A small band of volunteers has helped grow nearly 8 million native trees in Scotland, crucial to restoring lost parts of the Atlantic rainforest, after collecting 11 million seeds by hand. About 100 volunteers, including retired teachers, doctors, office workers, and young families, have spent tens of thousands of hours venturing into remote woods in the western Highlands and islands to search out seed-bearing trees.
Meticulous Seed Collection in Remote Locations
Using detailed maps compiled by NatureScot and Scottish Forestry, volunteers identify pockets of ancient woodland, often in exposed, challenging locations. They scramble up hillsides to find the right specimens of trees known to have colonized Scotland after the last ice age: hazel, sessile oak, dwarf birch, willow, juniper, birch, wild cherry, wych elm, yew, and elder.
The ecologists involved said these trees have inherited genetic resilience to survive in specific microclimates and soil types along Scotland's Atlantic coast—an advantage non-native trees would lack, particularly as the climate changes.
Only 30,000 Hectares of Original Rainforest Remain
Latest surveys suggest only 30,000 hectares of original Atlantic rainforest, a rare temperate habitat adapted to the UK's moist coastal environment, survives. Now the focus of multimillion-pound restoration projects, those pockets have been meticulously mapped within distinct seed zones devised by forestry experts.
The seeds have been collected, graded, and checked by the rewilding organization Trees for Life at its tree nursery at Dundreggan near Inverness, with the finished saplings sent back out to the correct zones. The Woodland Trust has taken saplings for reforesting projects, including Gleann Shìldeag and Assynt in Wester Ross, Beò Airceig, a 30,000-hectare restoration around Loch Arkaig in Lochaber, and sold to scores of crofters planting small woods on former grazing land.
Volunteer Motivation: 'Rather Than Moaning About Climate Change, Actually Do Something'
Sheena Macaulay, a biology graduate who lives near Oban, is one of those volunteers. A former IT manager at Scottish Power's Cruachan hydro station, she combines seed-hunting with butterfly conservation. “We need to regenerate for the generations coming behind us,” she said. “I mentioned it to my neighbours and one actually joined up as well. Another friend down in Glasgow, she joined a group down there. So, rather than moaning about climate change, actually do something.”
Her team was supervised by Roz Birch, volunteer coordinator with Trees for Life, who uses these outings to deliver impromptu biology lessons. Birch has become expert in spotting differences between Scottish native sessile oak and common oak; volunteers are shown how far sessile oak acorns and leaves sit from the twig. A moss-laden tree nearby offers a lesson on temperate rainforest ecology, with its bark home to a compact forest of moss and lichens that thrive in the moist climate.
Climate Change Affects Seed Ripening
Birch explains that extreme high winds and storms are common, but the trees are well adapted. “The uniqueness of the rainforest zone is there will be bryophytes, lichens, whole ecosystems on these trees and within these woodlands, that you can't really find anywhere else apart from the west coast of Scotland and Wales and the south-west of England,” she said.
The project is underpinned by rigorous ecology and close observation of seasonal weather patterns. Sites are often surveyed again, and Birch said there are clear signs that climate heating means seed ripening happens earlier. A dry spring can stress rowan but turbocharge hawthorn, forcing seed collection dates to shift or be cancelled.
Project Fills Gap Left by Commercial Forestry
The project fills a significant gap left by commercial or state-sponsored forestry organizations: these locations are too remote or costly for commercial seed collectors to visit, adding to the significance of the specimens Birch's teams are saving. Its backers believe it is the largest citizen-based reforestation program of its kind.
Originally conceived as a one-year project, it has now received funding for a fourth year from a coalition of donors including the Postcode Lottery via Woodland Trust Scotland, Trees for Life appeals, the BrITE Foundation, and the Clean Planet Foundation.
Another volunteer, Laura Corbe, 47, a marine biologist, prizes her time seed-hunting as it requires slowing down and focusing. “You're literally growing the future. And that's a beautiful thing, isn't it? I don't think people really understand the significance of the rainforest, even people who've lived here their whole lives,” she said.
