A fragement of rare Caledonian pinewood has been returned from 'declining' to 'favourable' condition, following 20 years of work to plant roughly one million new trees and protect the site from overgrazing. But with nearly one quarter of Scotland's remaining native pinewoods considered to be critically threatened, the need to restore woodland across the Highlands is pressing.

In a remote part of Sutherland, the Alladale pinewood is Scotland's second most-northerly, classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for decades, and recognised at a European level as a Special Area of Conservation. However its 'granny pines' were dying off, and new growth simply being hoovered up by deer - a familiar issue across the Highlands, where excessive deer numbers are limiting woodland regeneration, hindering Scotland's progress towards climate change mitigation and greater biodiversity.

Conservationists recognise that the restoration of native woodland should be a priority. A four-year study by the conservation charity Trees For Life found that 23% of all remaining Caledonian pinewoods are critically threatened.

James Rainey, Senior Ecologist at Trees for Life, said: "With the climate and biodiversity crises intensifying, enabling the recovery of Scotland's remnant pinewoods has never been more important. A globally unique habitat that people have valued for centuries, pinewoods also provide refuge for some of our rarest wildlife - from twinflower and wood ants to capercaillie. Working collaboratively with land managers to protect ancient pinewoods is a fundamental first step to ensuring survival of these iconic woodlands."

The slow death of Alladale's forest fragment halted in 2003 when it was purchased by Paul Lister, a landowner committed to re-wilding and restoring the area's degraded natural habitats. 

The estate team, with the support of NatureScot and the Scottish Rural Development Programme, fenced the pinewood fragment to relieve deer grazing pressure and give an opportunity for pine seedlings to grow without simply being eaten. They also planted nearly one million new native trees.

Reserve Manager at Alladale, Innes MacNeill, said, "A restored woodland and a healthy ecosystem is central to the vision for Alladale Wilderness Reserve. We have been working hard on this for two decades, so it is rewarding for us to reach this milestone and have this officially recognised. The hard work will obviously continue; our ethos at Alladale is simple: we will leave the land in better condition than it was found."

Now, a wood that in the early 2000s supported only a few old pines is once again thriving and the forested area has greatly expanded, with scots pine and other native trees in abundance. In time it is hoped that these young trees will set seed, ultimately ensuring a resilient natural forest.

Over summer, NatureScot staff undertook an assessment of progress and found that the pinewood now meets all criteria to be officially classed as being in 'favourable' condition.

Steve Wheatley of NatureScot, who undertook this most recent survey, said: "We measure the condition of the important pinewoods against 15 different criteria which evaluate all the different layers of a native pinewood - from the canopy, to the health of the trees, to the shrub and ground layers, and all the way down to the soils. It was wonderful to see the Alladale Pinewood passing each one of these rigorous tests as the survey progressed.

"The survey was surprisingly hard work; in the absence of high deer pressure, the heather and blaeberry is now so high, just traversing the hill to undertake the survey was tiring but hugely rewarding and it was a pleasure to spend time in such a special habitat and surrounded by nature."