A 2020 Vision for Aspen in Scotland

Scottish Native Woods have developed an ambitious Vision for Aspen in 2020.

Delivering this vision depends on making Aspen more readily available, and we address this issue in our Production Strategy for Aspen

We have now published an Aspen Literature Review.

You can download these documents, the proceedings of the Highland Aspen Group's second conference which we helped to organise.

Protecting and promoting aspen in Scotland

Scottish Native Woods are taking up the challenge of ensuring a bright future for the aspen tree in our native woodlands.

Aspen is a fascinating tree in its own right. In Scotland young trees are mostly produced by root suckers, which can appear at a considerable distance from the parent tree. This gives rise to groups of aspen, which look like separate trees, but which are actually one plant. These groups frequently appear on crags and on the banks of burns and rivers, providing a distinct and colourful contribution to the landscape.

Aspen in some parts of Scotland, such as Strathspey also provides a home for a number of rare and interesting species, such as the Dark Bordered Beauty Moth, the aspen hoverfly and a number of important lichens.

A lot of our work on aspen so far has focussed on Strathspey, where we have an innovative project which is finding out more about the distribution of these trees, using aerial photography. Our next step will be to do more work with woodland occupiers to find ways to protect existing trees and to develop habitat networks to provide wildlife corridors.

One of our partners is Highland Aspen Group, and we are working with them and others to increase the availability of aspen seedlings to form these networks.

You can download our 2010 Aspen production strategy.pdf.

Our work with the Tay Western Catchment Project has also revealed the extent of aspen, particularly in Glen Lyon, and aspen will be a priority for action during the next phase of the Tay Project.

Meanwhile we are reaching out for other aspen enthusiasts in Scotland who want to help to see more of this special tree in Scotland

For more information you can download Our 2020 Aspen Vision.pdf, and a powerpoint presentation An Introduction to Aspen.pdf, or contact

john.parrott@scottishnativewoods.org.uk