The brilliant
sunshine of the last few days of the year have been a welcome bonus
to the flocks of wimter migrants, the fieldfares and redwings. The
wet pasture is a smogasbord of wriggly delicacies to augment the few
haws and berries left by the flailing hedgers. Why do the farmers
choose the winter months to obliterate the food supplies of so many
birds? I suppose they can't do it in spring because of nesting and,
in the summer, it is just too much work, too much foliage. There
can never be a right time to cut hedges but trimmed hedges are better
than none at all.
It's all about the
balance between us and our needs and those of the other inhabitants
of our planet, the ones that don't have a voice. Difficult to
maintain the balance but the responsibility is ours.
As a supporter of
the reintroduction of the beaver to Scotland, I am pleased that the
five year trial in Knapdale has been judged a success. Far from
creating havoc as the doom-mongers predicted, the beavers have
improved the natural environment as well as attracting tourists and
their money to the area.
The next proposal is
the introduction of the lynx, ostensibly to reduce roe deer numbers.
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| Which would you chase? |
Our own Scottish tiger, the wild cat, is highly endangered, no longer
by persecution but by hybridisation with feral cats. Once widespread
– there are cat-cleughs and cat-hills and cat-holes all over the
country – these famously untameable, even if captive reared,
predators are reduced to less than a hundred pure bred specimens.
It is all about
balance. Do we really need to continue to support subsidised
borderline sheep farming when there is no demand for the wool and no
profitability in the meat or should we re-balance the land use by
“wilding” the rural landscape in favour of eco-tourism,
forestry, and responsible access to the remote wild places that help
us reconnect with the landscape?
Local fishermen are
turning to providing transport for sea anglers and sub-aqua divers as
the fish that sustained their forebearers are no longer there to be
caught.
Communities can find
other sources of revenue. It's all about adaptability.
Bison bred in
captivity in Scotland are helping to bring genetic diversity to the
herds of Romania, reintroduced there after extinction in the wild in
the 1920's and there are calls for the wolf to be brought back to
control deer numbers in the Highlands.
Now that is
controversial. The wolf given the choice between chasing something
that can run like Usain Bolt and is armed with a vicious kick and
multibladed headgear and a fat wooly creature is likely to pick the
latter. Keeping the wolves in the place they are meant to be will
be problematic.
A difficult balance
to achieve but it can be done.
While wandering
about on the moors, I had an old map that showed some of the features
and names missing from the latest editions. Crossing the Endless
Knowes and passing the Boundary Stone, the names making me feel like I
was in a passage from Tolkien, I came upon an
ordinary little valley distinguished by the name of Wolf Cleuch.
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| Wolf Cleuch |
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| The Boundary Stone |
The last wolf was
killed in Scotland in the 18th century in Morayshire, how
many years, how many centuries has it been since there were wolves at
Wolf Cleuch?
Our land is too
small with too many people on it for there to be any truly wild
places. The wilding would have to be managed. It would always be a sort of
wildlife park. Wolves and lynx, bison and bears and even the wild
cat are always going to be maintained in an artificial environment.
We cannot go back to the 11th century.
If there is to be
a move towards the reintroduction of predator species in this crowded
island,it would be well to remember the Fool's words in King Lear
"He's mad that
trusts in the tameness of a wolf”
Still... it is an exciting prospect.
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