Dunrobin Castle woods

Dunrobin Castle woods — 1953 Gale

Date Added: 10 June 2014 Contributor: Norman Davidson Year of Photo: 1953 Picture No: 2526

Photograph courtesy of Forestry Commission, Moray and Aberdeenshire Forest District.

An example of the damage in the policy woodlands around Dunrobin Castle, Golspie.

Groups: Caithness and Sutherland, Forestry Areas, Gale 1953

1 Comment

John Keenleyside (Forres) recalls that almost all of the Sutherland Estate forests were devastated by the 1953 gale. The Estate forester was Jimmy MacLennan who with six forestry workers plus timber contractors managed to clear all the windblow in three years. After this they started on the replanting and finished the job around 1958. At this point the Estate was of the mind that it did not need a forestry team for the next twenty years. The upshot was an offer by the Estate to Jimmy and his men that if they formed a contractor group they would get all the Estate work that was needing to be done for a number of years.

The team was formed and they had enough work for part of the year on Sutherland Estates. At this point also Naver Forest was just beginning with only a small work force and Jimmy MacLennan and his team were contracted by Kenny Maclean (Head Forester Naver) to do some of the planting from 1958-1960. John remembers that the area had been ploughed but as some of the ground was hard and rocky the plough skimmed over the hard bits and left areas without a planting turf. Jimmy MacLennan's team were contracted to 'harvest' bits of spare turf from the ploughed areas and spread it over the 'bare' zones before planting the whole area up. Unfortunately when a dry spell of weather occurred the plants ran short of water and moisture and died. Comment left on 23 November 2016 at 10:53 by Norman Davidson

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