The ancient hazelwoods on the island of Seil in the Hebrides create a cool, quiet environment with a thick canopy. This forest, a remnant of Britain's oldest woodland, dates back to around 10,000 years ago following the last ice age. Hazel pollen spikes provide a method for dating these woodlands, which are estimated to exist since 7,500BC, predating both pine and oak forests in the UK. Only a few patches of this old growth remain, with rare fungi like hazel gloves fungus also residing within the woods.
Even in midsummer, the ancient hazelwoods on the Hebridean island of Seil are cool and quiet. Countless slanted stems of hazel support a thick canopy, which blots out the sun and blankets everything below in a sort of fairytale darkness.
When the last ice age ended, the mile-thick glacier that had buried northern Europe melted away and hazelnuts sprouted across the rock left behind. Scientists can date when those forests sprang up across the west coast of Britain and Ireland.
Scottish lichenologists have estimated these particular woodlands might have been around since 7,500BC. That's older than any pine forest in the UK. Older than any ancient oakwood that we have down south.
An ancient hazelwood on the Hebridean island of Seil is one of the oldest patches of woodland in Britain. From the outside, the bush-like stand appears so unremarkable that you could walk right past and miss it.
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