A NATURAL ENTHUSIASM

Even back in the 19th Century, Sir Herbert Maxwell recognised the importance of looking after health of our wild creatures, big and small.

Maxwell was something of a jack of all trades, and the polymath often found ways to bring his passions together in extremely useful ways. A well connected descendent of one of

Scotland’s oldest clans, he used this to his advantage to bring positive change to the Scottish environment that we can still appreciate today.

A keen angler and lover of nature, Maxwell recognised even back then the impact that over-fishing and over-hunting was having on local wildlife. Baines said: “He was probably one of the only ones, in a time when hunting, fishing and sportsmanship was extremely popular, to see that we could not keep taking from the world without giving anything back. He used his position in parliament to bring about closed season for salmon.

“People looked up to him. He was very influential and well connected, and I think his vast knowledge of so many different areas and his position as a politician meant that he could make things happen and change it for the better. The natural world was very close to his heart, and he wrote about 50 to 60 books, many of them on Scottish nature. His book on moths was seen very much as a bible on the subject at the time.

“He came from a line of Maxwells who all seemed to appreciate the natural world. The area around where they lived is very wild and untouched by man. It is right on the coast, and the environment that surrounded them is filled with amazing animals.”