Where are the trees? Thinking about the environment along the Cape Wrath Trail.

A solitary rowan growing out of a boulder in An Caorann Mor between Loch Cluanie and Glen Affric

The Cape Wrath Trail, most of which I walked a few weeks ago, is mainly a low level route. There are some high passes but mostly it follows glens. It is a walk through the mountains rather than over them. I was aware that most of the time I was at a lower elevation than my home in Strathspey at 300 metres. It didn’t feel like it though. It felt higher and more mountainous than it is, the surroundings hard and harsh.

The Allt Feithe Chailleach. Just 225 metres above sea level. There should be trees.

The reason, I quickly realised, is the lack of trees. So much of the route is in bare, over-grazed, treeless glens. Being used to the Cairngorms with its extensive and increasing forest cover I missed the trees.

Regenerating forest in a fenced area in Glen Loyne

Paradoxically, the absence is most noticeable where there are trees. The frequent dark blocks of spruce plantations show that trees will grow here as do the rather fewer fenced areas of regenerating forest. The bare land around these forest islands is not natural. It is the result of over-grazing by deer and sheep. And this doesn’t just mean no trees. It means poor overall biodiversity. Inside the fences the undergrowth is thick and lush and there is much bird song. Outside the vegetation is low and species poor. Bird song is absent. In many areas a distant cuckoo was all I heard.

Scots pine forest in Glen Garry

Beginning the walk along the Great Glen I was in woods much of the first day and a half, some of it natural or semi-natural, rather more of it plantation. After leaving the trees in Glen Garry I was only in woods for short periods. Too often the few trees in the landscape were solitary rowans growing out of clefts in rocks or thin lines of mixed woodland along the sides of steep ravines, all out of reach of the deer.

Mixed woodland on the steep banks of the river Douchary

The differences were exemplified by a section between Inverlael and Oykel Bridge in the northern half of the walk. The path descends Glen Douchary through a ribbon of trees on steep banks with the river rushing down below. Life flourishes. Birds sing. The land feels alive. 

Loch an Daimh. A sad landscape after the joy of Glen Douchary.

The glen is left for a walk above long Loch an Daimh. The trees vanish. No birds sing. The land is sour. Life struggles here. This is what the summits far above are like but here it’s only 200 metres above sea level. There should be a glorious forest lining the loch.

Fenced forest regeneration standing out in Glen Loyne

There are changes, shown by the areas fenced for regeneration, often aided by planted native species, but these aren’t that big. Still, I’d rather some trees than none and the resulting chequerboard pattern of healthy and unhealthy terrain is better than nothing, jarring though it looks.

Clear-cut hillside in Glen Garry

In many areas plantations have been clear-cut, leaving ugly devastated sweeps of hillside slashed with bulldozed roads. If left to regenerate these could become new forests in future decades though it takes time for such brutal scars to heal. Some no doubt will be replanted with packed rows of spruce for future clear-cuts, though hopefully not many.

Fine scenery in Glen Gnionhaidh but where are the trees?

The Cape Wrath Trail should be a walk in the woods. It isn’t. It is still an enjoyable, challenging and impressive walk. I wouldn’t want to deter anybody from hiking it. But if you go think about what you see, think about trees. And give support to those who would see them return, who want to rewild the land.

A Visit to BrewDog's 'Lost Forest'

There is much woodland on the lower part of the estate

Earlier this year it was widely reported that brewing giant BrewDog had bought the Kinrara estate in the Monadh Liath hills just outside Aviemore with the intention of restoring a ‘lost forest’. This being a fairly local place and one where I’ve walked many times I decided to go and have a look at it with thoughts of a ‘lost forest’ in mind.

An estate track known as the Burma Road runs up the centre of the estate over the watershed between the rivers Spey and Dulnain. The smaller southern section is in the Cairngorms National Park and this is where I went, adding the short ascent of Geal Charn Mor to my walk and descending the same way.

