Birchwood

Morrone Birkwood (birch wood) under winter snow, a remaining area of natural montane birch woodland similar to that which still occurs in parts of sub-arctic Norway.
This wood is near Braemar in Aberdeenshire, photographed in February.

The dominant tree species here is Downy Birch, Betula pubescens, of a small and often contorted form which seldom reaches 10 metres in hieght and is often about half that.
There is an understorey of thick heather and juniper, which can be seen in the foreground.

Studies of pollen grains trapped in different layers of the wood's soil show that the mix of trees and plants here has not changed much in several thousand years, making this place a living link to what much of the landscape here was like in prehistoric times.

Location: Aberdeenshire, Scotland.