Why oh why is Scotland the only country in the UK to still have the ban on tail docking of working dogs?
Just back in from ferreting a plantation of young larch and scots pine trees. I am soaked to the skin and frozen. My daughter is visiting us with her boyfriend and I thought it would be a good chance for him to see some different animal tracks in the snow.
I am not a happy chappy. I was cutting old rabbit fences away this morning and my ear is bleeding profusely. I detest that high tensile wire; when you cut it with the wire cutters it goes off like a coiled spring. It felt like I had been shot in the ear.
The men who look after wildlife on around 100,000 acres of Scotland’s hill land are also responsible for keeping the tiny local school alive in the small village of Dalwhinnie in remote Badenoch.
All six of the children attending Dalwhinnie Primary have gamekeepers as fathers and live in a unique environment where feeding red deer stags, getting paid to help out on grouse and pheasant shoot days and attending the local gun club from a young age are part of daily life.