I was just about to leave the parking area when a walker greeted me. It was Gary Hodgson of Tarmachan Mountaineering. He’d been up the hills photographing mountain hares, something he does regularly here. He posts great photos of these lovely animals on social media and on his blog, They’re well worth a look. 

After we’d chatted about the future of the estate and more, I set off, noting that under the old Scottish Rights of Society sign a smaller one had been added with a link to find out more about the proposed new native forest. At least the proposals aren’t being kept secret. 

A fenced forest along the Burma Road

Initially the Burma Road runs through healthy-looking birch and pine forest – no lost forest here. A network of fencing protects the trees, looking as though it’s been erected at different times over the years. In places one of the problems with this approach can be seen. Young trees crowd against the fence while on the other side is open treeless moorland. 

A lone pine on the hillside above the Burma Road. The pale area is old muirburn.

As the track climbs higher a pattern found in too many damaged Highland glens can be seen. Strips of woodland run down the sides of burns where the steepness of the slopes protects them from grazing. On the hillsides above a few old pines are all that’s left of what must once have been a magnificent forest. 

Young pines, old pines

 

There are signs though that the forest could return. All the way up I saw tiny pines, birches, willows, and rowans poking up through the heather and grass. Not many, but they were there. The forest is trying to return, and maybe is returning, albeit slowly. Even at the top of the road at nearly 700 metres there were a few little pines. Remove enough deer to stop overgrazing and cease heather burning – areas of dead white heather show this has taken place not so long ago – and the trees will return. The forest isn’t lost. It’s just waiting to come back.

How big will these little pines be able to grow?

It’s a steady pull up the Burma Road and it’s a favourite test piece for mountain bikers. Not for the cyclist who passed me though. He wasn’t pedalling, just sitting there letting his electric bike do the work. I plodded on, very briefly envious but not really. I prefer the world at walking pace. And I do wonder when an electric bike becomes motorised transport rather than an aid to cycling.

A tiny pine at almost 700 metres

From the top of the road I took the eroded path over the moorland to the summit of Geal Charn Mor. This is a splendid viewpoint for the Cairngorms but today clouds hung low over the tops, those over the Glen Feshie hills looking quite ominous. Rather here than there, I thought.

View to the Glen Feshie hills from Geal Charn Mor

Walking back down I pondered the future of the estate. Just what will BrewDog do with it? Whatever it is it’ll almost certainly be better than keeping it as a shooting estate. The potential for rewilding is exciting.

This forest could expand. Looking back down to Strathspey from the Burma Road

Back home I had a look at the proposals on the link from the notice and also read Parkwatch Scotland’s detailed posts on the subject. The first thing I noted is that the plans have been drawn up by Scottish Woodlands, which is basically a commercial forestry management company. As Parkwatch Scotland says BrewDog would have done better to talk to those with expertise in native forest regeneration and restoration such as Wild Land Ltd, who own the neighbouring Glen Feshie estate. As it is, the proposals do talk about encouraging natural regeneration and also about ‘expansion of ancient woodland sites through creation of appropriate woodland types and species mixtures’. However, Parkwatch Scotland has looked at the detailed proposals, not just those in the graphic from the link on the notice, and says the plan is for mass planting and fencing. This might do something quickly – look at all our new trees! But it’s not the best way to restore a natural forest. Regeneration may be slower but as the seed source and even some infant trees are there it might surprise BrewDog at how effective it is. A forest requires space to spread naturally too and not be confined inside a fence.

To really allow the forest to return deer numbers need to be reduced and heather burning and grouse shooting stopped. Then patience is needed. Just wait. The forest will emerge.

Muirburn Is Back: The Environmental Cost

Muirburn, Cromdale Hills, February 25

Just a few days after the thaw clouds of smoke on the Cromdale Hills showed that muirburn - the burning of heather to improve habitat for red grouse so there are more of them to shoot - has started again. Banned during the first lockdown because of the danger to fire crews and others if a fire got out of control it wasn't banned during the current one. In my opinion it should be banned full stop.

