What is Caledonian Forest?
[[File:Forest above the Allt Ruadh - geograph.org.uk - 318433.jpg|thumb|right|Caledonian Forest above the Allt Ruadh]] The '''Caledonian Forest''' is a type of [[woodland]] that once covered vast areas of [[Scotland]]. Today, parts of the original forest survive, covering {{convert|180|km2|acre}} in 84 places.<ref name=fc>{{cite web| title=Caledonian pinewood| publisher=Forestry Commission| url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/Pinewood| access-date=2011-01-14| archive-date=2010-12-17| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217213231/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/Pinewood| url-status=dead}}</ref> The forests are home to a wide variety of [[wildlife]], much of which is not found elsewhere in the [[British Isles]]. ==History== The Caledonian forests were formed at the end of the last [[ice age]]. [[Tree]]s began to recolonise what is now the British Isles over a [[land bridge]] which is now beneath the [[English Channel]]. Forests of this type were found all over what is now the island of [[Great Britain]] for a short period. Then the [[climate]] began to warm and the [[pine]] wood retreated north into the [[Scottish Highlands]]. [[File:Caledonian Pine woods near Loch an Eilein - geograph.org.uk - 88408.jpg|thumb|right|What's left of a Caledonian pinewood near Loch an Eilein]] The [[Indigenous (ecology)|native]] pinewoods which formed this westernmost outpost of the [[taiga|boreal forest]] of [[Europe]] are estimated to have covered {{convert|15,000|km2|acre|abbr=on}} as a vast [[wilderness]] of [[pine]], [[birch]], [[rowan]], [[Populus tremula|aspen]], [[juniper]], [[oak]] and a few other species. On the west coast, oak and birch predominated in a [[temperate rainforest]] [[ecosystem]] rich in [[fern]]s, [[moss]]es and [[lichen]]s. The forest takes its name from the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], who called [[Scotland]] ''[[Caledonia]]'', from the early [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] word '*caleto-' meaning 'hard, strong'. The name was used by a local tribe or tribal confederation of native [[Picts]] o