Do not treat Scotland as wildlife playground

Sir, - Yet again I see readers have to endure the twaddle espoused by your columnist Jim Crumley in his quest to ruin Scottish uplands.

He refers to Scotland being totally forested and describes walking through trees all day as being “sublime”.

This is errant nonsense. What makes Scotland unique is its heath and moorland which is threatened and valuable. It gives us dramatic views and vistas, not trees a few yards away.

Dr James Fenton, the National Trust for Scotland’s ecologist for 14 years as well as being an SNH adviser, condemned RSPB plans to double the area of forestry in the Cairngorms.

He wrote: “Is the RSPB’s action not damaging the Scottishness of our hills, and going against the long-term natural successional trends? Is this transformation not destroying their natural characteristics, forcing them to fit in with a prescriptive vision - the opposite of being wild?”

He added that heather moorland on which the trees would be grown is a much rarer habitat globally than Scots pine woodland.

Jim Crumley follows the usual route of those who wish Scotland to be something it isn’t, and tries to blame land managers and deer populations.

These same land managers keep Scotland looking the way most of us and our visitors want to see it - a beautiful and open landscape.

Deer shape this environment yet it is trendy to see them as the enemy.

To make matters worse, Mr Crumley mentions the word wolf, as if introducing yet another predator to feast on our lambs will put the world to rights.

And then he uses the word rational in the next sentence.

Any sane observer will know that wolf and rational cannot be adjacent in a discussion about land management in Scotland

Obviously Mr Crumley sees Scotland’s uplands as his playground; an outdoor gym to be decorated with exotic beasts to be enjoyed as a place of leisure. Gerard Watts. Persie Estate, Glenshee.

Picture: Press Association. Scotland’s open vistas are cherished by many.