🙌
Wow! Three-quarters of people in Scotland want to make national parks wilder.
As a member of
@ScotRewilding
, it’s amazing to see growing public support for making nature and climate recovery a priority.
Find out what we think should happen next 👇
Volunteers packed up 6,700 trees this week for planting in Glen Affric to restore its lost montane scrub. Grown just ten miles south of Affric at our Dundreggan nursery, the delivery included dwarf birch, goat willow and whortle-leaved willow.
These 15 astounding facts about trees show just how weird and wonderful they can be. Did you know - adding one tree to an open pasture can increase its bird life from practically zero species to as high as 80!?
Scotland's oldest pines have been saved! 👏
Situated in the remote Glen Loyne, the Scots pine trees are at least 560 years old. These precious relics will now be able to regenerate, a major step forward for our collaborative
@AffricHighlands
initiative.
‘Natural Wonders. Every day, a 40-foot tree takes in 50 gallons of dissolved nutrients from the soil, raises this mixture to its topmost leaves, converts it into 10 pounds of carbohydrates and releases about 60 cubic feet of pure oxygen into the air.’
Imagine a great forest in the heart of the Highlands.
Where red squirrels bounce between pine branches. Wildcats stretch in the shade of oaks. And songbirds flit and sing, balancing on rowan and birch.
This is our vision for the future. Scotland's Caledonian forest restored.
A massive THANK YOU to everyone who donated, shared and otherwise supported our crowdfunder. Because of you, we can continue to fight for a brighter future for beavers in Scotland.
The discovery of a rowan in Glen Affric at 1,150 metres shows the exciting potential for trees to return to our highest mountains. Montane scrub is a uniquely Scottish habitat, part of a mosaic of grasslands and peatlands in a vibrant rewilded landscape.
This is one of our oldest planting sites in Glen Affric. Just look at how it's flourished over the last 30 years!
The once degraded landscape is now vibrating with life. Among the pines grow willow, rowan, alder and aspen.
Nature has a new home here 🦋
#TreesforLife30
Beavers are in the Cairngorms! 👏
Two pairs were released on Monday, the first of 15 families set to make the national park their new home.
Beavers have been missing from this part of the Highlands for 400 years. A truly historic moment for nature.
Over recent years, something remarkable has been happening across Scotland. Rewilding.
Few movements for positive social and environmental change have grown so rapidly. The reasons are many, but a major one is that this is a groundswell of hope.
Our year in trees.
In 2022 we planted 71,000 trees across Dundreggan and Glen Affric. Scots pine, oak, birch, willow, juniper.
A restored Caledonian forest nurtures wildlife, soaks up carbon + offers a wonderland for people to explore.
Thanks for making it all possible 💚
Reintroductions really do work! A project to move golden eagles to southern Scotland has helped the population reach record numbers. There are now about 46 birds in the area - the highest figure recorded for centuries.
Winner winner! We are thrilled to announce our red squirrel project won the public vote and over £25,000 in funding from
@ConserveOutdoor
. We could not have done this without our tremendous supporters with us every step of the way - thank you all.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who signed, shared and supported our petition to help save beavers in Scotland. The petition closed last night with over 16,700 signatures - this makes it the most signed petition to Scottish Parliament in over a decade!
Glen Affric + Loch Ness is officially in the running to become Scotland's third national park!
Trees for Life is supporting the bid, which could enable nature restoration on a major scale + create a thriving green economy 🌳
Read the full story here 👇
We are delighted to announce that our red squirrel project is on the EOCA shortlist – in line to be awarded with over £25,000 if we win the popular vote. It takes just 10 seconds to vote for the reds and help secure their future in Scotland. Vote here:
The results are in and 2017 was an exceptional year for tree planting - in fact it was our best year on record! We planted 156,869 trees and it was all made possible by our generous donors, members, volunteers and supporters. Thank you for helping the wild forest come back!
Our forest champions, thank you to our exceptional nursery staff who have been working diligently away from their homes and their families to keep our next generation of trees safe and well.
#WednesdayMotivation
Trees for Life is to establish the world’s first rewilding centre near Loch Ness in the Highlands – thanks to more than £2 million of support.
@HeritageFundSCO
@nature_scot
Before and after photos of Dundreggan's Allt Ruadh show how rewilding has transformed the hillside into flourishing young woodland.
First planted in 2016, Allt Ruadh is home to rowan, pine, alder, juniper and birch.
Thanks to all our supporters who have made this possible.
Major beaver breakthrough! After almost 500 years, Scotland is getting ready to properly welcome back beavers. In a win for rewilding, this morning
@scotgov
announced its plan to actively expand the country's beaver population. Read our response here 👇
Rewilding in Glenfeshie has made it one of the most uplifting places to go in Scotland. New trees are growing to create a lush and wild habitat where pine martens roam.
Over the last two weeks, we have taken thousands of trees and supplies to Glen Affric. This is the start of a new wild forest in the heart of the Scottish Highlands.
In the first picture, you can see how the landscape has transformed within a more mature planting area.
