The Skipinnish Oak
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.
Sitka spruce plantation, Achnacarry Estate, near Loch Arkaig, Lochaber, Scottish Highlands You can recognise it as a veteran oak standing among Sitka spruce, its trunk 8 metres round. It stands in the plantation on the Achnacarry Estate, and our pin is only approximate.
Free, but not a park: the tree stands within a working Sitka spruce plantation on the privately owned Achnacarry Estate. Woodland Trust's Ancient Tree Inventory records its access category as 'Public - Scottish Outdoor Access', covered by Scotland's statutory right of responsible access (the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 / Scottish Outdoor Access Code) rather than by an estate invitation; there is no visitor infrastructure, marked path or car park, and forestry operations (harvesting machinery, felled timber) may be present. This is a bushwhack into a commercial plantation, not a stroll.
No public transport reaches Achnacarry directly; nearest railway station is Spean Bridge (West Highland Line), a few km away, then a walk/drive along the Great Glen to the estate and into the plantation. No official visitor route exists, so reaching the exact tree requires local knowledge or a GPS device.