72. Bryn Tyrch Pine
A lone Welsh (Scots) pine is a roadside landmark close to some of Eryri’s most exhilarating peaks.
After a day in the mountains, there can be no more welcoming site for hikers returning to the Bryn Tyrch Inn at Capel Curig than the landmark Scots pine growing opposite. It is a landmark on the A5 too, coming just before the left turn to the A4086 and with the hump of Moel Siabod in the background, it signposts the road to North Wales’ highest peaks.
Species details
Scots Pine
Pinus sylvestris
Where to find it
Bryn Tyrch Inn, Capel Curig LL24 0EL
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Scots pine notes
Rugged Scots pines are one of the easier conifers to identify by distinctive orangey bark that appears in higher branches of mature trees. They are also the most frequent pine species you will encounter in much of Britain or Ireland as they have been planted abundantly since the eighteenth century.
As their name suggests, Scots pine are native to Scotland, but once they were widespread across Britain and Ireland including in Wales. The native pinewoods of Scotland are magical places, and although they are now mere remnants, some of the tracts, especially those around the western Cairngorms near Aviemore are large enough to offer a vision of what the original pine forests may have been like.
Recent research at Trinity College Dublin has confirmed there is a tiny native Irish population of Pinus sylvestris in Co Clare, while research from Manchester University suggests there may be another micro native population in the Welsh Borders.