Rewilding is taking root in the Scottish Highlands. People are acting, nature is responding, and hope is growing.
In 2024, we will continue to be ambitious for nature, from mapping ‘lost’ pinewoods to bringing back beavers.
Join us for the journey 👇
The process of rewilding Wild Ken Hill in Norfolk has doubled the area's plant life in just 3 years. Free-roaming cattle + pigs have helped restore biodiversity to the land, including some rare flowers.
This is great news for wildlife + pollinators 🌺🐝
Happy World Rewilding Day! Rewilding means giving space back to wildlife and returning life back to the land and the seas.
#ReadyToRewild
#RewildingNation
This could be Scotland’s most giant juniper!
Recorded on the western edge of
@AffricHighlands
during a survey, this juniper has now taken its place at the top of the Ancient Tree Inventory 🏆
It's also pheonixed, meaning the tree has fallen and resurrected itself 😍🔥
Caledonian pinewoods are on the BBC 🥳🙌
But can you help us get this vital story trending?
Retweet to spread our call to save Scotland's 'wild pines.' Let's be the generation who helps the last trees standing 💫🌱
Each beaver shot is a wasted life that could have helped tackle the climate and nature crisis by creating a thriving nature-rich wetland somewhere else in Scotland. Put an end to beaver slayings by signing this petition.
#movedontkill
📷
@ScotlandTBP
Thanks to your support, we have had a brilliant season at Dundreggan nursery. This is what 124,000 trees look like! All of these trees are native, grown from local seed. Volunteers and partners will help us plant these trees at key restoration sites this autumn and next spring.
Exciting news! Red squirrels are coming to Arisaig.
This spring we will create a new red squirrel population in Lochaber, in the south-west Highlands.
If you live locally and would like to get involved in the project, there will be an information day tomorrow at Astley Hall.
Our nursery is filled to the brim with around 126,000 trees!
Aspen, downy birch and willow await planting in Dundreggan and Glen Affric this autumn.
While other trees - rowan, silver birch and wild cherry will take root at our new
@VisitDundreggan
Rewilding Centre.
Returning woodland to Scotland’s mountains requires many people and spadefuls of passion.
30 school students from Aberdeen headed up Beinn a Mheadoinn in Glen Affric this week in challenging conditions to plant montane willows and dwarf birch.
Nice work, team!
Today is Imbolc, an ancient Celtic festival of fertility that heralds the halfway point between winter and spring.
In Gaelic folklore, the Cailleach weaves winter's spell at this magical moment. As the goddess of winter, she will decide how much longer the cold weather lasts 🌨️
On this day in 2012 we planted our one millionth tree.
Today, we have planted nearly two million trees.
By working with volunteers, local communities, landowners and stakeholders, we have an even bigger vision:
#rewild
the Scottish
#Highlands
.
A Trees for Life project in partnership with the National Trust for Scotland to establish new seed sources for rare mountaintop trees in Glen Affric has received more than £125,000 from the Scottish Government's Biodiversity Challenge Fund.
'A quarter of the UK’s land could be restored to nature, making a significant contribution towards cutting the nation’s carbon emissions to zero, under a new rewilding proposal.'
Scotland has met its tree planting target for the first time. We would like to see more native and diverse forests being created but this is a positive step in the right direction.
This is what a summer of growth looks like. The Dundreggan Nursery is full of young trees, ready to help return woodlands and wildlife to the Highlands. Thank you to everyone who has chosen to support rewilding this year.
Our volunteers often make a pilgrimage to the Last Ent of Affric, a majestic old elm that stands on the slopes of Glean nan Ciche 🌳
Elm doesn’t burn well and distorts easily, so people of the past didn’t value it as a material. Is that why it was left alone?
📸 Margaret Cook
A pair of wildcat kittens has been born in the Highlands. The Scottish wildcat is the UK’s last native cat species. The kittens were born at Aigas Field Centre as part of a breeding programme to save the cats from extinction.
@Aigas
In some of our oldest Glen Affric planting sites, the pines now stand 10 metres tall. The regenerating birch is even higher.
A Scots pine can stand for 300 years. 30 years is short. But that's what makes our rewilding future so hopeful. The forest never stops.
#TreesforLife30
Scattered across the Highlands are lost wild pinewoods with a lineage stretching back to the ice age!
Using historic maps, the Wild Pine Project is documenting these forgotten trees so we can make a plan for their recovery, in collab with
@WTScotsocial
.
Golden eagles have been spotted over Dundreggan, where volunteers have helped restore raptor-friendly montane scrub to its uplands 🦅
It's brilliant to see eagles back in our skies. Apex predators are pivotal to nature's recovery by creating fully functioning food chains.
Scotland has the opportunity to be a world leader in restoring nature. Our CEO Steve Micklewright's message to the Scottish Government is simple – harness rewilding to unleash Scotland’s potential.
Make Scotland the world's first
#RewildingNation
👇
Beavers could officially return to Glen Affric this year 🦫
Following in-depth community consultation, we are working with
@ForestryLS
and four private landowners to create a licence application.
