What is the terrain of Highland Scotland like? Are there are lot of trees or is it more barren? I'm assuming it's hilly, if not moutainous, but what's the vegetation like?
Hm, unless it's changed in the five years I've been away, I'd say it's hilly-verging-on-mountainous in some parts, and actually mountainous in others.
Lots of trees - evergreen pines mainly, but many birch, oak, sycamore, rowan, etc. Lower down there's tall grass, thistles and many types of bushes; broom being one of the most common. Some small hills are covered in blaeberry bushes (also called bilberry or whortleberry, but blaeberry is the Scottish name), they're very common in the Highlands. There's heather - lots of it. There are actually whole fields of heather maybe two feet deep in some places. Heather is usually green/brown/purplish. There's white heather too, but it's less common, more often found in touristy gift shops as a good luck charm. The vegetation is more often denser lower down, in the flat areas - once you get up into the hills everything's a lot closer to the ground. It's really just heather and the odd stubborn tree, and there are a lot of little rivers running down the hills, with very pretty mini-waterfalls
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Thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for. Just trying to get an idea of the scenery. I didn't want to say there were lots of trees and bushes if there aren't any, you know?
And gosh, now you're making me feel bad I've never been there! It sounds beautiful.
It really is, especially in the right weather. Early summer, mid-autumn or mid-winter are the best times, I think, for the quality of the sunlight, colour of the leaves and the snow (if any) respectively.
Oh, there are also lots of lochs (lakes) of various sizes, the most famous being Loch Ness and Loch Lomond (Loch Lomond lies partly in Central Scotland but also partly in the Southern Highlands, according to Wikipedia). Lochs are generally very tranquil places - Loch Lomond is the only one I've properly seen; the shores are mainly pebbles rather than sand and when the wind's down the water looks like gently rippled glass. I think it's because there are hills on either side, so it's fairly sheltered. I spent a wonderful half hour this summer staring out of a coach window at the view. And last year I went canoeing to the little island in the middle and saw wallabies. T'was fun :o)
But yes, if you get the chance, go visit, it's absolutely stunning.
(basically anything they taught you about alpine vegetation applies, plus the North Atlantic Gale effect, which reduces the tree heights/bends them over)
If you're writing around the time of Culloden, the sheep tended to arrived later, with the Clearances when the landowners moved out the tenant farmers to make way for the more lucrative sheep.
Well, I figure it wouldn't have too big of a difference on an area that's never been heavily populated anyway.
But yeah, you nailed me with the Culloden thing, mmhm. So no sheep. Not a big deal anyway.
I really just wanted to know if there were forests or if it was open country. Any extra details are bonus (like what kind of trees they have), I just didn't want to have Our Heroes running through a forest and have some Scottish person go "There aren't any forests here! It's all meadows," or whatever.
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Lots of info on the Highlands here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Highlands
though it doesn't say much about the vegetation.
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Lots of trees - evergreen pines mainly, but many birch, oak, sycamore, rowan, etc. Lower down there's tall grass, thistles and many types of bushes; broom being one of the most common. Some small hills are covered in blaeberry bushes (also called bilberry or whortleberry, but blaeberry is the Scottish name), they're very common in the Highlands. There's heather - lots of it. There are actually whole fields of heather maybe two feet deep in some places. Heather is usually green/brown/purplish. There's white heather too, but it's less common, more often found in touristy gift shops as a good luck charm. The vegetation is more often denser lower down, in the flat areas - once you get up into the hills everything's a lot closer to the ground. It's really just heather and the odd stubborn tree, and there are a lot of little rivers running down the hills, with very pretty mini-waterfalls ( ... )
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And gosh, now you're making me feel bad I've never been there! It sounds beautiful.
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Oh, there are also lots of lochs (lakes) of various sizes, the most famous being Loch Ness and Loch Lomond (Loch Lomond lies partly in Central Scotland but also partly in the Southern Highlands, according to Wikipedia). Lochs are generally very tranquil places - Loch Lomond is the only one I've properly seen; the shores are mainly pebbles rather than sand and when the wind's down the water looks like gently rippled glass. I think it's because there are hills on either side, so it's fairly sheltered. I spent a wonderful half hour this summer staring out of a coach window at the view. And last year I went canoeing to the little island in the middle and saw wallabies. T'was fun :o)
But yes, if you get the chance, go visit, it's absolutely stunning.
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I love the outdoors though, so you're really teasing me telling me about pretty lakes and waterfalls and stuff. *sigh*
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Do you want a couple of ecological studies?
(basically anything they taught you about alpine vegetation applies, plus the North Atlantic Gale effect, which reduces the tree heights/bends them over)
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Not that I know anything about Scotland in *any* time period. I just know it tends to make quite a difference. =:o}
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But yeah, you nailed me with the Culloden thing, mmhm. So no sheep. Not a big deal anyway.
I really just wanted to know if there were forests or if it was open country. Any extra details are bonus (like what kind of trees they have), I just didn't want to have Our Heroes running through a forest and have some Scottish person go "There aren't any forests here! It's all meadows," or whatever.
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A lot like that :)
Note this is a post-clearances landscape. So, more small settlements, more cows and fewer sheep, with the effects that would have on the landscape.
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