The Caledonian Pinewoods once covered huge swathes of the Scottish Highlands and are a living testament to more than 9,000 years of cultural and ecological history. Now, at a time of nature and climate emergency, their future hangs in the balance.

This book tells the story of a band of ecologists who are working to save the forgotten remnants of this remarkable habitat and restore them to their former glory. Camping out in the misty hills, they search ravines, rivers, long-abandoned villages and snow-clad scree slopes for ancient trees clinging on to life. Clues from placenames, old maps and local knowledge complement their painstaking, footsore work as they strive to fill in the gaps in our understanding of one of the jewels in the crown of Scottish nature.

Andrew Painting is the perfect guide to this journey into the natural world, his evident love for the topic and endless curiosity are matched by his acute insight into the changes around him and his expertise as an ecologist.



Andrew Painting grew up in the south of England and studied English at King's College, London and Environmental Anthropology at Aberdeen University. He moved to Scotland to volunteer with the RSPB and since 2016 has been Assistant Ecologist at the Mar Lodge Estate.