Muirburn damages deep peat, a carbon dioxide store, and thus contributes to climate change when it occurs on peat moorlands. Revive: the Coalition for Grouse Moor Reform (a group well worth supporting) says "independent research commissioned by Revive has shown that 4% of Scotland's landmass is regularly burned on for grouse moor management while around 40% of land used for burning overlies deep peat". Revive quotes Richard Dixon, Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, as saying "the Scottish Government is spending millions to restore damaged peatlands in some parts of Scotland so it is clearly ridiculous to allow muirburn to threaten the peat stored on grouse moors.  Muirburn is a nineteenth century practice that has no place in the twenty-first century.”

Muirburn is also bad for biodiversity. Apart from the creatures and plants that die in the fires the resulting habitat is impoverished. Muirburn is intended to benefit just one plant - heather - and one bird - red grouse. And just so people can enjoy killing the latter. 

Peat damage and poor biodiversity are both important reasons to oppose muirburn. I think appearance matters too. The pattern of burnt strips on grouse moors is ugly and shows that this is an unnatural environment. Let's do away with heavily managed grouse moors and let nature take over, protecting deep peat, increasing biodiversity, and restoring beauty. It's time for a change.

Rewilding: More Thoughts

Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve

Rewilding has become an emotive and controversial word in recent years. To some it is wonderfully positive, a call for the restoration of glory to wild places. To others it smacks of elitism, exclusion, a threat to countryside access and ways of life. What though does rewilding actually mean when applied to Britain and disentangled from overblown desires and overblown fears. In the mass media it’s often used to mean the reintroduction of big predators such as wolves and bears – nothing like a story about these to send a frisson of fear through people and provoke a strong reaction. This comes in part from its origins in the USA where it was first used by conservationist Dave Foreman, one of the founders of the interesting Wildlands Network, to mean the conservation and expansion of ecosystems big enough to support large predators. 

In the USA, though, there are still large wilderness areas, many already with bears, wolves and mountain lions. The situation is very different here, on a small quite heavily populated island with no real wilderness and only remnants of natural forest. For comparison California is over twice the size of mainland Britain but has only two-thirds the population, Alaska is over eight times the size with just 750,000 people. We have to think differently.

In Britain rewilding can only mean the restoration of natural processes to wild places, small and large. It is, I think, the final part of a conservation strategy. This begins with preservation – stopping the continuing destruction or degradation of an area – and continues with restoration – repairing damage. Then the renewal of the land can begin, which is really what rewilding means, allowing nature to restore itself. 

The result of rewilding should be a healthier environment with greater biodiversity, which benefits everybody. An increasing number of studies show how important nature is to people’s mental and physical health. Rewilding is not just for an elite, it’s for everyone. Indeed, we are part of nature, not apart from it, and the health of nature is our health.

In the Cascade Mountains

Sadly though, what many people regard as a healthy natural environment is actually quite damaged and degraded. The concept of shifting baseline syndrome explains this. Each generation tends to assume that the state of the natural world they grew up with is the norm. This can result in keeping places in a poor condition or even trying to return them to that condition. This is a natural reaction. I remember first visiting the Lake District as a boy and thinking of it as a huge natural wilderness, pristine and perfect. Then I discovered the Scottish Highlands and thought I’d found paradise (I sometimes still feel that!). Only after returning from half a year spent walking through the magnificent wild forests and mountains along the Pacific Crest Trail in the Western USA did I notice how bare the hills and glens were, how few trees grew in the British hills. Why weren’t they there? I’d read about the Caledonian forest in the writings of Frank Fraser Darling but only when I’d seen the glorious forests in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains did I start to understand what we have lost. 

In the Sierra Nevada

 

Knowing how damaged much of our wild land is could be dispiriting. The great American conservationist Aldo Leopold in The Sand County Almanac, an important book published in 1949, decades before the term rewilding had been invented, said ‘ one of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen’. Today I think we have more cause to hope than back in the 1940s. More people do understand the damage that has been done. Educating the others is a key task though. To support rewilding people need to understand why it’s necessary. Shifting baseline syndrome again. If you think the land is as it should be you’re not going to support moves to change it.

