“People always ask me about the squares”. Ellie has stopped our small group to look up at a purple-clad hillside. There is a very faint outline of six square shapes cut into the landscape.

The four of us are standing on a narrow path winding alongside a burn in Strath Nethy, a secluded and beautiful glen on RSPB Abernethy, on a warm grey morning. Ellie Dimambro-Denson and Christina Hunt are leading the expedition, alongside Mark Hancock, who established the ELSP-funded Cairngorms Connect science and monitoring programme, and me – here to take photos and learn!

^{Ellie walks towards the trial site, with marking poles on her back}

“These are trials to see the most effective method of creating a seed source at the edge of the forest expansion zone”, Ellie explains to me.

They are trying to work out the best conditions helping young broadleaf saplings to take root and grow in the hostile heaths beyond the forest edge. Downy Birch, Aspen and Eared Willow spread their small seeds using the wind, but struggle in remote areas to disperse very well.

The reduction of deer numbers over recent decades at RSPB Abernethy, thanks to the efforts of the stalkers, allows saplings to escape nibbling teeth and grow above the height of the heather to establish into young trees. Historic land management means that broadleaf trees (and especially the highly palatable Willow and Aspen) are in need of a helping hand to establish in the regenerating forest.

To help expand the forest, a few questions need to be asked. Should you just leave trees to naturally regenerate? Is planting trees better than sowing seeds? And if you do plant, how do you prepare the ground?

The route to an answer is in these squares, which have nine combinations of planting conditions: cut with a powerful robocutter, cut with a brushcutter or not cut at all; planted as seeds, planted as saplings, or seeds left to naturally disperse. Comparing how well the trees grow in each square, repeated across 6 sites of RSPB Abernethy, should give a good indication of the best method.

^{Walking through deep heather and boggy patches to the trial site}

We turn away from this hillside and leave the path to cut left, towards the opposite slope and more squares. The firm ground immediately disappears.
A shock of cold and my foot sinks into a hidden boggy patch. The others forge ahead confidently. It’s a tough walk, but an everyday experience for Ellie and Christina.

We squish our way through waist-high vegetation, then begin an ascent up the hillside. My now-wet legs begin to burn with the effort. Finally, we stop to drop gear and a very short moment later the wind drops, and our party is joined by a cloud of energetic and hungry midges. Christina puts on a net hat and cracks on, taking out bamboo poles festooned with colourful stripes and laying them on the heather. I sit and wipe layers of midges away from my camera screen so I can see my photos.

Wet feet and bitten faces - but it doesn’t dampen the positive and optimistic mood of the day.

Ellie’s enthusiasm is infectious as she looks across the site: “it’s been so encouraging, coming back and monitoring in detail. Some are looking really healthy! There’s more trees that have survived than the fearful part of me was wondering.”

Her fear stems from the fact that saplings are fresh, young, and incredibly tasty to nibbling animals.

Ellie, Christina and Mark set up the corner posts of the 20mx20m plot. Having Mark along is a great support, as he was actually involved in the initial design of these trials. At a bottom corner, Ellie shouts up excitedly.

“This birch has grown so much! It’s massive! That’s so impressive! It’s doing really well!” You can tell how much the health of these saplings means to her. “It’s up to here! It’s up to my waist!”

Within the plot, the three set up five quadrats, square metres framed by the bamboo poles. They will be searching these to find out what’s growing, and what animals have been there.

^{Left: a bamboo pole, with the hills of Strath Nethy behind | Right: Mark records any plants he's spotted}

“It’s a bit like a treasure hunt”, says Ellie.

Christina looks up from her search “it’s funny when you initially set your quadrat down and think there isn’t a tree there - then realise as you look - there is a tree!”

It’s a treasure hunt with a prize that means so much to Ellie and Christina: new growth and new roots in our glens, part of Cairngorms Connect’s landscape-scale forest expansion.

It feels even more like a game because they need to get an idea of how likely they are to be able to spot things in this specific terrain. This is important as some terrains will be easier to search in than others, and they are trying to keep the trials fair.

They each hide some cut birch stems from mature trees to mimic saplings and a few handfuls of dry dog food (because it looks a bit like animal droppings!) in the quadrat and invite each other to find as much as possible.

^{Ellie searches through the long grass for the hidden saplings and fake animal droppings}

I have a go with one Ellie has set up. I find absolutely nothing in the tangle of vegetation. Christina has sharper eyes, but she still doesn’t spot everything. The group now know that this terrain will be harder to identify saplings and animal signs.

They sift their hands through the heather and grass in the quadrats, looking at vegetation percentages. It reminds me of combing through hair with your fingers, parting and laying flat. Names are called and noted. Cowberry. Bell Heather. Mat-grass.

The wind picks up and ripples across the hillside. The insects are taken with it and there is no sound.

“It’s very meditative, looking at things differently, looking to see what’s present”, Ellie tells me. “It focuses your attention. You’ll find things you otherwise never would have seen. A tiny new shoot, resting moths hiding below the heather stems.” She returns to her work, absorbed.

I leave them kneeling on the hillside and make my way back to Abernethy Forest, amazed at the passion, excitement and sense of connection that Ellie, Christina and Mark have for what others might find difficult and uncomfortable work. The sun finally breaks out of the cloud and slants across the brown and purple hillside, and I hope that one day it will shine down on the green leaves of thousands of new and thriving trees.

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