An illustrated talk by Andrew Painting on Friday, 20th November 2026 at 7.15p.m. at the Breadalbane Community Campus, Aberfeldy
A rag-tag band of ecologists is hunting for forgotten fragments of Scotland’s precious Caledonian Pinewoods. Camping out in the misty hills, they search ravines, rivers, and snow-clad scree slopes for ancient trees clinging on to life. They search villages long since abandoned by people and trees. Gathering place names, old maps, local knowledge, their painstaking, footsore work is filling in the gaps of our understanding of one of Scotland’s greatest treasures – a cultural and natural heritage that stretches back to the retreat of the ice.
In this talk, and in anticipation of a new book to be published in 2027, ecologist and writer Andrew Painting discusses the work of Tree’ for Life’s Wild Pine Project in Breadalbane and the Blackmount, where fragments of Caledonian Pinewood are clinging on, and, perhaps, more fragments are waiting to be found.
What begins as a story of the search for our last wild pines becomes a story of the intertwining of people and trees across millennia, and a search for hope in a time of ecological breakdown.
Breadalbane Community Campus: Doors open 7.00 p.m.
Admission: No charge for our Society Members; Visitors – £5.00 per person.
For any enquiries, contact Ian at bhsaberfeldy@gmail.com
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