Glen Affric

In Britain I think rewilding starts with forest restoration. In this sense it’s only a new name for something that started many years ago. One of the key figures in this was the late Dick Balharry, former John Muir Trust Chair, when he was warden at Beinn Eighe, Britain’s first national nature reserve, in the 1960s (see Beinn Eighe: The Mountain Above The Wood). He continued this work in the 1980s at the Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve. In both places healthy regenerating forests can now be seen, which is very heartening. Since then forest restoration has increased in many areas such as the John Muir Trust’s Li and Coire Dhorrcail on Ladhar Bheinn in Knoydart, which won a Scotland’s Finest Woods Award in 2015, and other JMT estates like Ben Nevis, Quinag, and East Schiehallion.

Glen nevis

 

Elsewhere the  RSPB at places like Abernethy Forest in the Cairngorms, many Woodland Trust estates throughout the UK, and Wild Land Ltd's Glen Feshie all have flourishing forest regeneration. Then there’s the work of Trees for Life in places like GlenAffric and the Borders Forest Trust with the Carrifran Wildwood. Forest and Land Scotland (formerly the Forestry Commission), once a main cause of the destruction of natural forests, is now allowing some forests to recover such as Glenmore in the Cairngorms. Perhaps most encouraging of all is when organisations work together to the same ends. Cairngorms Connect is an encouraging exampled with its “bold and ambitious 200-year vision to enhance habitats, species and ecological processes across a vast area within the Cairngorms National Park.”

Glen Feshie

In the Lake District the Wild Ennerdale project is particularly interesting with its vision ‘to allow the evolution of Ennerdale as a wild valley for the benefit of people, relying more on natural processes to shape its landscape and ecology’. That last phrase could be a definition of rewilding. Like Cairngorms Connect Wild Ennerdale is also a partnership of different bodies, public and private, and local people. This is important. Rewilding needs the support of communities and a wide range of organisations. It should grow out of places rather than be imposed from outside. That means rewilding may be a slow process in some areas, but local support is essential if it’s to be successful in the long run so if it takes time to gain that we just have to be patient. 

Once forests start to regenerate and spread the richness of the fauna and flora rapidly increases. Walk through a new forest and see the wide variety of undergrowth and the number of birds then compare this with the bareness and silence of a treeless valley.  This was the case at Creag Meagaidh where sheep and deer had led to a bare degraded landscape. Since it became a nature reserve in 1986 and the over-grazing was ended the change has been startling as a healthy new forest emerges.  

Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve

With regeneration wildlife moves in, previously over-grazed vegetation flourishes. There is a problem in Britain though. And that is being an island. Animals already here -pine martens, red squirrels, badgers and more – will move into new forests. Birds can arrive from overseas, mammals can’t. On mainland Europe predators like wolves, bears and lynx are slowly increasing their territories. They can’t reach Britain though. Apex predators like these are not just important for directly controlling the numbers of grazing animals by hunting them but also by the effect they have on their behaviour, keeping them moving so they don’t over-graze an area, keeping them out of areas that could be seen as traps. This concept is known as a trophic cascade and was first described by Aldo Leopold when he noted overgrazing by deer after wolves were exterminated. 

Ryvoan Pass

 

We don’t have wolves, but we can mimic their behaviour. In popular areas this happens by accident. The paths through Glenmore Forest to the Ryvoan Pass are walked regularly, often by large numbers of people. I’ve never seen any deer or even signs of deer here. Forest regeneration is extensive. In the woods round my home there are roe deer. Until a decade or so ago our neighbours had dogs that often roamed free. Seeing deer was very rare and I never saw them outside the forest. Since the dogs went the deer have become bold and I often see them out in the fields far from the nearest trees even in the middle of the day. They’ve learnt it’s safe to do so.

Trees for Life has an interesting scheme at their Dundreggan Estate in the Scottish Highlands called Project Wolf. In this teams of volunteers walk through the woods in the evening, night and early morning to disturb the deer and give seedlings a better chance of survival. I think this is a fascinating idea that could be used elsewhere. 

