Achnacarry is a Highland estate on the Great Glen near Loch Arkaig, and its tree stands hidden inside a working Sitka spruce plantation. Nobody knew the Skipinnish Oak was there until 2009, when a member of the ceilidh band Skipinnish, playing nearby, mentioned a big oak his father had told him about. It is at least 400 years old, 8 metres round, and carries a rare lichen found almost nowhere else in Britain. It won the UK's Tree of the Year in 2024.
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The Skipinnish Oak
Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea) · at least 400 years · Achnacarry, Lochaber
Until 2009 the foresters working this plantation did not know the oak was there. It took a ceilidh band to point it out. Members of Skipinnish were playing nearby for a Native Woodland Discussion Group event; one of them mentioned a big oak his father had told him about, and the next day he led the experts to it. That is how an oak eight metres round got onto the Ancient Tree Inventory and got its name.
It is at least 400 years old by the estimate of the contest and the published record. One article floats a thousand, unsupported. There is also a small dispute over what it is. The Tree of the Year entry calls it a pedunculate oak, while the Woodland Trust's register and other records call it sessile, and we follow the register. If you know oaks, look at the acorn stalks and tell us.
The tree carries a rare lichen, the black-eyed Susan, seldom found outside western Scotland, plus beefsteak fungus and plants rooted on the tree itself. It is a Scottish Heritage Tree and a Tree of National Special Interest, won the UK Tree of the Year in 2024 with 21 percent of the vote, and placed seventh in Europe in 2025.
Know what you are in for. It stands in a working Sitka spruce plantation on the Achnacarry Estate, with no path, no sign and possibly forestry machinery. Our pin is approximate. You will need a GPS and some patience.
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