120,000 Trees Lost: NTS Warns Storm Arwen & Corrie Damage May Take 7 Years
The National Trust for Scotland has warned it may take years to fully recover from the devastation caused by Storms Arwen and Corrie, which battered large parts of the country in 2021.
Storm Arwen struck in November that year, bringing violent winds across the north east after the Met Office issued a rare red warning. Just two months later, Storm Corrie delivered another blow, with wind gusts reaching 91mph at Inverbervie weather station in Aberdeenshire.
The combined impact was felt across the region, with widespread flooding, prolonged power outages and extensive destruction to woodland. Tens of thousands of trees were felled across the north east, the Highlands and Argyll and Bute, devastating hundreds of acres of natural heritage. The scale of loss was equivalent to around 20 Murrayfield Stadiums.
Chris Wardle, gardens and designed landscape manager for Aberdeenshire and Angus at the National Trust for Scotland, said progress has been made but the task remains immense.
Storm damage from Arwen
“This year, which is 2025, four years on, is the first time I have felt we are in a good place,” he said. “Our immediate disaster response has finally come to an end. We have cleared a huge amount of fallen trees, but not all of them. The sheer volume and the locations involved mean it will still take years.”
The trust manages nine sites in north east Scotland, six of which were heavily affected by the storms. They include Crathes, Drum, Craigievar, Fyvie, Leith Hall and Castle Fraser.
Mr Wardle said the damage during Storm Arwen happened with astonishing speed.
“To put it into context, at Craigievar we lost around 60 percent of the tree cover in roughly an hour,” he said.
In response, the trust launched its Storm Appeal alongside the Dedicate a Tree campaign in December 2023. Both initiatives were designed to support the replanting of hundreds of thousands of trees lost to Arwen and Corrie, particularly across Aberdeenshire.
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Since 2022, the trust has raised £202,613 through the two campaigns specifically for the north east. In spring last year, staff and volunteers planted 79,305 trees across three sites, covering around 50 hectares.
However, the challenge has not ended with those two storms. In the years since Arwen and Corrie, further severe weather events have struck the north east, adding to the strain on already damaged landscapes.
Mr Wardle said the trust is now dealing with the compounding effects of climate change.
“It is not a case of something happening, fixing it and moving on,” he said. “We do a bit of recovery work, then another event comes along and hits us again.”
The Storm Appeal and Dedicate a Tree campaigns have also played a role beyond the mainland. Funds were used to help protect the rare and endemic Arran Whitebeam at Glen Rosa on Arran, a decision that proved vital in spring 2025 when a wildfire destroyed thousands of trees in the glen.
Mr Wardle warned that extreme weather is now creating overlapping risks.
“A winter storm pushes trees over, leaving fuel on the ground,” he said. “Then we get a summer that is unusually late, very warm and very dry, and suddenly the wildfire risk increases dramatically.”
Because of the growing impact of climate related weather, the trust says continued fundraising is essential.
“Although the original Storm Appeal focused on Arwen and Corrie, storms have continued,” Mr Wardle said. “They place constant financial pressure on us, and we do not have unlimited resources. We have to keep adapting to cope with these extreme conditions.”
