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United Kingdom United Kingdom forest

Rothiemurchus Forest

User ML5 · Public domain

56% trees around it and 1,529 species recorded.

  • trees within 3 km56%
  • wild within 10 km99%
  • species recorded1,529
  • Altitude219 m

The forest around

56% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 63%Grassland 28%Cropland 8%Built-up 1%Trees 55%Grassland 36%Water 2%Bare ground 0%Cropland 3%Built-up 3%Trees 48%Grassland 49%Water 2%Cropland 0%Built-up 0%Trees 32%Grassland 66%Water 1%Cropland 0%Built-up 0%56%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km63%
  • 1–3 km55%
  • 3–6 km48%
  • 6–10 km32%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees55%
  • Grassland36%
  • Water2%
  • Cropland3%
  • Built-up3%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

1,529 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Whortleberry
WhortleberryVaccinium myrtillus155 recordsUnknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
Common Juniper
Common JuniperJuniperus communis134 recordsIvar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cowberry
CowberryVaccinium vitis-idaea123 recordsBartosz Cuber · CC BY-SA 3.0
Heather
HeatherCalluna vulgaris106 recordsUnknown author · Public domain
Erect cinquefoil
Erect cinquefoilPotentilla erecta105 recordsUser:Tigerente · CC BY 2.5
Scots Pine
Scots PinePinus sylvestris99 recordsHello, I am Bruce on Flickr · CC BY-SA 2.0
Devil's-bit Scabious
Devil's-bit ScabiousSuccisa pratensis91 recordsStefan.lefnaer · CC BY-SA 4.0
Rowan
RowanSorbus aucuparia86 recordsGiallopolenta · Public domain
Heather-bell
Heather-bellErica cinerea73 recordsGwen and James Anderson · CC BY-SA 2.0
Heath bedstraw
Heath bedstrawGalium saxatile72 recordsKristian Peters -- Fabelfroh 08:01, 29 June 2007 (UTC) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Beaked sedge
Beaked sedgeCarex rostrata71 recordsKristian Peters -- Fabelfroh 16:01, 13 July 2006 (UTC) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Greater creeping spearwort
Greater creeping spearwortRanunculus flammula70 recordsChristian Fischer · CC BY-SA 3.0

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

76out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 56%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 99%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 1,529Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 219 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking in July.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan2°-2°120 mm
  2. Feb2°-2°98 mm
  3. Mar4°-1°95 mm
  4. Apr7°1°85 mm
  5. May10°3°102 mm
  6. Jun13°6°122 mm
  7. Jul15°8°134 mm
  8. Aug14°8°147 mm
  9. Sep12°6°105 mm
  10. Oct8°4°137 mm
  11. Nov5°1°123 mm
  12. Dec3°-1°112 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Rothiemurchus Forest.

Forest and remnant of the Caledonian Forest in Highland (council area), Scotland

Rothiemurchus Forest is a forest in United Kingdom, 219 m above the sea.

Seen from space, 56% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 99% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

1,529 species have been recorded around it: 624 plants, 711 fungi, 165 birds and 29 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Whortleberry, Common Juniper and Cowberry.

The best time to walk is in July.

RothiemurchusForest
User ML5 · Public domain

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Rothiemurchus Forest seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 7marked trails within 5 kmSpeyside Way, East Highland Way, Aviemore Orbital and 4 more
  • 11picnic sites within 4 km
  • 5shelters and huts within 6 kmInshriach ("Drake's") Bothy and 4 more
  • 1viewpoints within 5 km
  • 1visitor centres within 6 kmLoch An Eilein Visitor Centre
  • 58car parks within 3 km
  • 6campsites within 10 kmRothiemurchus Camp and Caravan, High Range Holiday Complex, Oakwood Caravan & Camping Park and 3 more
  • 93places to stay within 10 kmSweeney 2, Eriskay B&B, Strathspey House and 90 more
  • 19restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • named and notable trees within 6 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Rothiemurchus Forest.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas147 mountains within 25 km
Braeriach1,296 m · 12 kmCairn Gorm1,245 m · 12 kmSgòr an Lochain Uaine1,258 m · 14 kmBen Macdui1,309 m · 15 kmCairn Toul1,291 m · 15 kmBeinn Mheadhoin1,183 m · 15 kmBeinn a' Bhùird1,197 m · 21 kmBen Avon1,171 m · 24 km
Lakeyas9 lakes within 15 km
Loch an Eilein0.5 km² · 3.0 kmLoch Alvie0.5 km² · 3.9 kmLoch Morlich1.1 km² · 6.3 kmLoch Insh1.2 km² · 9.7 kmLoch Garten0.4 km² · 9.9 kmLoch Einich0.7 km² · 12 kmLoch Avon0.4 km² · 14 kmLoch Etchachan0.3 km² · 15 km
Darkskyas5 dark-sky places within 30 km
BraeriachBortle 2 · 12 kmCairn GormBortle 2 · 12 kmSgòr an Lochain UaineBortle 2 · 14 kmBen MacduiBortle 2 · 15 kmCairn ToulBortle 2 · 15 km
Viewyas1 viewpoints within 15 kmComing soon
Ben Macdui1,309 m · 15 km
Birdyas2 birding sites within 25 km
Kinveachy Forest156 species · 8.9 kmCairngorm Lochs123 species · 14 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

Other forests nearby.

Rothiemurchus Forest

United Kingdom

  • 76Forestyas Score
  • 56%Trees
  • 99%Wild
  • 1,529Species

Abernethy Forest

United Kingdom · 14 km

  • 81Forestyas Score
  • 66%Trees
  • 97%Wild
  • 1,509Species

See the guide

Caledonian Forest

United Kingdom · 54 km

  • 71Forestyas Score
  • 50%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 769Species

See the guide

Queen Elizabeth Forest Park

United Kingdom · 120 km

  • 87Forestyas Score
  • 90%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 709Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q2356147) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species48,565 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Lakeyas, Darkskyas, Viewyas, Birdyas, Cascadyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.