Until the climate is right for the return of wolves, which I think is a long time in the future, culling deer, removal or reduction of sheep numbers, fencing woods, and schemes like Project Wolf are the only ways to ensure forest regeneration. This in Britain is rewilding. 

This is an edited version of a piece originally written for the John Muir Trust.

A New Year, A New Decade: the challenge for nature

A few trees cling to the sides of a burn, out of reach of deer. There should be a forest here.

Last year saw a sudden upsurge in concern about the intertwined problems of climate change and wildlife extinction. This is heartening but only if it leads to action. Nature is being depleted rapidly world wide. Here in Britain each State of Nature report shows a steadily worsening situation, one that has been going on for many decades. Something has to be done and we should all be involved.

I've written many pieces on conservation and rewilding over the years (links here). I think I should write more. I'll also continue to support many organisations doing what they can (another list here) and write letters and emails to politicians and businesses. It's not much but if everyone does a little ...

I'm reading Mark Cocker's excellent but rather discouraging Our Place: Can We Save Britain's Wildlife Before It Is Too Late? In it the author tells the story of nature and landscape conservation since it began in the nineteenth century. All those organisations, all those dedicated people, all those government bodies, reports, councils, acts of Parliament. And still nature declines. Was it all for nothing? Surely not, surely, sadly, it would be even worse without all that work. But clearly it was not enough.

The reasons why this is so are complex. But I think in part it lies in duplication, in the plethora of organisations and designations. And also in what Mark Cocker calls the 'great divide' between landscape protection and wildlife conservation. A healthy environment needs both. Simplifying appoaches and goals, working together on big landscape and wildlife projects, involving local people, avoiding mystification. These are all needed. And they are starting to happen. There are great opportunities.

The 2020s are before us. Let's work to make the world a better place for nature, which means a better place for us.

Book Review: Sky Dance by John D. Burns

Novels about hillwalking and mountaineering are rare and those that do exist are often hardcore adventure stories. Comic outdoor novels with a message are virtually non-existent, which makes John D. Burns first novel especially welcome. Combining serious concerns with humour could easily result in an uncomfortable mis-match. Not with this book. Burns deftly mixes the two, never dwelling on the message too long or taking the comedy too far. The balance he achieves works well.

This isn't a subtle book. The message is spelled out clearly in the subtitle - Fighting for the wild in the Scottish Highlands - and different aspects of it appear throughout the book. These are current concerns - rewilding, landownership, bulldozed tracks, grouse moors, lynx reintroduction. The books title refers to the bird that has become the symbol of opposition to the destruction of wildlife, the hen harrier.

The story is about two mountaineers, Rory and Angus, and their growing dissatisfaction with the state of the wild places they love and their determination to do something about it. Opposed to them is Lord Purdey, standing for every arrogant elitist landowner. Supporting them is a new hippy landowner, Tony Muir. The names are not accidental of course, Purdey being the British maker of the guns used to slaughter wildlife. Muir should need no explanation. Both are comic caricatures. I think Purdey works best. He is over-the-top but some landowners and their followers aren't that far from him. Muir doesn't come across as quite as real, but then his role isn't as important.

I found the story compelling and entertaining. I usually read for a while to unwind before going to bed. A sign of a good book is when I stay up much later than intended. I did that for several nights with Sky Dance. I enjoyed the descriptions of days out, wild places, bothy life and the mountains; I nodded my head at the polemics; and I wanted to know what happened next. That's a great combination.

At the start of this review I said novels like this are virtually non-existent. I can only think of one - the late great Edward Abbey's wonderful The Monkey Wrench Gang. It's long been time for a similar comic romp about our wild places. John D. Burns has provided it.

