Trust's £1.6 million bid to buy Torridon mountain

ANCIENT woodland on the slopes above a picturesque Torridon beauty spot could be saved for future generations after a conservation charity launched a £1.6 million appeal to buy a mountain.

Woodland Trust Scotland this week opened its appeal to buy 1752ft (534m) Ben Shieldaig with the intention of managing its two spectacular woodlands.

Ben Shieldaig covers around 4000 acres and towers above Shieldaig in the Wester Ross National Scenic Area. The peak has been put on the market by its private landowner.

Trust director Carol Evans said: “This is a rare opportunity for us to bring a whole mountain under our care. It already supports a magnificent area of ancient Caledonian pinewood and a temperate rainforest of native birchwood.

“Perhaps even more exciting is the potential to manage these within a mosaic of their natural neighbours. Our aim is to see native woodland, montane scrub and open moorland habitats meshing naturally with each other from sea to sky. That would encapsulate all that a restored landscape can be, not just in Torridon but across the Highlands.”

As well as being home to a significant remnant of ancient Caledonian pinewood, Ben Shieldaig temperate rainforest is lush with mosses and liverworts, some of which are internationally important.

The pinewood remnant is also special because it has occupied the slopes since the end of the last ice age.

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