What comes to mind when you think of Scotland? Haggis? Whisky? Sheep? Highlands? Bagpipes?

When I think of Scotland, one of my first associations is “green”. And not just green pastures, but green moss, green fern, green alleys, old stone walls covered with green vegetation, and incredibly old, beautiful green trees. Which is funny because millions of trees have been cut in Scottish history due to the Highland clearances and the introduction of sheep pastures so most parts of the Highlands actually suffer from a severe lack of trees (and due to the strong winds it is quite difficult to reforest as the wind will cut swaths of destruction into the forest). Yet I have seen some of the most impressive trees in Scotland. Old, majestic ones around the castles. And old, crippled but mysterious looking ones along the stormy coast. While driving around on the Isle of Mull (and also in Edinburgh), I again indulged myself in these absolutely beautiful shades of green you’ll find there…here is a selection of a serious amount of green pictures on my camera (and oh, I could have taken so many more pictures, but one has to watch the offspring from time to time, right?):