Sandy's Garden ... The Survivor

A solitary tree which perches atop a granite boulder on Rannoch Moor, it is visible from the A82 which runs from Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William.

It is a very lonely tree in a bleak and otherwise treeless landscape, although it was not always thus.

Between 2500 and 5000 years ago, Scotland’s climate was much drier than it is today, allowing the bogs of Rannoch Moor to dry out, which in turn allowed a forest of self-seeded birch and pine trees to colonise the area. But another climatic change brought about the return of the rains, the reinstatement of the bogs and the drowning of the roots of the invasive trees.

The determined traveller who ventures on to the moor today can still find the remnants of the stumps of these erstwhile residents. And the solitary rowan? Well, it’s almost certainly not a survivor of these former woodlands; it probably grew from a seed carried by an animal or a human traveller, a seed which lodged in a crevice in its host rock, found sufficient nourishment to sustain life and has survived because its location has kept it out of reach of the terrain’s grazing sheep and deer.

But the Rannoch Rowan’s claim to be Scotland’s best-known rowan tree may soon be challenged by a contender for the title. I learn that the Woodland Trust has chosen Scotland’s Tree of the Year to represent Great Britain in the European Tree of the Year competition.

And Scotland’s Tree of the Year is a rowan known as “The Survivor”, which grows at Carrifran near Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway, and which owes its nickname to the fact that it was once the only noticeable tree in the valley which it calls home.

This valley was taken into community ownership at the start of the millennium by a community group which adopted, ‘Where one tree survives a million will grow’ as their mission statement.

To learn more about Carrifran Wildwood, I turned to the group’s website, where I read that, “Carrifran Wildwood is a bold initiative in ecological restoration, spearheaded by a group of friends in southern Scotland and with over 1000 major supporters across the UK and overseas. The project was set up to demonstrate that in a world awash with problems, we need not sit back.

A visionary local scheme could provide both a symbol of the power of individuals to reverse environmental degradation and an inspiration for others to make even bolder efforts. Carrifran stewards have since planted more than 600 000 trees.

Rowans grow at higher altitudes than any other native Scottish trees. They are hardy, have a lifespan of about 120 years, bear bright red berries which are rich in vitamin C and their strong flexible wood was formerly used for making tool handles and sometimes longbows.

Like all trees, rowans’ carbon-locking qualities are essential in the fight against climate change.

‘The Survivor’ was nominated as Scotland’s Tree of the Year by the environmental activist, journalist, museum researcher, and renowned figure in Scottish nature, history, sustainability and food circles, Fi Martynoga.

Now, as UK Tree of the Year, it is the UK's candidate for European Tree of the Year in February 2021.