I have the same idea too. Unfortunately im English so the land is double the price of scottish land. Im saving to buy around 5 acres instead of buying a house. If you really want to do it then do it. It just takes time. Ill hopefully have enough money in about 2 or 3 more years to buy over 50% out right. But in that time im learning about trees and will start to propagate new ones soon

You can alway find unused land there’s so much make sure it’s not owned by anyone online and if you have checked then buy some saplings and start planting

Thanks! Yes think it's important we try and balance what wildlife and people need from a forest. If you see anything similar happening elsewhere let us know!

Thanks David! Hope you enjoy following our journey.

Thanks Kat! This reminds us that someone was interested in doing some soil research on the land to monitor the change as the trees grow so will get back in touch with them and see how they can help. The way the woodland creation grants are setup at the moment makes some of your other ideas difficult to implement, primarily because we're very much relying on the grants to make creating the woodland financially viable. Natural regeneration certainly has it's place but to make it work in reasonable timeframes it still requires costs and management (from what we understand). There are though certainly some areas where we hope to take a more natural approach sooner, primarily within the existing woodland. Are there any examples you are aware of where people are using the techniques you describe to turn fields into woodland which will have a productive timber element?

Good luck! Let us know when you get somewhere.

Do your part to help that overpopulation- move.

Yes, we have some already and will plant more next year!

Thanks for your interest! The forest we're planting is a mix of many different broadleaves and conifers. It is a long way from the common Sitka Spruce plantations that dominant much of the commercial forestry in Scotland. You're right that we are very small scale but you have to start somewhere! Like the idea of Syntropic Food Forests but not sure this is the best site for that type of system plus at the moment we don't have the time needed to create and manage that type of forest. But something we will certainly be looking at further in the future!

Thanks James! Not yet but we hope to do something in the future. If you drop us a message on our website then I can email more info. diverseforests.co.uk/get-in-touch/

That's why we've bought it together, makes it more affordable. If you want to discuss it further send us a message diverseforests.co.uk/get-in-touch/

Creating a forest is the place we've decided to invest our money, seems more interesting than putting money into the stock market, funds etc (or buying a bigger house!). Guess we probably spend less than a day a week on it on average since we bought it.

Better to leave them growing. A forest with all kind of tree and brush species can withstand droughts, heavy raining and decesies. Only commercial monoculture forest are heavily impacted by these natural phenomenas.

Kudos ,Debbie..

Don't know much about beavers but I don't think our streams are big enough!

Hi Ben, thanks for your comment. What trees and you growing and where are planning to plant them!? More than welcome to come and help us out, send me a message at diverseforests.co.uk/get-in-touch/

We will plant some redwoods - though not everyone likes them as they grow so much taller than our native trees which changes how the landscape looks! But much nicer to look at than 'clear cut' forests.

No no no, we don’t want foreign trees. They are beautiful in their own natural setting, we want our own native species thank you.

Hello! We bought 1.5 years ago and the prices have gone up a lot since then. I think now in Scotland you would be very lucky to pay less than £12k/hectare for land you can plant trees on. I'll do some videos about this at some point soon hopefully.

Yes it's an interesting method. Not sure we could afford it though!? We will plant about 3000 trees per hectare but in Miyewaki it looks more like we would have to plant 10,000+ trees per hectare which would make it a lot more expensive.

@@diverseforests you should do some go-fund me as I could only suggest that. I am not a expert in this method so you could contact some groups around the world to help you guys in this thing. It's only my opinion as I think this method would yield more return to you guys in long-term.

Yes, so you end up with a forest with trees of different ages. Unfortunately if you want to use timber to make things (houses, furniture etc) you have to cut down living trees. But that brings benefits as well to the forest, after all taking a tree out brings in a lot more light which encourages other things to grow in it's place. For sure you need dead wood in the forest - we wouldn't take away all the timber. It's a balance between the being productive, biodiverse and amenity value.

Yes we are! Though not a huge amount, timber quality is not so high but mainly because it doesn't work so well in the type of forestry management we're using called Continous Cover Forestry as it is such a light demanding tree (ie doesn't like growing on a forest floor). But we include some as it's a good looking tree with biodiversity benefits!

