From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
God help us from the useless Telegraph!
The Scots pine could be wiped out in the UK by climate change, horticulturalists have warned.
The evergreen conifer, which can grow up to 120ft tall and live for 700 years, is the only pine native to the UK and can be found in the once extensive Caledonian forests of Scotland.
But Sally Petitt, the head of horticulture at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, has now warned that Scotland’s national tree is “suffering” in the rolling heatwaves and lack of rain.
Ms Petitt said: “Himalayan pines and Scots pines are suffering here. We have lost two mature Pinus wallichiana (Bhutan pine) in recent years, which we believe is due to lower rainfall and high temperatures.”
In 2025, the UK endured its driest spring in 132 years combined with the hottest summer since records began in 1884.
The Environment Agency has warned that even if England receives its full average winter rainfall, areas such as Cambridge will remain in drought conditions until early next year.
Horticulturalists at the 40-acre gardens have been modelling which trees and plants will be resilient to more extreme weather conditions in the UK.
Full story here.
So let’s get this straight. Scots pines are suffering in Cambridge, because it is too hot and dry. And that is supposed to mean they will die off in the Scottish Highlands, where it is much cooler and wetter?
Is this the best the Telegraph can manage?
For a start, Scotland has been getting wetter, not drier:
But more to the point is that the tree thrives in places where the climate is much drier and where summer are much hotter than in Scotland, including Siberia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pinus_sylvestris_distribution_map.jpg
The USDA state:
Scotch pine is the most widely distributed pine in the world. It grows naturally from Scotland almost to the Pacific Ocean and from above the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. Its altitudinal range is from sea level to about 2440 m (8,000 ft).
Climate
Scotch pine is adapted to a wide variety of climates as indicated by its extremely large natural range. It grows in areas with an annual precipitation exceeding 1780 mm (70 in) and in areas with an annual precipitation as little as 200 mm (8 in). Scotch pine survives in the Verkhoyansk Mountains of eastern Siberia where winter temperatures have been recorded as low as -64° C (-83° F). In some areas it grows where the subsoil is permanently frozen. Scotch pine can also survive high temperatures, and it is found at middle altitudes in the Mediterranean region. The primary distribution of Scotch pine, however, indicates that it is a tree of the continental climates (18).
https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_1/pinus/sylvestris.htm
On fertile soils, the Scots pine tends to be squeezed out by other trees. According to Wikipedia, the pine formed much of the Caledonian Forest, which once covered much of the Scottish Highlands. Overcutting for timber demand, fire, overgrazing by sheep and deer, and even deliberate clearance to deter wolves have all been factors in the decline of this once great pine and birch forest. Only comparatively small areas remain.
But why ignore the facts, when you can write another silly climate scare story?
Meanwhile, I am sure Cambridge Botanical Gardens will be on the receiving end of nice fat grants to keep peddling the scare!
England will be having yet another extremely damp and flooded drought this year, then….
Anyone who is a regular traveller up the A1 or North East Mainline can only wonder at the motivation of the person who issued that statement. The land is flooded and has been for months.
My experience has been that newspapers are good sources of information about sports and the closing prices on Wall Street. Anything else, not so much.
In general, they’re pretty good at predicting a lot of things that already happened.
The biggest problem climate alarmists face is not a shortage of rainfall but of logic.
“Journalists” at the Telegraph appear to be trans reality activists. Among their pronouns are dumb and dumber.
Not to mention dumbest.
If you transplant a Scots pine to more than 500 miles south of its natural habitat, you must expect it to be unhappy. East Anglia has always been much drier than Scotland – and a lot warmer too. And these people are supposed to be botanists, for goodness sake?
Read the paper which says it grows anywhere from N. of the arctic circle to the Mediterranean and in both wet and dry climates.
Maybe it died from a surfeit of Mad Ed policies or was infected by the proximity of The University of East Anglia climate department.
They say that plants respond to being spoken to. One can only imagine the response to the shrill screechings of Cambridge faculty and student activists. If I were a tree, I might also find the environment untenable.
Well of course, OSD. Pine trees have been around since the Jurassic, at least. They grow everywhere almost. Come Thermageddon, the pine tree, the rat, and the cockroach will be the only lifeforms left alive.
I planted several Scotch Pines in my yard in Kansas (hot and dry in the summer, cold and dry in the winter) When I got them from the nursery as seedlings, I was told they had a life span of about 20 years. In about 20 years, they slowly died. That seems to be the pattern here. I don’t know what the life span is elsewhere, and I note that other evergreens in my yard are doing fine after 30 plus years.
Maybe the life span in Cambridge is normal for that area–no climate change needed.
Lifespan here in Scotland is several hundred years unless disturbed, but they need a certain amount of water. Perhaps Kansas is too dry for them.
And the name is Scots, not Scotch. Scotch is what you call Whisky.
Seadog: – It’s distinctly possible that, quite simply, individual specimens are more or less vulnerable than average to weather conditions. That’s how evolution works…
Or the Scots Pine in Cambridge died of something other than drought, and was falsely diagnosed?
I’m on the South Coast , outside my back fence is woodland including Birch Oak and a big Scots pine , they are all doing fine
Maybe some crazy Extinction Rebellion member poisoned it to save it.
You mean like
https://www.planthealthcentre.scot/blog/iconic-caledonian-scots-pine-new-health-threat-and-its-implications-management
Oh, it is clear. The fungus is caused by CO2.
/s
What kind of botanical garden does not have provisions for watering their plants when it’s dry? Seems like their Scots pines died of incompetence.
See the post above your’s. A fungus,maybe?