Rewilding & Climate Change: tying it all together - and a petition to sign

Caledonian pine forest, Ryvoan Pass, Cairngorms

With climate change in the news this week due to Extinction Rebellion, David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg all successfully raising the profile of this crucial issue I've been thinking about how this relates to rewilding and nature. Climate change is ultimately a natural phenonmenon. It is the result of how one species, us, is affecting the natural world. Climate change isn't outside nature, just as we're not separate from nature. And it's natural processes that can slow down and mitigate climate change.

My thoughts crystallised after attending an excellent talk on rewilding by Peter Cairns of Scotland: The Big Picture at The Grant Arms Wildlife Book Festival in Grantown-on-Spey (a really wonderful event, I'm pleased to hear it'll be held again next year). One of the questions after the talk was about climate change and whether it might render pointless years of rewilding work unless resilience of some sort was built in. Peter Cairns replied that with Cairngorms Connect, an ambitious project to rewild a vast area, this was being taken into account though of course the future couldn't be predicted.

The question seemed to assume rewilding and climate change are separate, unconnected issues. They're not. Both are natural processes and directly affect each other. It's not one way either, not just climate change being detrimental to rewilding. Rewilding can have a major positive effect on climate change. How and why is described in detail by a new body called Natural Climate Solutions. Its key statement is this:

"When living systems – like forests, peat bogs, saltmarshes and the seabed – are allowed to recover, they draw down carbon from the atmosphere, reducing the chances of climate catastrophe.Their restoration will also minimise extinction and ecological collapse, and create a richer world of wonders for us to enjoy."

So rewilding - restoring nature and allowing it to flourish - is an important part of combating climate change. I'm not surprised. It's what I've felt for many years from my understanding of how the natural world works. Now there is science to back this up.

However natural climate solutions receive little funding and support from governments and organisations concerned with climate change. To push it further up the agenda Rewilding Britain has a petition calling on the UK government "to restore nature to help stop climate breakdown". I've signed it and I urge everyone concerned with the future to do so.

Forest regeneration either side of Ryvoan Pass, Cairngorms

Thoughts on the Conservation and Restoration of Nature in Scotland

Gleann nam Fiadh, February 3, 2018

Walking up Gleann nam Fiadh in Glen Affric at the start of the igloo trip earlier this month (see this post) I was shocked by the state of the bulldozed track, constructed for a hydro scheme higher up the glen. The slopes for quite a distance either side of the track have been scoured of vegetation, including many young trees, leaving a muddy mess. The encouraging feeling of walking through a new woodland I remember from my last visit has gone. Back in July 2016 Mountaineering Scotland were assured ‘contractors on site are meeting planning obligations relating to protection of the environment, and that the works will be reinstated in accordance with the conditions of planning permission once complete’. Well, the obligations must be pretty minimal given the damage and I wonder when the reinstatement will take place. Update. Paul Webster of Walk Highlands says he thinks this is the reinstated track. In which case I'm truly shocked!

Earlier in 2016 Alan Watson Featherstone, the founder of Trees for Life, which has done much forest restoration work in the area wrote, in his blog “I find it hard to comprehend that a small-scale hydro scheme is even contemplated for this watercourse. It’s in the heart of the Glen Affric National Nature Reserve(NNR), which is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the EU Natura 2000 scheme and a National Scenic Area (NSA). It’s one of the most designated areas of land in Scotland! Glen Affric is often cited as being the ‘crown jewels’ of the National Nature Reserve system, and is supposed to be managed for the ‘primacy of nature’. If it can’t be protected from industrial energy extraction, what hope is there for any area in Scotland?” A good question and one that needs answering.

Woodland on the slopes of Quinag, owned by the John Muir Trust

Whilst the Gleann nam Fiadh track is depressing there is much that is positive in the conservation and restoration of nature in the Scottish hills and elsewhere in Britain. Not enough certainly but looking at what is being done can counter the feelings of despair when more damage occurs. It can also encourage a desire to help protect what is left and restore what we can. Public pressure is what counts here. I doubt many politicians would do much without it (there are a few who would, perhaps). It’s easy to think that one person can’t do anything and that signing petitions, sharing and commenting on posts on social media, and writing to representatives achieves nothing. However any effect from these actions is cumulative. If enough people take part then sometimes a momentum can build towards something happening. The alternative is to give up.

