If you go down to the woods today, you won’t meet laird

The research has provoked concerns that many of the country’s woodlands are “owned by those who have never visited, and may even be unaware of what they own”.

According to Jon Hollingdale, chief executive of Community Woodlands Association (Scotland), this was likely to mean Scotland was not getting maximum benefits from its forests.

About two-thirds of Scotland’s forests and woodlands are privately owned, with the rest managed by Forestry Commission Scotland.

The research by the Forest Policy Group showed that, of this, about two-thirds was in the hands of “absentees”, 76 per cent of whom lived outside Scotland.

It also showed that the average size of an individual private forest holding in Scotland was 259 hectares, by far the largest of 20 European countries studied.

Mr Hollingdale described Scotland’s land ownership patterns as “unique in their concentration of so much in the hands of so few”.

And he added: “Do we really believe that the two issues – who owns the land, and the public benefits it delivers – are not in some way connected?

“As it seems likely that many of Scotland’s forests are owned by those who have never visited, and may even be unaware of what they own, it’s hardly surprising that our forests aren’t delivering all that they might.”

He added that while there were many “beautiful” and “well-managed” forests in the public and private sectors, he thought community ownership was best for delivering the “full gamut” of economic, environmental and social benefits.

“Too much of Scottish land ownership and acquisition is predicated on the tax breaks and subsidies that land ownership brings, and too much of our land is valued by its owners as a long-term repository of capital and a handy signifier of social power and status, than for its productive capacity,” he said.

Mr Hollingdale made his comments in a report published yesterday, The State of the UK’s Forests, Woods and Trees.

The report, compiled with input from 20 forest and wildlife groups, highlighted that there was little information held about the personal profile of woodland owners.

However, it said that, in the second half of last century, there was a substantial shift from traditional landed estate, which dominated ownership, to corporate “investment” owners.

The report went on: “Many European countries have a stronger tradition of community ownership than the UK. In France, there are 11,000 forest communes owning around 20 per cent of the total forest area, and much more wooded common land.”

Andrew Fairbairn, policy and communications manager at the Woodland Trust Scotland, said it was preferable if people had a close interest in the forest they owned.

However, he added: “It’s good to see a range of ownership types.”