Our Hotline | Scottish Highland Trails

If trees could talk, this one would have some tales to tell!
This is the Birnam Oak, 600 years old and the last remaining tree of the Birnam Wood mentioned by Shakespeare in Macbeth.

In the play Macbeth is warned by the witches that he will not be overthrown until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane. Macbeth decides to ignore the witches with their crazy talk of trees moving around and commits several murders in pursuit of the Scottish throne. However Malcolm’s army take branches from the trees in the wood, use them to disguise themselves, and ultimately Macbeth meets a sticky end (it is a tragedy after all!)

Shakespeare is rumoured to have visited Perthshire with a group of travelling players in 1589, so perhaps he visited here and took inspiration from the forest ✍️

The oak in folklore is the king of the forest, and a hollow in an oak tree is said to be a fairy door, or a gateway to supernatural realms. The word ‘druid’ may come from a Celtic word meaning “knower of the oak tree” 🌳 🌳🌳

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