The celebrated oakwood of Ariundle actually carries the name of the ground beyond the trees. When the local Gaelic speaking people grazed cattle on the hill land in Strontian Glen, they called this place Airigh Fhionndail – ‘the shieling of the white meadow’. The cattle herders have long gone, as have the woodsmen and charcoal burners who used the trees to fuel the white heat of industry in the Bonawe furnace. Now Scottish Natural Heritage cares for this vintage reserve, as modern guardian of an ancient place, where both wildlife and people have deep roots.

Oak-leaf cluster

Ariundle is a surviving fragment of the native (naturally occurring) forest that once covered much of the lower glens in the Sunart area. Here – as in many other parts of Scotland – centuries of felling and burning, as well as grazing by livestock, have taken their toll of native trees.

Despite the earlier losses, there are still many more oaks than other trees at Ariundle and this is partly due to oak being valued in the past as a source of charcoal for iron smelting and bark for tanning.

Most of Ariundle’s trees are ‘sessile’ oaks, so-called because their acorns ‘sit’ close to the fresh shoots. Sessile oaks do well in acid soils – such as those on top of granite, which is the typical bedrock here – and are the main trees in rain dampened oakwoods along Britain’s western fringe. These woods are fragments of an ancient coastal oakwood that once spread along Europe’s Atlantic edge from Spain and Portugal to Norway. Many of Britain’s western oakwoods are now specially protected because they are so rare.

Other native trees and tall shrubs at Ariundle include holly, hazel, birch, rowan, alder and willows. Ash and wych elm relish the richer soil patches over strips of basalt rock. However, the larch and beech trees – as well as perhaps the Scots pines – were planted by people.

Chequered history

Many kinds of insects, from leaf-miners to bark-chewers, live on the oaks. Flying insects also thrive at Ariundle, including over 200 species of moths. The northern emerald dragonfly and small pearlbordered fritillary are two of the local summer fliers that have vanished from many other parts of Britain.

However, the chequered skipper butterfly – on the wing here between late May and early July – is perhaps the most prized of the reserve’s insects. Purple moor-grass in damp areas is both egg hatchery and campsite for the Ariundle skippers. Each caterpillar pulls a tube of grass around itself, then hibernates in a tent of leaf blades.

The chequered skipper was first discovered in Scotland in 1942, just over 30 years before it died out south of the Border. Scotland’s western oakwoods are now its UK stronghold, and careful management in places such as Ariundle is helping its population to thrive. Look out for areas where invading birch scrub has been felled in order to keep the ground open for butterflies.

Primitive greens

Look closely at Ariundle’s surfaces of boulders, tree trunks, branches, burn gullies and woodland hollows. Many are green – so many shades of green that you’d be hard pressed to name them all.

Much of it comes from mosses and liverworts. These primitive plants don’t have roots; instead they take in water and minerals through their leaves and stems. Water also has a vital role – delivered either as rainfall, drips from trees or other forms of runoff – in helping to move their ‘spores’ around the wood.

It’s not too surprising that these simple plants feel at home in the wetness of the western oakwoods. But the number of kinds is amazing and could rival a rainforest for variety.

Britain is the best place in all Europe for mosses and liverworts, and oakwoods such as those around Loch Sunart are Britain’s finest havens. These are world-class woodlands, but their importance comes from plants that many scarcely notice. So look closely...

Look out, tune in

Lesser celandine, wood-sorrel, wood anemone and primrose are among the early bloomers on Ariundle’s woodland floor. Others, such as bluebell and bugle, also like a good blast of spring light for growth, but save the flower show until later.

The glorious unfolding of spring colours on the woodland floor is matched by richness of the birdsong from the branches above. Ariundle’s feathered audio mix includes a classic oakwood blend of summervisiting redstarts, wood warblers and tree pipits. A good sprinkling of willow warblers pumps up the song volume, adding to the longer-established chorus of resident tits, chaffinches, robins and wrens; the occasional hoot of a tawny owl or mew of a buzzard offers a variation on the theme.

If you’re very lucky, you might even hear some mammal noises, such as the squeak of a shrew or pipistrelle bat, or a bark from a roe deer or fox. But the pine martens, wildcats and otters that also live here are seldom seen or heard.

Woodland wanders

Visit Ariundle any time of year and you’ll find plenty of interest. One of the best ways to see the area is to follow the loop trail that starts in the Forest Enterprise car park at Strontian. This takes you through part of the National Nature Reserve and returns along forestry ground to the east of the Strontian river. The trail has a series of wayside panels describing the woodland and its history. Local SNH staff may also be able to offer a guided site visit if you’re coming as part of a group.

Green wood, white heat

Two centuries ago, the Loch Sunart woods were valued and protected as a source of charcoal for iron smelting at the newly built Bonawe furnace in Lorne. You can still see some of the old platforms where oak poles were stacked in Ariundle for the long, slow charcoal-burning process.

Once made, the charcoal was loaded onto boats for transport to Bonawe. To ensure a steady supply of poles, oaks in different parts of Ariundle were ‘coppiced’ by cutting them near ground level and allowing the stems to regrow, about once every 20 years. Young shoots and older trees alike were protected from grazing.

But when the furnace closed in 1876, Ariundle again became a grazing area for sheep, cattle and deer. A century later, the Forestry Commission erected a deer fence to keep grazing animals out. Now SNH is once more working to cherish the woods, encouraging oaks and other native trees to thrive by keeping livestock out and maintaining deer numbers at a level where their grazing will not affect the long-term survival of the wood.

Getting There

You’ll find Ariundle NNR along the track that branches right from the unclassified road leading north from Strontian to Polloch.

Lorgaidh thu TNN Àirigh Fhionndail air an fhrith-rathad tha a’ falbh gun làmh dheas on rathad tuath eadar Sròn an t-Sìthein is Poll-loch.