Welcome to “Walking Woods Edinburgh”, a self-guided audio tour around the centre of Edinburgh that takes a closer look at the history of the city through the eyes of a wood scientist. The tour was developed as part of the 20th annual meeting of the Northern European Network for Wood Science and Engineering (WSE), but it is meant to be interesting for wood scientists and laypeople alike.
Go to the route map and list of stops
Download transcript of the episode.
In case you don’t know what you are looking at or it is too foggy or dark to see (which happens… a lot), this is Arthur’s seat and the Salisbury Crags:
This picture was taken from Calton hill, which is also well worth a visit if you have the time. Picture credit: John Knight, Wikimedia Commons.
In the audio, Matt and I are touching on why much of Scotland – just like Holyrood Park – is not covered in trees. Here is an article that goes a bit more into detail: A brief history of woodlands in Britain
The most important takeaway from that: Woods did not disappear because of timber production, but because they were replaced where other uses, like agriculture, were more profitable. Forests were often not maintained and not re-planted once harvested, because no timber industry existed that would buy the wood, and so the effort of planting and managing woodlands would not pay off.
Nowadays we do have profitable timber industries in the UK, and we are creating woodlands even where they might not necessarily pay off from a monetary perspective, because they provide ecological and social benefits. But even in these woodlands some timber production can help to bear some of the costs.
Matt and I are also talking about two special tree species that you can find in the park. Rock white beam is still listed as Sorbus rupicola on the website of the Woodland Trust, but it was recently re-classified as Aria rupicola. The unifoliate ash that Matt describes seems to be rare enough so you don’t even find pictures of one on the internet. And you won’t be able to see it for yourself either, so you’ll just need to imagine it… Matt says he has not seen any signs of ash dieback on the tree, so perhaps you will see much more of this ash variant around, should it prove to be resistant.
To do some tree identification at Bawsinch, you can reach out to the Scottish Wildlife Trust. The nearby Duddingston loch is freely accessible year-round.
Next Stop: Scottish Parliament