'Last nursery' marks 90 years of growing trees

Collecting seeds at Newton Nursery in the 1980s. The workers sift through leaves and other debris to find seeds that have fallen on to canvas covers

A nursery where tens of millions of tree saplings have been grown has turned 90 years old.

Newton, near Elgin in Moray, was among nurseries created by the Forestry Commission to increase forestry following the end of World War One.

Demand for materials during the war had stripped many areas of their trees, and the conflict had also starkly shown how little woodland survived in Britain at the time..

A worker preparing soil for planting at Newton Nursery in 1936

Trees growing at Newton Nursery in the 1930s

Today, Newton grows seven million of the 25 million trees Forestry and Land Scotland - formerly Forestry Commission Scotland - plants each year.

With Scottish government funding, a further 173 acres (70ha) are to be leased to double the nursery in size and increase growing capacity to 14 million trees.

Hand-weeding seed beds in 1975 before the use of chemical treatments

Newton is the last of Forestry and Land Scotland's nurseries.

The pictures shown are from the Forestry Memories project which involves the University of the Highlands and Islands, Scottish Forestry and the Scottish Forestry Trust.

Tractor work at the nursery in 1970

All images are copyrighted.