@@diverseforests Oh okay

You're right! So we'll be putting up a high fence around the land when we plant the fields with trees.

Eventually yes a forest would return but it would probably take a long time, especially as the deer like eating the young trees that grow. Plus we are hoping to harvest timber from the wood in our lifetime so we must plant trees to have a realistic chance of that being possible. It has to be a balance between timber, biodiversity and amenity factors.

Not quite. If the environment surrounding the project has a lot of non-native plants & trees, the forest will grow and damages the native ecosystems. They need to plan and control to make sure the plants that grow in the land are ones that are native and beneficial for native ecosystems. Planting trees and mulching also accelerate the progress anyway.

@@diverseforests you are correct in your approach. If you just buy up land in areas and exclude its use from the local population you will not win over other people for your cause. If you educate others in the values of natural managed forest for the community and wild life on poor grazing land then you are winning the argument. People need to understand that even semi natural forest that is managed is going to need herbivore control, also native cattle breeds like Highland cows do exceptionaly well browsing in open natural deciduous forest. These poor grazing areas rewooded would actually provide better grazing for browsers like cows than they do in there current state, cattle are actually related to forest dwelling bovines like aurochs. As long as the cattle move on and do not over browse one area they keep the forest floor open for forest floor plants, same with wild boar turning and oxygenating the forest floor soil. We need to harness nature to help us not fight against it like a war machine. Scotland is the perfect candidate for rewooding for fuel, forest grazing land, paper products and other things. The problem arises when these things are carried out in an industrial manner which is what our economy is geared for, however if the local population and wildlife benefits then that is all that matters. Monobloc conifer plantations are horrendous to look at 🤢🤮. A mixture of willow, rowan, birch, oak, hazel, ash, aspen and whatever native species can thrive on that soil and environment can and should be planted. Forestry and woodland has amazing value, not just commercially but asthetically and for sustainable products locally. The issue arises when the money men get involved, everything gets streamlined towards one objective, yield and profit, this is when damage is done to wildlife and local quality of life. I see so much potential and value in turning vast swathes of Scotlands derelict uplands into woodland that beneits EVERYONE and EVERYTHING that depends upon it.

@@nk53nxg Thanks for your ideas and thoughts Chris! Yes it's very much a balance between the different uses of land/forests. Hopefully (eventually) we can move away from these monobloc conifer plantations!

They're valid points you make. There should be more land reform in Scotland. Part of the process for applying for tree planting grants is consultations with neighbours to try and accommodate anything they would like to see changed. For example we're leaving a strip unplanted to maintain their views. Who do you think should be buying and owning the land if you don't thing groups should own land? Interestingly the Scottish Government has been selling forests to the highest bidder...

Fair enough, but why do you need to make a KZfaq comment about it and tell everyone how great you are. People do this all the time. Go homey!

Of course we need land for food production! We have to balance what we use our land for. But only 10% of the UK is covered with trees (according to gov agency Forest Research) which is one of the lowest in Europe. We also have to import 70%+ of the timber we use because we're not growing enough (Forest Research data). It looks like less than 20,000 hectares of new woodland was planted last year in the UK (so less than 0.15% of total land).

@@diverseforests i remember near me where there used to be open fells,with lovely views where you could see for mile,s, which ya can,t anymore, with tree planting, i know of quite a lot of places i remenber as fields that are now all tree,s, i also remember back in 1972' when the electric only came on for a couple hr,s a day.due to there being no coal for to make electric, or to use on people,s fire,s, because of all the miner.s been on strike, & when everyone burned coal, the miner,s would all get together & go & cut a few big tree,s down, so after this, there wern,t a lot of tree,s up untill they started to plant them, prob 30yr later, the cycle routes too are all coverd with tree.s, that have prob just grown wild, but were never there when these were railways, i know we need tree,s, for oxygen etc,but i,ve yet to look at one, & think to myself oh i like that

@@michaelgoulding6609 boohoo. Those poor sheep... whatever are they going to do?

That comment just shows your total lack of understanding

The amount of ignorance Michael has shown in only 2 comments shows how in the Age of Enlightenment of endless information at your fingertips, you cannot help dumb people.