Regeneration: The Rescue of a Wild Land
MAR LODGE ESTATE in the Cairngorms is a landscape beloved by generations of hill-goers, and this engaging book, meticulously researched by ecologist Andrew Painting, recounts its revival. We’re used to reading about nature’s terrifying collapse: declines and losses, retreats and failures. This book is about confronting these threats to Scotland’s landscapes and offering an alternative vision, building real hope for the future. Yes, it is about rewilding; but the author bangs no ideological drum, and this story is rooted firmly in compromise, realism, evidence, and the muddy and often tedious work of conservation: counting saplings in all weathers, spreadsheets, difficult conversations, endless midges, waiting for birds that may or may not show up.
The National Trust for Scotland acquired Mar Lodge in 1995, and began 25 years of struggle to turn back the tide of dying woods and vanishing wildlife. This is the story of that struggle. It’s about the return of trees – not just the hoary old granny pines that have weathered every storm for centuries, but the vibrant buzz of new growth that can only thrive when deer numbers are kept well down. It’s about the return of birds, rare insects, and plants that we no longer associate with the uplands, such as the Alpine sow thistle. Each chapter covers a particular area of work, often a specific species, and Regeneration goes into great detail on these subjects.
It’s also a book of “philosophical and geographical edgelands”. Painting describes the project as complex and messy and influenced by countless factors beyond the simple need to protect wildlife. Political and economic realities, conflicting priorities and points of view, cultural differences: all these things must be accounted for when planning a long-term vision such as this. Where Mar Lodge has succeeded – and where Painting succeeds in his account – is in embracing a spirit of pragmatism and a willingness to work with vested interests for the benefit of wildlife, local communities and businesses. Locals are actively involved in conserving capercaillies, for example; and gamekeepers become stewards of the land. Income from stalking pays the wages of the keepers who work to regenerate the woods.
Regeneration demonstrates that a future is possible for Scotland’s uplands in which rewilding, deer stalking, tourism, communities, and even grouse shooting can coexist in harmony – but there will have to be changes. Alex Roddie