CONSERVATION CHARLIE

Born and raised in rural Perthshire, young ghillie Charlie Blance has become an ambassador for the conservation benefits which come from field sports, she tells Richard Bath

Young ghillie Charlie Blance believes there are many conservation benefits to come from field sports

As a youngster growing up in the wild countryside of Perthshire between Methven and Glenalmond, Charlie Blance was borderline obsessed with the natural world. She would wander the hills and moors for hours on end, guddling fish in the burn, witnessing the natural world and generally immersing herself in the countryside.

Most weeks she would go out camping with her father at least once, often more. She would encounter a dizzyingly wide range of wildlife that included everything from a hunting pine marten on the prowl to black game leks.

But one day she came across something which profoundly changed her life. At the back of her parents’ farmhouse she watched as a Scottish wildcat explored the family’s garden. It was the beginning of an enduring commitment to conservation that has dominated her life ever since.

‘It may have been a hybrid, but it had rings in its tail and was definitely a wildcat,’ she said. ‘It was amazing to see a wildcat right on my doorstep, to see an animal so rare. But we’re doing so little to protect what is our most iconic animal that it really got me angry. We spend more protecting pandas in China than we do on saving the most endangered animal in Scotland.’

The realisation that dawned on her as a teenager in her back garden in Perthshire kick-started a determination to do everything she could to help preserve and enhance Scotland’s countryside. ‘I realised pretty quickly that this is what I wanted to do. But conservation is really hard to get into, especially if you haven’t got the contacts or lots of resources behind you.’

After a couple of false starts, Charlie realised that her best route into a career dominated by the countryside and conservation was through becoming a gamekeeper. Although she grew up in the country, none of her family had shot since her grandfather hung up his old side-by-side decades ago, so it was not initially a career choice that she thought would be open to her.

And, of course, she presumed that as a girl she may not be welcome. But during her HNC in Gamekeeping and Wildlife Management at the Borders College a whole new world opened up to her. ‘It turned out that I could not be more wrong,’ she laughs. ‘The fact that I’m a woman made no difference, and I enjoyed my course so much that I wish I’d done it before I did.’

A year-long placement on Rum (‘I loved it there, I’d go back in a heartbeat’) with Scottish Natural Heritage consolidated her interest in conservation. ‘As well as stag and hind culls, and managing feral goats, I also monitored species like the red-throated diver and Manx shearwater. It was a great experience; I was hooked.’

After such a wonderful introduction, she returned to her Perthshire roots with six months at the remote Dunan Estate on Rannoch Moor, where her experience taking clients out stalking helped her land a job at Benmore, near Lairg in Sutherland.

‘The conservation side of gamekeeping really appeals to me,’ she says. ‘Country sports give natural spaces such as moorland, hedgerows and mixed woodland a reason to exist, ensuring a diversity of habitats. At Benmore, we take active steps to promote biodiversity, removing invasive flora species, providing dead wood for microfauna and engaging in predator control to protect ground nesting birds. It’s hugely satisfying.

‘The other day I was in the glen checking on a dead deer carcass to find out which predatory species are living in the area. The quad bike track runs alongside a river where three dippers were working away and an old heron was fishing on the river bank. When I got to the deer, a hoard of hoodie crows erupted into a flurry of black feathers, then a female golden eagle and her mate appeared. It reminded me of why I love this job. I also often see a sea eagle from my kitchen window. It’s a grand view to share a coffee with.’

Still just 21, Charlie’s vocal commitment to conservation – not to mention her active marketing of the countryside through her popular Instagram account and business selling antlers – has seen her win Lantra Scotland’s top prize in the ALBAS (awards for land-based and aquaculture skills), and she’s looking forward to a long career as one of Scotland’s growing number of female stalkers and ghillies.

Who knows, one day she may even get to work with those wildcats.

“We spend more on protecting pandas in China than on saving Scotland’s most endangered species

Opposite page: Charlie out on the estate. She is also a keen photographer.