Isle of Mull, oak wood by Loch na Keal

Photographer

Niles, John

Date

• 2014

Summary

• The natural condition of much of the Isle of Mull is to be wooded, even though thousands of years of deforestation have bereft the island of most of its cover of trees. This copse of oak and hazel, known as Scarisdale wood, is located close by the south shore of Loch na Keal not far from its head. The wind-twisted trunks and branches and the lush green undergrowth of ferns give an impression of what much of the island might have looked like about 8,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age and before the arrival of the first farmers.