Forestry demos and competitions resumed as part of last month’s Royal Highland Showcase – with an audience from all around the world tuning in to see the UK industry’s skills on display.

IN normal times, up to 190,000 people would visit the Royal Highland Show in Ingliston to view the very best of Scottish livestock and rural skills, but this year organisers the Royal and Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland prepared a ‘behind closed doors’ version broadcast to an enthusiastic worldwide audience over the internet.

Live streams allowed all viewers a front-row seat to all the action in the forestry section, including a small-scale forestry demo, horse logging, chainsaw demo, pole-climbing competition and axe-throwing competition.

Consisting of multiple disciplines, the lumberjack relay tested the speed and precision of hand cutters, while Ponsse showed what top-of-the-line machinery is capable of with demonstrations of a Buffalo forwarder and Scorpion King harvester.

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The event climaxed with the final of the Scottish 80 ft Pole Climbing championship, sponsored by Scottish Woodlands.

Winning in the novice or ‘tree surgeon’ class was Callum Jackson with a time of 21.2 seconds.

The ladies champion with a winning time of 17.41 seconds was Lois Milburn, while victory in the expert category was Joe White, with a time of 22.46 seconds.

Photographer Ronald Stephen was present at the showground to capture the action for Forestry Journal. For highlights of the stream, visit www.royalhighlandshowcase.org/the-show/forestry/.

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