DRAMATIC drone footage captured the clearing of an invasive shrub in an effort to protect an endangered plant.
Seen as tiny specks against the vast rock, the "Cotoneaster Commandos" team of three abseilers was directed by advanced drone technology to clear 60 cubic meters of Cotoneaster shrubs at Migdale Rock in Ledmore and Migdale Woods, Sutherland.
The rare plant called "pyramidal bugle" due to its pyramid-shaped spikes of purple flowers has thrived on the rocky ledges of the 120-metre Migdale Rock for many years, but its survival is threatened by the shrub.
The Cotoneaster shrub was introduced to the UK in 1879 from Eastern Asia and is now a common garden shrub.
Migdale Rock is not the only place where this shrub has caused problems.
The wider countryside, protected by Woodland Trust Scotland, is at risk due to birds dispersing the plant’s red berries seeds in their droppings.
Woodland Trust Scotland site manager Ross Watson said: “At Migdale, a population of Cotoneaster became established across parts of the rock and along the base within the woodland which is an ancient pinewood and a site of special scientific interest.
“It was a very tricky job, an astonishing 60 cubic meters of Cotoneaster has been removed from the rock, with more to be done along the cliff base.
“By the end of the job, we could have removed in the order of 200 cubic meters.”
Woodland Trust Scotland has been working for five years to reduce the number of Cotoneaster reachable without ropes but needed funding from the Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme to enlist the abseilers.
The scheme contributes to the Scottish Government’s targets and priorities for woodland creation and sustainable forest management.
The brave team of abseilers worked for three weeks to cut and bag the Cotoneaster, which was then removed from the site in skips.
Ledmore and Migdale are on the shore of the Dornoch Firth, the most northerly of the Woodland Trust sites and once part of industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s estate.
