A SMALL wood of 45 trees is being cultivated on an island off Argyllshire in tribute to the 45 per cent of Scots who voted Yes in the 2014 independence referendum.

The 45 trees are in an area on their own as part of a new forest of 500 trees that has just been planted on Eilean Mór MacCormick, an island at the mouth of Loch Sween where it joins the Sound of of Jura.

The island was owned by a Walter Paterson Neill as part of Keills Farm. He died in 1978 and bequeathed the whole estate to the SNP when William Wolfe was chairman of the party, and while the rest of the estate was sold off, the island was retained due its historic importance, and it is now owned and managed by a trust.

The island has a chapel from about 1100, which contains a priest’s tomb. It was later refurbished by John, Lord of the Isles in the mid 1300s. This remained the parish church until 1734. Later it had an illicit still operating in it, and in 1778 after the battle of Carrickfergus Bay, John Paul Jones, the Scottish founder of the American Navy, captured two English ships and took them to Eilean Mór MacCormick for repairs.

Since 1980 the island has been maintained and improved by a registered charity whose trustees include Winnie Ewing, Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney and the long-serving Nicoll Cameron.

The volunteers and friends of the Eilean Mór MacCormick Trust built a visitors centre with stones gathered on the island. It now houses an exhibition which is open 24/7 all year. They also built a jetty, made paths, and control invasive species among other things.

After negotiations with Scottish Natural Heritage and with help from the Woodland Trust over Easter, volunteers planted 500 trees including willows, rowan, birch, aspen and hazel in four areas that included one in tribute to the Yes voters of 2014.

Cameron said: “The trees were planted in four areas.

“In one of these areas 45 trees were planted and the woodland was dedicated to the 45 per cent who voted Yes. And these trees for evermore will be known as the 45 wood. And just as the trees will grow so will the 45.”