Rumster tree-planting task for Caithness Environment Volunteers
Caithness Environment Volunteers carried out tree-planting in Rumster Forest at their March event.
Neil McInnes, of Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), had invited the group to help with the removal of alien Sitka spruce trees, replacing them with broadleaves.
Some of the trees – willow, birch, rowan, aspen and hazel – were given tube guards to protect them from the ravages of sika and roe deer. Holly, yew and alder are either prickly by nature or unpalatable so they were left to grow freely.
Much of the planting at Sunday's event was along the Golsary burn, which rises from the bog inland from the forest.
FLS is using this method of planting alongside rivers – known as riparian planting – to help keep water temperatures down. This in turn benefits freshwater species from salmon to freshwater pearls.
Caithness Environment Volunteers is the charity formerly known as Caithness Countryside Volunteers.
Secretary Mary Legg said: "Despite, or perhaps because of, the occasional snow flurries it was interesting to work here. Folk have lived in this corner for many years, well before the time of the trees.
"The Iron Age broch now showing as a long grassy mound goes back 2000 years or so. Stone from this ancient site was likely pilfered to build the adjacent steading at Golsary, now much reduced to ruins but still with its walled garden containing blackcurrants and redcurrants.
"The settlements in the forest were occupied up until the 1940s. Bringing us up to more modern times is the 229-metre-high transmitting mast built in 1965 whose radio and TV coverage includes Caithness, east Sutherland and parts of Moray and Banff.
"If you are looking for a place to explore then just head for the mast and you'll find the forest."
The volunteers' next event is scheduled for mid-April when they will be helping John O'Groats Mill Trust with tree-planting. The dates and times are still to be confirmed.
Anyone interested in joining the group should email caithnessenvvols@outlook.com
FLS is a Scottish Government agency, responsible for managing Scotland's national forests and land.