A huge majority of people want Scotland’s wild places protected, which begs the question, why aren’t these places defended more effectively?
SOMETIMES the word “wild” seems to get in the way. If that strikes you as an odd sentiment coming from a nature writer, of all creatures, you should also know that it strikes me as odd to be writing it down.
After all, in the course of writing 30something books, not to mention more than 100 Scots Magazine articles – titled Wild About Scotland – I must have deployed it to my own ends many, many times.
Two simultaneous events conspired to generate a head of steam for this train of thought, after which I had more or less decided that the word “wild” becomes a problem – at least when we seek to define it for legal reasons, such as when it is applied to a specific landscape in order to make the case for a specific degree of legal protection.
The first event occurred when I was walking beside a body of water. By any definition of the word I can think of, what I was looking at was wild. Nature agrees with me. There was a cluster of around 100 grey seals on a midstream sandbank. Their voices drifted over the water, that seductive threnody that lured centuries of mythical seafarers to their doom, and continues to urge nature writers to poetic endeavour.
Not long before I started watching the seals, I had been watching two sea eagles. Not long before that, I had been watching dolphins. I am no fisherman, but I know for a fact that salmon love this water. I also know that otters love this water. Self-evidently, wildfowl and waders in vast numbers love this water.
One shore is steeply wooded as far as the eye can see. Ospreys nest in these woods and young sea eagles roost there.The other shore is walled in by miles of reed bed where marsh harriers nest. By any Scottish standards that particular habitat is not just wild – it’s unique.
Denne historien er fra September 2017-utgaven av The Scots Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra September 2017-utgaven av The Scots Magazine.
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The Bliss Of A Bothy
After a strenuous walk, a mountain shelter can offer all you need
The Long Way Round
When you can only just see the stepping stones under a river in spate, it's time to re-think the route, as two Highland adventurers found out
The New Oyster Cult
A community is helping to restore the once rich biodiversity of Loch Craignish, one species at a time
A Poet's Sanctuary
Hidden on a hilltop, writer Dominic Cooper is inspired by the wild, stormy winters of the Ardnamurchan peninsula
A Rural Housing Crisis
Across Scotland, locals are being priced out and crowded out - but communities are now working hard to address the issue
A Historic Centre
Glasgow's Mercat Cross may not be as old as it appears but it's still seen many changes, along with an ebb and flow in prosperity
A Bird With A Brain
Jim's encounters with the raven in several northern countries have only increased his respect for its intellect and ingenuity
The Warrior King
On the 750th anniversary of his birth, Robert The Bruce's legacy as cultural keystone and historical enigma continues to fascinate
All Going Swimmingly
From Tutti Frutti to Shetland, Monarch Of The Glen to Granite Harbour, Dawn Steele's heart will always be in Scotland - and the sea
Following The Coos
The latest charity art trail aims to a-moos-e and delight visitors to Perth and Kinross this summer
