Climate-change tree project for Mull

Mull has been chosen to be part of a project testing 30 tree species to find out which will thrive as the climate changes.

Forest Research, part of the UK’s Forestry Commission, is taking part in the “Reinforce” project, which will plant thousands of trees at 37 locations in the west Atlantic.

There are three British sites: Mull; Westonbirt, the National Aboretum, in Gloucestershire, and Crychan, near Llandovery in south-west Wales.

In addition, Forest Research is running two extra trials, at Peebles, in the Borders, and in Crowthorne Forest, Berkshire, which was badly damaged by forest fires last May.

Trees grown in the EU-funded trial will include English oak, Scots pine, silver birch and sweet chestnut, as well as more exotic varieties, such as the Atlas cedar from Algeria, and Monterey, Macedonian and maritime pines.