In the first ever post, a land worker (who wanted to remain anonymous) recounts a long walk over Ben Macdui in May; a time when he is accustomed to seeing wildlife and hearing it all around him as he goes about his daily tasks.
“During the 7 hour round trip from the Cairngorms ski centre the only wildlife seen were 2 wheatears, 2 snow buntings and a ring ouzel.
There were no droppings or marks seen of any deer, hares, ptarmigan or waders and only 1 dropping of red grouse. No marks of any predators at all and not one bird of prey was seen.
Is this the reality of “rewilding”? The clusters of weather beaten and stunted or dying trees cannot be worth it.
As anyone who spends any amount of time on Scotland’s hills can tell you this is in direct contrast to many traditionally run sporting estates.”
On returning, the land worker checked the ground he had seen on his walk. The ground was Cairngorm Estate, run by a government agency and Abernethy, a nature reserve run by RSPB Scotland.
The photos are from the walk.
We'd love to hear your perspective on life as a land or river worker in Scotland, today.
