![\"Tree](\"\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/beinneigheregeneration.jpg\")
<\/a>Tree regeneration at Beinn Eighe NNR<\/p><\/div>A different approach to tree-planting is being trialled by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).<\/p>\n
In areas with deer, it is normal for trees to be planted with fencing to protect rarer native saplings. But under a technique being trialled at Creag Meagaidh<\/a> and Beinn Eighe<\/a> National Nature Reserves, managed by SNH, trees will be planted without fences.<\/p>\n Methods will be trialled to establish tree species which struggle to gain a foothold due to deer browsing. Some species have died out in areas due to the presence of deer, and are unlikely to naturally recolonise as a result of a lack of seeds.<\/p>\n Fencing is expensive and can cause negative impacts on access, landscape and biodiversity.<\/p>\n The tree planting techniques at the two reserves are:<\/p>\n \u2022 Planting tall saplings on steep slopes, or inaccessible areas in which the leading shoot is out of reach of deer (sabre planting);<\/p>\n \u2022 Hiding rarer species in the landscape, making them less visible and accessible to deer;<\/p>\n \u2022 Covering the leading shoot with \u2018budcaps\u2019 \u2013 used in Germany and the USA;<\/p>\n \u2022 Using harmless chemical repellents to make the tree unpalatable.<\/p>\n Chris Donald, SNH\u2019s South Highland operations manager, said: \u201cHeavy grazing by deer causes stunted trees which fail to grow above surrounding vegetation. If we can find techniques for establishing these species without costly and unsightly fences, it will help woodland managers create greater diversity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are committed to trialling these techniques to see if they can be used on a wider scale \u2013 especially where deer densities are low and surrounding habitats are in good condition. National Nature Reserves are ideal locations to undertake this kind of novel management.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Natural\u2019 protection\u2019 uses thickets of other species \u2013 such as birch, whins or bracken \u2013 less attractive to deer and hides rarer species to let them flourish. I have seen this recently in the New Forest National Park where well developed birch and gorse thickets harboured aspen despite high numbers of deer and forest ponies.\u201d<\/p>\n Other \u2018protection\u2019 species in Scotland include whins; blackthorn; hawthorn; dog rose; holly; juniper; broom; bramble, and bracken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A different approach to tree-planting is being trialled by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). In areas with deer, it is normal for trees to be planted with fencing to protect rarer native saplings. But under a technique being trialled at Creag Meagaidh and Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserves, managed by SNH, trees will be planted without fences. Methods will be trialled to establish tree species which struggle to gain a foothold due to deer browsing. Some species have died out in areas due to the presence of deer, and are unlikely to naturally recolonise as a result of a lack of…<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9619,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9617\/revisions\/9619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}