Forest floor 'ripples like the sea' as trees buffeted by strong winds in Storm Babet

23 October 2023, 12:56

Incredible footage shows the ground in a forest in Scotland rippling "like the sea" as strong winds from Storm Babet blow in.

The ground in the woods, in Mugdock in Stirlingshire, north of Glasgow, was seen moving around on Friday morning by a dog-walker.

David Nugent-Malone captured the bizarre scene and posted it to social media, with winds thought to be around 60mph.

"The woods were moving like the sea this morning," Mr Nugent-Malone wrote in a caption to the video.

"We’ve walked through that particular section literally hundreds of times before and have never seen anything like that," he said.

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One person called it "Scary and incredibly unnerving", while another warned him to be safe because of the danger of falling branches.

Mr Nugent-Malone said the sight was "very weird and creepy, but oddly fun too!"

He added that he and his walking partner got home safely. "Took us by surprise, all was calm enough behind us, just very weird in that section."

It's not exactly clear what caused the forest floor to move that much. A second video appeared to show the roots of the trees dislodged from the ground, and a thin layer of earth, in which the trees were still rooted, moving with the wind.

One commenter said: "What hurricane force winds/gusts can do to a tree.

"The roots spread out from a tree all around it. When winds pick up, it can grab or sway a tree. The earth is lifted enough by the trees roots. Then the wind/gusts can get under the ground & push the tree down from underneath."

Storm Babet brought floods and strong winds as the Met Office issued a rare red danger to life warning that was in place in Scotland.

Severe weather has been linked to as many as eight other deaths over the last few days. There was widespread travel disruption across much of the country.