Ecosystems are deeply-interwoven webs of diversity, and some species are more connected than others. When these species are lost, the impact on the ecosystem is a ‘trophic cascade’ – the abundance and health of connected species will be affected, which, in turn affects species linked to them, and so on. A richly-connected food web with many organisms is more stable, as it is more likely to survive the loss of any one species. Esme and Callum’s relationship handled with great skill by the author. Esme is part of a group of ‘friends’ who torment Callum at school. These ‘good’ girls provoke him, causing him to end up in trouble whilst they escape without blame. Callum lives with foster mother, Sadie, feeling settled at last after a series of unhappy placements. Supportive and nurturing, this has been his longest-and happiest- placement, if not for school. The narrative is told from alternating perspectives and Esme is forced to consider her attitude towards Callum and through this to re-evaluate her friendship with the other girls in her class, particularly Isobel. Sadly, there are sure to be many readers who will empathise with her concern about getting on the wrong side of this ‘friend’, hopefully leading to discussions and better understanding of the negative nature of this type of ‘friendship’.

I just wanted to say thank you for the privilege of doing the Rewilding course with you. The weekend was incredible and I could probably say life changing. I see the three principles everywhere and can see the transformation the understanding is bringing. Sometimes I am feeling joy I haven't felt since I was a child and I find myself laughing, singing and just smiling for no apparent reason. Of course, not everybody agrees that reintroducing lynx and wolves is a feasible idea, and in The Rewilders I’ve tried to show that different points of view are valid and that compromise and consensus will be necessary if large predators are ever going to be successfully reintroduced to Scotland. The characters are brilliantly drawn. Gran and her friend Sadie are funny and full of mischief and Shug - the worst guard dog in the world - is great fun. Esme, the main character, is complex, struggling with internal and external demons in the form of shame, friendship issues, and bewilderment at the task she is faced with. The author successfully intertwines Esme's emotional and physical journey, cleverly leading her to a satisfying conclusion. With a 13,000-acre-estate, Williamson does not claim poverty, but he is not mega-rich, either. Alvie, which has been in his family for a century, is not a conservation project but a business. It needs to make money, so Williamson eyes Glenfeshie nervously. Over the past decade, since MacDonell’s team started culling all year round, Alvie’s annual stag bag has gone from 30 to 20.

Books

How did locals react to the arrival of this playful experimenter? Rumours were rife, she recalls. ​ “Someone in the village told me, ​ ‘I hear you’re bringing in giraffes and 12 beavers’. So Ireplied, ​ ‘No, but Iam bringing an elephant’”. Wild flowers are not the only accidental stowaways arriving from continental Europe. The long-tailed blue, one of the world’s commonest butterflies, has turned up along the south coast in increasing numbers in the past few years. But although many of these butterflies may be genuinely wild, others are being accidentally imported as eggs or pupae on plants brought over from Europe to commercial nurseries. Society will have changed, too. People will be able to cycle out safely from Rhayader, and spend the day immersed in nature. And this won’t just be an immensely pleasurable experience for them: they’ll also know that this place is performing absolutely vital functions like sequestering carbon, storing water and alleviating flooding.”

The inspiration for The Rewilders came from an article I read online about a Canadian man who was riding his bike along a wooded trail in Quebec when he found a tiny, abandoned kitten. At first he thought the little creature was a domestic cat, but realised by the size of its paws that it was actually a lynx, so he took the starving animal home, fed it milk from a dropper and called wildlife experts to come and collect it. Intrigued by the fact lynx kittens could be mistaken for domestic cats, I asked the question, What if? Lee readily admits that he’s learned lessons, too. ​ “I think when Istarted out, Iwas probably quite hard line and thought we need to change everything right now. Now Irecognise that, actually, when it comes to the people who are already there, working on the ground, we need to bring them along withus.” So, humans still are a crucial part of the rewilded landscape – not just because we need community support for projects to be successful – but also because we ourselves are agents of ecosystem engineering, and we need to continue this role in the absence of the creatures we have replaced. The hope is that by planting native trees and reviving damaged peatlands, Scotland’s biodiversity will increase and natural processes will be revived. Scotland’s temperate rainforests are internationally important and contain the world’s rarest bryophytes and lichens, but there are only fragments left and these isolated fragments are unable to regenerate due to high levels of grazing or are being damaged by invasive rhododendron or by the planting of exotic conifers. The Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest has been set up to help restore these precious habitats. And then, perhaps, it might be time to reintroduce large predators…Like many rewilding projects, the most obvious initial signs of change on the ground have been the felling of old conifer plantations. This can leave ascar of bare earth which people find offputting, to say the least. But nature had lent ahand in the form of Storm Arwen, ripping through the stands of Sitka spruce and larch and leaving many positively unsafe – so in Langholm at least, it proved popular. ​ “Now we’re working with the Woodland Trust to create anew large wood of native broadleaves.”

It’s this sort of finger-in-the-air exploration which appeals to Dorette. ​ “Wilding is experimental. That’s what Ilike about it. Ilove the idea of creating aspace, and seeing what it needs. Moving forward without following astrict guideline. Ireally wanted toplay.” So rather than pitch in with detailed plans, the project started off with ​ “a lot of learning, and alot of listening. Ihad to educate myself, and talk to the experts – as many as Icould.” And there was alot of listening to local people too. To Jamie Williamson, the 73-year-old owner of Alvie and Dalraddy, an estate near Aviemore, it is as lovely as it ever was. “What is more natural,” he asks, “moorland, which we’ve had for the last 1,000 years, or dense woodland?” Scotland’s tree cover, he points out, had fallen to 4 per cent by as early as 1350. Please share if you know someone you think would be interested. I need help getting this information to people who are not in my community. The intent of this program is to increase diversity among practitioners by making this program accessible to all folx regardless of race, sexuality, gender, socio-economic status, and ability.Lynx are such reclusive animals that seeing them in the wild would be unlikely, but their presence would certainly make a walk in the Highlands a more thrilling experience!