Nothing is too absurd these days for the alarmists. As Orwell said, “There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.”. The difference here is every idea they come up with is more than absurd. Global warming causes bitter winters etc.
Cambridge has always been deeply sus.
Would you believe this transgender in a ladies locker room was simply drying off vigorously?
https://nypost.com/2026/01/05/us-news/trans-gymgoer-caught-masturbating-in-womens-bathroom-at-california-planet-fitness/
But in his mind, he was doing it as a woman- so it was OK. 🙂
Scotland’s trees were all cut down centuries ago for wood fires because its too cold and wet there.
Yet another one of his kind. Samuel Montgomery: Bachelors (BA?) in Political Science & Government, from Durham.
It’s as simple as 1-2-3:
How else can you get a lucrative grant nowadays?
So, two trees died in Cambridge and that is a warning signal for ALL of those pines dying in the UK?
Breaking, 2 Scots who drank too much Scotch urinate on Scots pine and kill them
I suppose it’s better than urinating on a Scottie dog.
“which we believe is due to lower rainfall and high temperatures”
“we believe”????? You have nothing to offer as substaniation for the belief?
You may as well have said “we believe aliens from another planet killed the trees!”
Much more likely than climate change.
Lots of diseases and pests threaten every tree species. To blame it on slightly warmer weather is absurd. The article mentioned some of the factors effecting the species- essentially, poor land management.
Back in the ’30s, millions of Scots pines were planted in New England. Turns out they had a bad seed source- which had undesirable genetic traits, like not growing a straight stem. They were all crooked so they would never have timber value. Over time, most have been removed.
Scots pines, or ‘Scotch’ pines here in the US, were the most prevalent species available at X-mas tree farms in upstate NY way back when I was a kid. If memory serves, they were pretty awful in terms of ‘straightness’, and have been largely replaced by Fraser firs and other species on tree lots.
https://realchristmastrees.org/all-about-trees/tree-characteristics/
“Scots Pines typically live for 150 to 300 years, but can often reach 400 to 700 years, with some exceptional individuals living over 760 years, making them very long-lived trees”
British culture is dying off faster then the pines. It sems there is a mind virus that causes degeneration of the common sense the Brits used to be noted for.
That’s very flattering. You make me all bashful. But we have always had our share of ‘tards. Only now they get interviewed by Political Science & Government grads for newspapers.
Exactly. You Brits have a PR problem. Burn down your newspapers and TV stations, and things will brighten up considerably.
Here is what Grok says about Scotch Pine: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), commonly called Scotch pine in North America, is one of the most widely distributed pines globally. Its broad range results from a combination of natural post-glacial expansion and extensive human planting.
Native RangeScots pine is native to Eurasia, with the largest natural distribution of any pine species. It spans from western Europe (including Scotland and Spain) eastward across northern Asia to Siberia and the Pacific coast, and from above the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia south to the Caucasus Mountains and Anatolia (Turkey). This vast native range—covering continental climates with cold winters and varying precipitation—makes it naturally one of the world’s most widespread conifers (second only to common juniper in some rankings).
After the Last Glacial Maximum, it recolonized northern Europe from southern refugia (e.g., Iberian Peninsula, Balkans), spreading northward as ice retreated around 10,000–8,000 years ago.
Typical appearance of Scots pine: blue-green twisted needles in pairs, orange-red upper bark, and conical growth habit.
Human-Assisted DistributionBeyond its native Eurasia, Scots pine has been widely introduced and planted worldwide due to its adaptability, fast growth, and economic value:
Its success outside Eurasia stems from being a hardy pioneer species: it tolerates poor, sandy, dry, or acidic soils; resists frost and drought; and grows quickly. This made it ideal for reforestation, land reclamation, anti-erosion efforts, and commercial plantations producing strong softwood timber for construction, pulp, furniture, and more.
In summary, while its Eurasian dominance is largely natural (post-Ice Age migration across a huge contiguous landmass), its global presence today is heavily amplified by centuries of human cultivation for practical and economic reasons.
Approximate global distribution: dense native coverage across Eurasia, with introduced/naturalized populations in North America and elsewhere (maps often highlight the vast Eurasian span).
Obviously, no danger of this species going anywhere.
I wonder how many Scots pine were cut down in Scotland to make way for wind turbines . !
Hmmmm….
Maybe the tree huggers should just back off and stop infecting these pine trees with their ideology?
“Ms Petitt said: “Himalayan pines and Scots pines are suffering here. We have lost two mature Pinus wallichiana (Bhutan pine) in recent years, which we believe is due to lower rainfall and high temperatures.””
The Bhutan pine is drought resistant but it favours drier winters, the winters have got wetter.
Sally Petitt writes to the House of Lords:
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/152800/pdf/
The Telegraph is no better than the Daily Mail now. Full of propaganda.
Scots pines are an invasive species in Cambridge.
Scotch pines are that feeling that happens when you see the empty bottle of single malt on the table.
Perhaps the botanical garden management could buy a hosepipe.
On my old computer even my old version of Excel could generate random numbers when asked.
Some of these stories sound like they asked a program to generate a random plant or critter and then wrote a story about how “Climate Change” was threatening it somehow.
So import ‘strip-bark’ pines from from Colorado.
<g,d,r>
That’s a history test, Stephen McIntyre has illuminated those trees.
PAGES2K: North American Tree Ring Proxies « Climate Audit
He showed how easy they were to visit, whereas Michael Mann claimed it was too costly to update information on them.
(He and others showed it was easy to visit them in a day trip, getting back to a town for evening meal.
They drove as far as they could then the fit people hiked to the trees.)