Montane Scrub

Natural Heritage Management

• Foreword
• Introduction
• What is montane scrub
• The loss of the ‘wee trees’
• Plants of the scrub
• Wildlife in the scrub
• Restoring the landscape
• The woods and the trees
• Shelter on the hill
• Game benefits
• Enjoying the hills
• Ecological values
• Action for scrub
• Bringing back the ‘wee trees’
• Further reading

Shelter on the hill

Ultimately, the main drive for the restoration of montane scrub is likely always to be the aesthetic vision of restoring Scotland to its full ecological potential. Landscape benefits and forest shelter are added values from the restored habitat. How should the farmer view this potential competing use for hill pasture?

Montane (or high altitude) scrub is likely to be considered only on the least accessible and least productive parts of a hill farm. It is therefore unlikely to force any reduction in stock numbers, especially at a time when subsidy schemes are already being modified to reduce grazing densities. Stock will need to be excluded from montane scrub during its establishment, and even mature scrub will not survive high grazing pressure. However, areas of scrub within an extensive hill pasture could provide valuable shelter for stock on the hill during severe spring and summer weather. Protection from exposure and heat loss could be especially valuable for lactating ewes in spring - when 'lambing snows' seem an all too regular occurrence. This benefit could increase if human-induced climate change brings more 'extreme weather events', as many scientists predict.

Montane scrub would somewhat increase the forage available to grazing animals. The shade from the scrub would tend to exclude grass species of low nutritive value, such as mat grass (Nardus stricta), and encourage shade-tolerant species, which generally have a higher digestibility for herbivores. By holding winter snows for longer, the scrub would also improve soil moisture regimes, compared to open hillsides, and this would further enhance the grazing for small numbers of stock.

There is a potential downside to this picture. Scrub could make it more difficult and timeconsuming to gather sheep for shearing or dipping. Furthermore, the benefits that would accrue from shelter and improved grazing would be unlikely to compensate fully for the initial cost of excluding stock while the scrub establishes.

Grants under the Woodland Grant Scheme might reduce these disbenefits for any farmer who wanted to contribute to the vision of restoring Scotland's natural environments. Within Sites of Special Scientific Interest, positive management grants may be available from Scottish Natural Heritage for such work, and future environmental subsidy schemes for agriculture might also offer support for montane scrub restoration.