Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Pine ID - help!, 1 by Resin

Resin wrote:
Definite Scots. No need to count the needles, either, it's visible (number is 2) in the close-up photo (not that it would help a lot anyway, as all the options have 2s).

Needle colour isn't reliable in this situation; yes, Scots is bluer toned than Shore, but the difference is only visible in a photo when the two are side-by-side in the same photo; the variation in colour rendering by digi cameras from one pic to the next of the same item is greater than the colour difference between Scots and Shore Pines.

On cone orientation, Scots also has the cones deflexed down the stem, so no difference there; more useful is the cone shape, distinctly cone-shaped and widest near the base in closed cones of Scots (as visible here), more ovoid, widest nearer the middle, in Shore. Also immature Shore Pine cones are generally red-brown, not green, by this time of year (a big enough difference not to be affected by colour rendition).

Another useful difference is that Scots is always uninodal (one whorl of branches and cones per year), whereas Shore is often (not invariably) multinodal, with two whorls of branches and cones per year, comprising a weak whorl (or just a cone or two) on the mid-point of the previous year's shoot, and a strong whorl at the top.

Austrian Pine is easily excluded - that has much longer leaves (8-16cm), and cones that stick out at nearly 90° to the shoot, not reflexed down the stem.

Resin

PS here's a photo of P. contorta for comparison; note the multinodality with a mid-point pair of cones and weak shoot (middle of photo) and apical pair of cones and stronger branches (top of photo)