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A British tree thought to be up to 5,000 years old has started to change sex, a "rare and unusual" phenomenon not fully understood by scientists, a botanist said Monday. The Fortingall Yew, in Perthshire, central Scotland has for hundreds of years been recorded as male, but has recently begun sprouting berries, suggesting that at least part of the tree is changing gender. "It's a rare occurence ... rare and unusual and not fully understood," said Max Coleman of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, who spotted the berries. "It's thought that there's a shift in the balance of hormone-like compounds that...

An ancient relic that shines a light on Neolithic life has been discovered on a picturesque reserve in Highland Perthshire. The Scottish Wildlife Trust made the exciting archaeological discovery while repairing a wall in Balnaguard Glen. Volunteers were working on field walls on the hillside when they noticed one of the wall stones was shaped like a shallow basin. It has since been identified as a possible Neolithic quern stone -- potentially more than 6,000 years old -- with its shape created by years of rubbing grain with a heavy stone to make flour. The conservation charity believes the find...

PERTHSHIRE ROCK ART SHEDS LIGHT ON SCOTLAND'S PREHISTORIC PAST By Graham Spicer 03/08/2007 Archaeologists have discovered a large group of ancient rock art in Perthshire, which they hope will shed more light on the area’s prehistoric inhabitants. A team working on National Trust for Scotland (NTS) land as part of the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project found the previously undiscovered ‘cup-and-ring’ style markings on a hillside overlooking Loch Tay and Kenmore. The carvings could date back to Neolithic times and be up to 5,000 years old. Cup-and-ring rock art features abstract symbols of circles and cups, chipped out of the...