Read the full story and consultation report here 👇
Aspen is a rare thing in Scotland. This elusive tree rarely flowers or sets seed in the wild, which has left the population teetering on the edge.
Since the 90s, however, we have been working to turn this around - with some incredible results 🌈
We have just reached a big milestone for the Dundreggan Rewilding Centre. Full planning permission has been granted! This allows us to develop the project further and we are on track to break ground next spring.
Scotland’s Caledonian forest is a jigsaw missing some big pieces.
2023 marked a breakthrough as lynx reintroduction was discussed in parliament for the first time, while people in Glen Affric shared their thoughts on returning beavers.
More here 👇
Most people are used to seeing Scots pine growing as a straight tree in plantation forests, but things get a bit more interesting in some of Scotland’s ancient Caledonian Pinewoods…
Arisaig’s newly released red squirrels have been spotted exploring the area - and sampling the local cuisine! We recently translocated 22 squirrels to Arisaig, helping expand Scotland’s west coast population. It’s great to see them on people’s feeders already.
📸 Alison Stewart
Before the lock down, a Trees for Life team took up residence at Dundreggan to ensure our nursery is able to continue growing the forest of the future. These colleagues have left their homes and loved ones to carry out this work and we are eternally grateful to them.
Across Scotland, people are working to save the aspen. A native tree of incredible beauty and rarity, the aspen is also a mystery. Why can't it easily reproduce? At Dundreggan nursery we are trying to get to the bottom of it and lend a helping hand ✨
Rewilding is the large-scale restoration of nature to the point it can take care of itself. By restoring habitats, enabling natural processes, and reintroducing native species, we can create a more resilient world for future generations.
And doesn't it look amazing? 🧡
Scots pine is the largest and longest-lived tree in the Caledonian Forest. A keystone species, they form the ‘backbone’ on which many other species depend. Discover its relationship with other plants, insects, birds, and animals here 👇
From the wild forest of the Scottish Highlands, we wish you all a wonderful festive holiday.
Nollaig chridheil agus bliadhna mhath ùr dhuibh uile.
Chaffinch 📸
@ScotlandTBP
Happy International Forest Day! The Caledonian Forest is one of our last wild places - this beautifully diverse woodland once covered much of the Scottish Highlands and supports an abundance of wildlife.
#IntlForestDay
Three cheers for teamwork! Thanks to our dedicated volunteers who planted 3,500 trees in Glen Affric last week 🤩
Rewilding Week volunteers are gradually transforming this landscape. Their hard work is creating a lasting legacy of optimism for nature and people 🌈 Thank you!
Animals eating tree seedlings is a natural process that has shaped woodlands for millions of years. It’s why holly has prickly leaves and Scots pine needles taste bad.
But Scotland's unnaturally-high deer numbers mean these age-old defence mechanisms are no longer working.
We’re calling on the Scottish Government to stop licencing beaver killings and show the political will to welcome beavers back properly. Add your voice to the call by signing this petition.
#movedontkill
#conservation
#wildlife
Six golden eagle chicks have been successfully transported from the Highlands to a secret location in the south of Scotland to help boost population numbers.
The newly fledged chicks are thriving in their new surroundings.
Returning trees to Scotland's riverbanks is helping protect fish from climate change. In Aberdeenshire, fishing groups have planted 250,000 native trees along the River Dee. The trees help keep the water cool, increase biodiversity, and reduce flooding 🐟
Seven years of rewilding Dunsany estate in Ireland’s County Meath has created a haven of regenerated native forests, grass fields and marshlands. The wilder landscape is attracting birds not seen in the area for a long time, including red kites and herons.
Exciting news - the Cairngorms are welcoming beavers back after 400 years! Thanks to a licence granted by
@NatureScot
,
@cairngormsnews
will release up to six beaver families, enhancing biodiversity in the River Spey. A win for nature, climate, and people.
#BeaversForBiodiversity
Good news!
@NatureScot
have approved our licence application to bring beavers back to the National Park.
We’ll continue to work closely with landowners and partners over the next few weeks ahead of beavers being released into the wild. Stay tuned for updates 🦫
📸
@BeaverTrust
We planted over 115,000 trees in 2018 bringing the total number of trees we have planted to over 1.6 million! This wouldn't have been possible without all of our wonderful supporters, thank you!
A bright and insightful article by Peter Cairns on the
transformation of Glenfeshie: “Largely free of
grazing pressure, the trees are rising, phoenix-like from the glacial soils.”
Scotland's Caledonian pinewoods are nature's national treasures. But many of these wild pine fragments remain hidden and unaccounted for.
Our Wild Pine Project with
@WoodlandTrust
aims to change that by mapping and restoring these 'lost' pinewoods 👇
Scotland’s rainforest is a rare part of the Caledonian forest that urgently needs our help. By supporting our Wild Seed Appeal, you can help rewilding efforts to restore this magical habitat for future generations.
👉
📸 Niall Benvie for
@ASRainforest