May Tree of the Month: William's Cleugh Pines - a very special Scots Pine

At Kielder 'The wildwood landscape has an ancient past - it is possibly the only site in England containing original native Scots pine trees (the William's Cleugh pines). It contains remnant native upland pine habitat, unique to England, which would have thrived in prehistoric times.'

We were not able to get very close to this fascinating pine. This shot is by John Dalrymple.

Rothbury CAN had an outing to Kielder Wildwood on 30th April, and the story of this pine fascinated us all.

"William's Cleugh, a ravine on the eastern slope of West Kielder Moor with fragments of rowan, birch and willow woodland, contains a group of five Scots pines that pre-date the adjacent planted forest. Another pine stands alone near the foot of the cleugh. The absence of any other Scots pine in the area suggests either:

1. That they or their ancestors were planted.

2. That they are a native remnant.

If the latter were true, they would represent the only surviving native pinewood remnant in England." Andrew Curtis

Read more about about the William's Cleugh Pine Trees.

In Rothbury, we do have quite a lot of magnificent Scots Pine trees.
This blog from April 2023 tells you quite a lot about them.