Assynt Elm Project

Assynt is a last refuge for elms in mainland UK, as everywhere else Dutch elm disease has wiped out the vast bulk of mature elm trees. We are lucky enough to have a significant population of magnificent elm trees, such as the one pictured, which is in Culag Woods. In 2023, we decided to lead a project to find out what we can do to protect these precious trees.

The Assynt Elm Project aims to raise awareness about the significance of the wych elm (Ulmus glabra) trees in Assynt, celebrating their cultural and ecological value as a key part of our west coat rainforest ecosystem and generating interest in them as a ‘canary of climate change’ and symbol of hope and resilience. The project is helping local people of all ages to appreciate our beautiful elms. We are organising events to share understanding and to help with planting and managing a new generation of elm trees and monitoring any advance of Dutch elm disease into the parish. We are working in co-operation with other local organisations and national bodies to blend scientific knowledge with creative responses to attract the attention and care of a growing range of people in out community. We are exploring the remaining healthy elms trees in Assynt, using poetry, photography and other art forms to convey their character to people who might not otherwise become interested in the trees and their plight.

Since 2023 and 2024 we have run several public events to help people identify and learn about elms:

  1. Identification and Photography: Despite a wet and windy forecast, 16 hardy folk came out to our elm identification event on Monday 18 December 2023 at Inchnadamph, representing lots of local organisations including Culag Community Woodland Trust, Assynt Field Club, Assynt Foundation, the Community Tree Nursery and Scottish Woodland Trust, plus several interested people from Assynt, Ullapool and even someone from Aberdeenshire! Dr Euan Bowditch did a great job of explaining why our elms matter and leading a fascinating discussion about how we can best respond to the challenge of Dutch Elm Disease and protect elms as an important part of our ecosystem. Chris Puddephatt talked us through how to take photographs of trees, both in their landscape context and close-up. Chris wrote a lovely blog about the event here.
  2. Seeds of Hope: On Thursday 25 January 2024, 22 school children and 21 adults representing various local organisations (Culag Community Woodland Trust, Assynt Field Club, Assynt Foundation, Scottish Woodland Trust, John Muir Trust ) and other interested local people, gathered at the Little Assynt Tree Nursery, near Lochinver, making a hopeful start to the year by planting elm trees. Genetic diversity is key to the future of elms, and the local project has linked up with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s endangered plant specialists who are breeding elms from the few trees in southern Scotland that have survived the disease. Their seedlings are being planted in Assynt along with lots of seedlings from local elms in hope that some of these trees will show disease resistance and our event included a ceremonial planting of the first of these potentially resilient seedlings along with 19 other elm tree saplings grown from local seeds. As well as the school teachers, key helpers were Andy Summers, senior ranger for Highland High Life, Kat Martin, local artist and conservation officer for John Muir Trust, Nick Clooney and Josie Gibberd who run the Little Assynt Community Tree Nursery, and Max Coleman from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Before planting the trees, Max Coleman explained the importance of elm, and we formed a symbolic seven metre circle around the precious seedling he had brought, imagining how huge it might become if it grows as big as the Brahan elm, which was Britain’s biggest wych elm until it died in 2021. Then Kat Martin led the process of making some portraits of the elms.
  3. Elm Ecology and Art: On Thursday 28 November 2024, Andy Summers led a session, again with Lochinver Primary School children about elm ecology in the Culag Woods, focusing on the huge elm down the Higgledy-piggledy path, which the children have adopted and called Elmo! We formed a huge circle under this tree in order to measure the size of its canopy – 175 square metres! – and then spent a happy hour identifying some of the huge profusion of mosses, lichens, liverworts and ferns growing in this area. Meanwhile, botanical artist Lynn Bennett-Mackenzie, got us all drawing, looking closely at the tree or other living things growing on it and trying to capture what we were seeing on a page.
  4. Winter Warmth: On Saturday 14 December 2024 we had a nearly-solstice winter warmer session, making charcoal from one of the elm trees at Glencanisp Lodge that has had to be felled recently and enjoying a convivial day by the fireside. This session was led by local woodworker Chris Goodman, who was a mine of stories and facts about elm trees, and it also involved participation in a project being run by Fritha West, an elm researcher at St Andrews University and her colleagues Rehema and Jack, who provided delicious campfire food all day long. The day was rich with discussions about what elm trees mean to us and how we can protect them here in Assynt.
  5. Elm Romance: We are planning a final event on Valentines Day, Friday 14 February, 11am at Little Assynt Tree Nursery, where we will ‘launch’ a display board about elms in Assynt and make plans for ‘elm dating’. We have quite a few ‘lonely heart’ elms in remote places that are not close enough to any other elms to cross-pollinate and therefore they don’t produce seed, so we intend to plant some young elms nearby them, so in future years, some elm tree love-making might be able to happen! Join us, you’ll be very welcome!

To find out more about our elms follow these links to websites from some of our key people and supporting organisations:

Thanks to Forestry Scotland, John Muir Trust and Woodland Trust Scotland for funding for this project.

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