Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:35:19.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Native woodlands of the Inner Hebrides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2012

M. E. Ball
M. E. Ball
Affiliation:
Nature Conservancy Council, Fraser Darling House, 9 Culduthel Road, Inverness IV2 4AG
Get access

Synopsis

Woodland is native throughout the Inner Hebrides at low elevations wherever exposure and soil conditions permit. Although mostly destroyed in the distant past, sufficient remnants remain to characterise Hebridean woods and provide a basis for their study and conservation. Surveys have revealed that the types represented are those dominated by wych-elm, ash, oak, birch, hazel, alder and sallows. All but the smallest and most exposed islands have remnant woodlands but the widest variety of types and the most demanding species occur on the larger islands of Mull and Skye. The woodland flora is rich in oceanic species and poor in continental, boreal plants characteristic of the mainland pine–birch woodlands, although Scots pine probably once occurred sparsely in the primaeval woodland.

The most powerful factor influencing between-site variation in the woodland flora is geology, with wychelm, ash and hazel associated with soils on Durness limestone, Mezozoic rocks and basalts, and oak and birch characteristic of the Torridonian sandstones, acid Moine rocks, Lewisian gneiss and granites. There is little active conservation; the most pressing need is protection from grazing and fire to ensure long-term survival.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 83: The Natural Environment of the Inner Hebrides , 1983 , pp. 319 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Each reference to a paper in the Symposium carries an asterisk indicating that it is contained in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 83B.Google Scholar
Anderson, M. L. 1967. A History of Scottish Forestry. London: Nelson.Google Scholar
Birks, H. J. B. 1973 Past and Present Vegetation of the Isle of Skye. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
*Birks, H. J. B. Williams, W. 1983. Late-quaternary vegetational history of the Inner Hebrides. Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 83B, 269–292.Google Scholar
*Bramwell, A. G. and Cowie, G. M. 1983. Forests of the Inner Hebrides—status and habitat. Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 83B, 577–598.Google Scholar
Bunce, R. G. H. and Shaw, M. W. 1973. A standardised procedure for ecological survey. J Envt Mgt I, 239–258.Google Scholar
*Currie, A. and Murray, C. W. 1983. Flora and vegetation. Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 83B, 293–318.Google Scholar
Heron, R. 1794. General View of the Natural Circumstances of those Isles of Hebrides. Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Heslop-Harrison, J. W. 1937. Natural History of Raasay. Proc. Univ. Durham Phil. Soc. 9, 246–351.Google Scholar
Jermy, A. C. and Crabbe, J. A. M. 1978. The Island of Mull, a Survey of its Flora and Environment. London: Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.)Google Scholar
*Kerr, A. J. and Boyd, John Morton. Nature conservation in the Inner Hebrides. Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 83B, 627–648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacCulloch, J. 1824. The Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland. London.Google Scholar
MacVicar, S. M. 1897. On the Flora of Eigg. Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist. 21, 34–41, 110–117.Google Scholar
McVean, D. N. and Ratcliffe, D. A. 1962. Plant Communities of the Scottish Highlands. Nature Conservancy Monograph No 1. Edinburgh: HMSO.Google Scholar
Mitchell, A. (Ed.) 1907. Sir Robert Sibbald's Geographical Collections. Edinburgh. Scottish Historical Society.Google Scholar
Monro, D. 1884. Description of the Western Isles of Scotland (circa 1549). Glasgow: Thomas D. Morrison.Google Scholar
Parr, T. W. 1981. Scottish Deciduous Woodlands: A Cause for Concern? Forest and Woodlands Ecology ITE Symposium No 8. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Peterken, G. F. 1977. Woodland Survey for Nature Conservation. CST Notes No 2. Nature Conservancy Council.Google Scholar
Peterken, G. F. 1980. Classification of Stand Types in Semi-Natural Woodland. CST Notes No 23. Nature Conservancy Council.Google Scholar
Poore, M. E. D. 1955. The use of phytosociological methods in ecological investigations. J. Ecol. 43, 606–651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratcliffe, D. A. (Ed.) 1977. A Nature Conservation Review. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
*Rose, Francis and Coppins, Brian J. 1983. Lichens Colonsay. Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 83B, 403–413.Google Scholar
Skene, W. F. 1876–1880. Celtic Scotland. 3 Vols. Edinburgh.Google Scholar