As well as taking part in these activities joining and supporting conservation organisations can make a difference. It’s not just the membership fee, though funds are always in short supply, it’s also the numbers. The more members a body has the more notice is likely to be taken by those in power. 

The returning forest in the Pass of Ryvoan

 

So what positives are happening? I think the slow spread of natural forest regeneration is the prime one. Every time I walk through the Pass of Ryvoan or through Glen Feshie and see the young trees spreading up the hillside and poking up through the heather I feel uplifted. From Abernethy to Knoydart, Carrifran to Quinag, trees are returning and with them much richer flora and fauna. This is being done by various conservation organisations such as the John Muir Trust, RSPB, Trees for Life, and the Borders Forest Trust, in some places by Forestry Commission Scotland, and by enlightened private landowners. One of the last, Lisbet Rausing, wrote an excellent post for the Scottish Wildlife Trust recently on the work being done on the Corrour Estate. 

The reintroduction of wildlife is equally important. That beavers are returning to the rivers is wonderful. The success of the reintroduction of white-tailed eagles and red kites is also greatly heartening. Hopefully other species will follow. I doubt we’ll see wolves in my lifetime, though I think they will be back eventually. Lynx are much more likely. The spread of previously persecuted species like red squirrels and pine martens is also very welcome. Places are not wild without wildlife.

Red Squirrel

Wildlife diversity and habitat restoration of course go together. Each enhances and helps the other. The big obstacle to forest and hill flora recovery in the hills is over grazing, mainly by domestic sheep in the Southern Uplands, mainly by red deer in the Highlands, which are at unnaturally high numbers as there are no natural predators. This means control has to be done by us – either by fencing or culling. Fencing results in blocks of restored land and breaks the continuity of wild land essential for wildlife. It may be temporarily necessary in some places but I think reducing grazing pressure is the answer in the long term. I don’t like the idea of shooting deer but it’s the only way currently to reduce numbers to less damaging numbers.

A large herd of red deer in the Fannichs

I also view the growth of campaigning by organisations and individuals on conservation issues as a positive. Again, it’s the numbers. More people, more pressure. To that end below I’ve listed those whose words and work I think worth reading and sharing. They are all on social media and post on Twitter, Facebook and more.

Wind turbines on the Southern Upland Way

And the negatives? Wind farms and hydro schemes in the wrong place (anywhere wild land is damaged), bulldozed roads in the hills, overgrazing, raptor persecution, grouse moor industrialisation, golf courses and new towns on wild land. There’s much to campaign against.

Website & Organisation Links

John Muir Trust. Campaigning for wild land and named for the great conservationist regarded as the ‘father of the national parks’ in the USA. The JMT owns land where restoration is taking place in the Highlands and on Skye, and is now managing the Glenridding Estate in the Lake District. I'm currently a Trustee of the JMT.

Scottish WildlifeTrust. Owns several estates and campaigns for wildlife.

 
MountaineeringScotland. Representative body for mountaineers, does much good work on access and conservation.

RSPB. The biggest wildlife conservation body. Owns some big estates including Abernethy, the largest nature reserve in the UK.

National Trust forScotland. Owns much wild land including the Mar Lodge estate in the Cairngorms, Glencoe, Torridon and Kintail.

Ramblers Scotland.Walkers organisation that does valuable work on access and conservation.

The Big Picture. Photographers group campaigning for rewilding.

Raptor Persecution UK. Campaigns for raptors and posts detailed information and analysis on raptor persecution.

Parkswatch Scotland. Incisive and trenchant detailed comment and criticism on Scotland’s two national parks.

Trees for Life.  Dedicated to restoring the Caledonian Forest.

Mark Avery. Very active campaigner for wildlife.

Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels. As the name suggests!

Scottish Wild Land Group. Works to protect and enhance Scotland's wild land.

Border Forest Trust.  Works to restore native woodland in Southern Scotland.