Skógræktarritið - 15.05.2001, Side 95

bly the main component of
Shetland's ancient woodland,
survives in only five sites, two on
high cliffs above the sea (like the
aspen) and three on remote
holms on lochs in the exposed
plateau of North Roe in the north
of Shetland's mainland (Fig. 4|.
Alder (no live relicts), hazel (just
two relicts!), rowan, willow and
juniper of which there are more
survivors, were other compo-
nents of this woodland. But
pollen deposits in loch beds sug-
gest that common ash, oak and
wych elm may also have been
present (Bennett et al. 1992).
Pollen of Scots Pine (Pinus
sylvestris) has also been found,
and it is tantalising to think that
the Caledonian forest (or
Norwegian one for that matter)
may have reached as far as
Shetland!
History
The only woodlands in Shetland
today, however, are plantations,
mostly dating from the 19th and
20th centuries. The ancient capi-
tal of Shetland, Scalloway, and
the gardens of Busta House, a
large mansion near Brae in the
north mainland, have old syca-
mores (Acer pseudoplatanus) and
wych elms (Ulmus glabra) that may
date back to the 18th century.
It was the lairds (Scottish
landowners), merchants and cler-
gy, who were largely responsible
for these plantations. Their
respective "tenants", "customers"
and "flocks" were in more or less
feudal thrall to them until the
late 19th century. Fishing, sub-
sistence farming, and the infa-
mous "truck system" kept the
majority of Shetland's rural pop-
ulation in hand-to-mouth pover-
ty and debt, with the whip-hand
of organised religion to keep any
rebellious spirits down.
No wonder then that few of the
tenants' houses had room for
anything more than the crops
necessary for survival next to
them. An exception sometimes
was the common elder (Sambucus
nigra), the pith of whose shoots
was used as wicks for taliow
lamps ("kollie lamps").
It may be that two often-heard
expressions in Shetland; "Trees
spoil the view” and "Trees are for-
eign to Shetland", have their
roots in this dark period of histo-
ry, which culminated in the lairds
evicting tenants throughout the
highlands and islands of
Scotland in their thousands, and
replacing them with sheep. Trees
then might, with some justifica-
tion, have been regarded by the
majority of Shetland people as
the idle playthings of the (usually
Scottish) rich, who treated their
fellow humans with such con-
tempt.
The present
The Crofters Act of 1886 brought
security of tenure to the small-
holders of the north and west of
Scotland, but in many cases the
crofts they were given security of
were of poorer quality than what
was available to them before.
They didn't get "their" land back.
Meanwhile the lairds had intro-
Fig. 4. Betula pubescens and Salix,
Inniscord Loch, North Mainland.
duced sheep ranching on a large
scale; the tenants were obliged
to follow the same practice by
market forces.
in 1880 there were 80,000
sheep in Shetland, 247,000 in
1950 and 424,000! in 1998 (Scott
& Palmer 1987, Spence 1979, SIC
1999). This accelerating mono-
culture has had profound and
deleterious effects on Shetland's
already fragile vegetation.
Generous subsidies have encour-
aged crofters and farmers to
increase sheep numbers to
undoubtedly unsustainable num-
bers, in both ecological and eco-
nomic terms. Large tracts of
heather moorland have been
converted to grassland, by appli-
cation of lime and fertiliser, and
surface seeding. On nearly all
"in-bye" land arable crops have
been given over to grazing. Hay
making has been superseded by
silage making, with unwieldy
machinery compacting soils,
which are made wetter by the
increasing rainfall which appears
to be the main effect of global
warming on Shetland's climate.
SKÓGRÆKTARRITIÐ 2001 1. tbl
93