Keep an eye out for Campbeltown’s rare wych elm trees

Elms are found across the town on steep banks and in small woodlands. They are present in the wood beside the Cutting and if you look at old maps they show it was once part of Limecraigs Estate, where the town house of the Duke of Argyll was located.

Iona Hyde, outreach manager for the Woodland Trust, recently met up with Ed Tyler, biodiversity researcher for South Kintyre Development Trust, at this wood and she was impressed by the tall, stately elms there.

Afterwards, she looked up an old map and wrote back to Ed, saying: “Part of the woodland we looked at is shown as wooded on the first edition OS [Ordnance Survey] map, so theoretically should be considered as ancient woodland in origin. 

“I’d guess it has been felled and replanted at some point or at least the original trees removed which is why it’s dominated by sycamore now.”

Wych elm is a different species to the English elm, which further south has been decimated by Dutch elm disease, a fungus carried by a beetle. 

For several reasons, scientists are still investigating why the wych elm, which is found only in the UK in the north of England and Scotland, has proved remarkably resilient to the beetle – so far. 

One of them may be that the beetle may not flourish in the cooler, wetter climate of Scotland.
 
Please report any sightings of elms to Ed Tyler by emailing ed.tyler@skdt.org