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Mountain Mile of Difference

Having gone extinct in 1947, the Juniper tree is making a comeback. Our latest planting of 100 junipers along the Mountain Mile follows plantings near Guthrie's memorial in 2016 and 2020.
When the landowner, Glen Auldyn Estate, moved the Mountain Mile fence back ten metres, Manx Wildlife Trust asked if we could plant juniper bushes in the gap. With the Estate's approval we gained an Agri-environment Scheme grant to continue our re-introduction program.
Planted Juniper

These tiny juniper saplings are much hardier than they look, as juniper is a bush that would once have dominated our natural tree line (between 300-450m). Once planted they tend to get lost for a few years before they emerge from the surrounding vegetation. They will not become a real tree, more of a scruffy bush, looking a bit like big gorse bush to a casual observer. 

It will take around a decade before the bushes we plant start producing the blue juniper berries, and even then it is only female bushes produce berries. 

Juniper is is a part of our 'Action For Wildlife' program, (https://www.mwt.im/return-juniper) that aims to reverse the loss of our most critically endangered wildlife. 

Young Juniper Tree

The bush pictured here (right) is from our 2016 planting (eight seasons of growth). At over 1m tall it is already taller than the surrounding heather and many of the 50 planted bushes will have heathland song-birds like stonechats and meadow pipits perching on them. Juniper plays a critical role in making a moorland 3D, bringing height, without turning moorland into woodland. Its in this 'scrubby' heath that some of the Island's rarest birds like hen harriers, tree pipits and short-eared owls like to nest. 

Juniper's next stop will be Creg-y-Cowin rainforest nature reserve, where over 100 junipers will be planted this winter. 

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