REGENERATION: THE RESCUE OF A WILD LAND
BY ANDREW PAINTING, BIRLINN, £20 (HB)
To my shame, I have been to the Cairngorms only once. I walked in rich, dark forests and scrambled up snowcovered slopes; I saw black grouse, mountain hares and golden eagles. Just a week in this landscape left a lasting impression. It’s easy to believe this stunning part of Scotland is an untouched wilderness, but, in truth, it’s been shaped by humans for centuries.
In Regeneration, Andrew Painting tells the story of Mar Lodge: a 30,000hectare estate in the middle of the national park. When the National Trust for Scotland took over its management in 1995, its woods and moors were ecologically wrung-out. A quartercentury of ambitious restoration later and it exemplifies how conservation can work in harmony with human interests.
The author, assistant ecologist at Mar Lodge, takes us tree-coring in the Caledonian pinewoods, deer stalking on the moors and to the mountains in search of summer snow. Along the way, complex environmental conundrums – including “the deer problem” and the emotionally charged issue of illegal raptor persecution – are objectively and intelligently explored. Painting’s tone is companionable, humorous (he describes male black grouse as having “the haughty demeanour of a duke whose monocle has fallen into the soup tureen”) and buoyant.
The Trust’s work is not finished – the omnipresent cloud of climate change creates challenges and the current passion for rewilding offers opportunities – but when I next visit the Cairngorms,
I’ll do so with a deeper understanding and appreciation of its beauty.
Pete Dommett, nature writer
• See Andrew Painting’s article, page 40.