Birnam Sycamore stands near Birnam Oak on the south bank of the River Tay and is associated with the surviving edge of Birnam Wood.
The sycamore lives next door to a celebrity. It stands beside the Birnam Oak on the south bank of the Tay, and almost everything written about it is really written about the pair — the Woodland Trust lists them together, and the two are what people walk down to the river to look at.
Its own record is thin. It appears on the Ancient Tree Inventory as tree 2423, immediately after the oak at 2422, which says more about the order the surveyor worked in than about the trees. Beyond its species, its position and that number, there is little set down.
That is worth stating plainly rather than padding. The oak has Macbeth; the sycamore has proximity, and a place in the same view.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
The Birnam Sycamore stands beside the Birnam Oak on the south bank of the River Tay, and the two are habitually spoken of together — the Woodland Trust records them under a single heading, and the pair are what visitors to this stretch of riverside come to see. The tree is carried on the Woodland Trust's Ancient Tree Inventory as tree 2423, the number immediately following the oak's. That sequence reflects how they were recorded rather than anything about the trees, but it is a fair indication of how inseparable the two have become.
Very little is documented about the sycamore in its own right. Its neighbour carries the Shakespearean association and most of the attention, and what is recorded here concerns the pair rather than this tree alone.
Connections
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Photo: Gordon Hatton / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 The sycamore stands beside the Birnam Oak on the Tay’s south bank, and both trees are recorded together as the Birnam riverside pair.
In culture
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The Birnam tree pair
The sycamore is encountered and recorded alongside the Birnam Oak. Its cultural presence is therefore as the oak’s companion in the riverside landscape associated with Birnam Wood, rather than as a separately documented literary subject.
What to look for
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Recorded as one of a pair
The Woodland Trust lists the sycamore and the oak together, and the inventory numbers run consecutively — 2422 for the oak, 2423 for this tree. The pairing is how the site is understood locally as well as officially.
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On the south bank of the Tay
The tree stands in the same narrow strip of riverside woodland as the oak, which is the whole of what survives of the wood the pair are associated with.
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A sycamore among oaks
Sycamore is not native to Britain and arrived long after the woodland it now stands in was first recorded. A large old sycamore beside a relic oak is a small illustration of how the composition of a wood changes even when its outline does not.
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What is not recorded
No girth, no age estimate and no separate history are set down for this tree. Everything documented concerns the pair, and that absence is the honest state of the record rather than an oversight in the writing.
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Recorded identity
What the record supports here is the tree's identity, its position beside the oak, and its inventory number — not much beyond that.
Plan your visit
- Location
- 56.5614°N · 3.5761°W
- Nearest settlement
- Birnam
- Access
- Reached on a public path
- What survives
- Living-tree condition and access should be checked against current local guidance before any visit copy is expanded.
Nearby places
Ancient tree · Medieval
Birnam Oak
Perth and Kinross
Birnam Oak, sometimes known as Macbeth's Oak, stands on the south bank of the River Tay and is associated with the surviving edge of Birnam Wood.
- Near Birnam
Sacred place · Medieval
Dunkeld Cathedral
Perth and Kinross
A cathedral begun in 1260 and finished in 1501, standing on a Columban monastery whose reused red sandstone still shows as a streak across the east…
- Near Dunkeld
Ancient tree
Lady's Tree
Perth and Kinross
An osprey called Lady nested in this Scots pine for twenty-four years, laid 71 eggs and raised 50 chicks. The tree is named after the bird.
- Near Perth and Kinross
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Ancient tree · Medieval
Neil Gow's Oak
Perth and Kinross
A bench beneath this oak was engraved with a line from a Michael Marra song about sitting under it with Niel Gow's ghost. A falling branch destroye…
- Near Dunkeld
Questions people ask
- Is this the Birnam Oak?
- No. The sycamore stands beside the oak on the south bank of the Tay, and the two are almost always spoken of together — the Woodland Trust records them under a single heading.
- Is it on the Ancient Tree Inventory?
- Yes, as tree 2423, the number immediately after the oak's. The sequence records the order they were catalogued in, nothing more.
- What is known about the sycamore itself?
- Very little. Its neighbour carries the Shakespearean association and most of the attention, and what is documented here mostly concerns the pair rather than this tree alone.
Sources
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