HOW THE HIGHLANDS ARE CHANGING……..

The cottage sits in the glen under Ben Hope, the most northerly Munro, and close to the far North Coast of Scotland. In 1922, when there was not a metalled road north of Lairg, my Scots grandparents arrived here for their honeymoon on their motorbike. It was called, simply, Alltnacaillich, after its location, and was, inevitably, basic inside.

Now, over 100 years later, it is advertised as “Strathmore Lodge”. The exterior, I am pleased to say, is virtually unchanged. The interior is described as ‘simple’ , but it “ has an eclectic bohemian and Bloomsbury-inspired tone of voice” -(who writes these things?). It is clear that the Highlands are changing, and significantly……but in what direction?

Alltnacaillich and Strathmore now are part of the Wildland ‘empire’ , a very large grouping of Highland estates, which advertises that it is “ a 200 year vision of landscape-scale conservation in the Scottish Highlands. Through our custodianship of significant Scottish estates, we work to let nature heal, grow and thrive”.

I should make it clear that I have nothing against what so many of these new Highlands and Islands estate-owners hope to achieve with their land, although some are likely to fail because they simply do not understand the very nature of the ground they have acquired. In the case of Wildland, I have seen for myself the benefits of reducing considerably the previously excessive deer numbers.

There are, however, some things which concern me. However rich the owners, it seems that most of them envisage receiving an increasing income from tourism, and many of the cottages or houses which formerly sheltered estate employees are now available as holiday-accommodation. From the peripheral activities which many now offer, it is clear that a distinctly upmarket clientele is sought. In Strathmore, at least, they suggest enjoying nature, fishing, hiking and mountain-biking, but in other locations and estates such as Alladale, on-site whisky-tasting, clay pigeon shooting, and wellness and spa treatments are available. (Perhaps my favourite idea at Alladale is “forest bathing”; the clegs, midges and ticks must be very happy!). These are definitely up-market trappings, and I do worry that the Highlands and Islands are returning to being the playground of the rich that they were in the Victorian era. (This tendency may be a small part of the reason for the boom in the number of campervans which now clog our roads).

To me, this trend is visible in what is being done to Tanera Mor, the largest of the Summer Isles, which is being turned into a “world-class destination”. Tanera is advertised as having a “ natural beauty and proud history” which has undergone “ an island-wide restoration “. This has included reworking much of the accommodation on the Island, but also linking the houses and cottages by a road, and importing on to Tanera a redundant church and old aircraft hangar. Again, much of what is being done here seems good, in particular the generosity towards the community of the nearby Coigach peninsula, but some aspects give me the feeling that Tanera Mor has become, even if only in part, a rich person’s plaything. We have seen those before now in the Highlands and Islands, and the example of Rum hints that they are not always sustainable into an unguessed future.

All such “new” owners emphasise their commitment to the local community, and some, like Tanera above or Highlands Rewilding in the Tayvallich context, have gone to great lengths to prove this. While there is often a commitment to “ consultation”, it has always been clear to me that the most effective way to work with the local community, is to employ local people. Rather many of the advertised jobs seem to be in the very demanding but also often limited hospitality sector where wages may be low and the distances travelled to work (in some of these remoter lodges), rather high. I accept that there may be rather few individuals suited to some of the ‘newer’ roles hinted at above; maybe the more enlightened employers might consider offering training schemes, even bursaries for training elsewhere to local folk…………

But then there is always the worry that remote ownership combined, say, with sudden changes in the financial background, can lead to local staff losing their jobs, as I have been informed has happened to the Assynt staff of the John Muir Trust since it hit financial trouble. The “fragility’ of these remoter communities (a word many of us came to detest) remains in such cases. Local ownership, while its progress may be slower and its activities more modest, might seem to be more resilient, more sustainable in the longer term. The outstanding example of the community on the Isle of Eigg may have been part of the inspiration behind the community-led decisions of Jeremy Leggett (Highlands Rewilding) or Ian Wace of Tanera.

What seems clear, sadly, is that, in some estates at least, there are fewer folk working directly on the local ground. Most forestry work is now done by itinerant squads, and deer management seems to be heading down the same road. I accept, of course, that there is all-too-often the problem of finding housing for such folk, but turning all the houses on your estate into holiday-accommodation is hardly the way to solve the problem. A careful balance is required…….

My concerns, listed above, may seem nebulous to some, but one fact is very clear: in the Highlands and Islands we still have a few very rich folk owning great acreages of land, many estates to which they, the owners, simply cannot be ‘local’ or ‘accessible’. Having lived for a while on a (small) estate where I was explicitly denied access to the named owner, I am well aware of the frustrations that can arise when such communication is impossible, and the general discontent which results.

At the other end of the scale is an initiative with which I am rather happier. The Northwoods Rewilding Network of the (awkwardly-named) Scotland-The Big Picture is intended specifically for smaller landholders who live on their land and, to a greater or lesser extent, work it themselves. Importantly, (it seems to me) “ Partnership is restricted to medium-sized (usually 100 to 1000 acre) landholdings, to enable land managers at this scale to make a meaningful contribution to ecological recovery”. Of course, problems may arise at any level within any group of people, but this way of uniting folk who both live on and work their own land may, ultimately, prove to be at least as important as the far glossier ventures discussed above.

The process of Land Reform in Scotland may not have gone nearly as far as its supporters would like; as I have said we still have a few individuals owning enormous acreages, and I am not clear how effective any scrutiny of their activities actually is. But we do have a real mix of ownership models, and, I think, a greater awareness of, and concern for, the environment which should sustain us all; this can only be to the good.

This has been simply a few thoughts on a big and complex topic. It is, however, now over 60 years since I really began to feel connected with the Highlands and Islands, and in the succeeding decades I have seen ‘waves’ of development and ‘new’ ideas, (such as extensive commercial planting of conifers or widespread salmon-farming), and most seem to have left a legacy of problems. In the Climate and Biodiversity Crises which now engulf us, we must be careful that the urgency, combined with undeniably fashionable trends, such as ‘Rewilding,’ do NOT lead us to making fundamental mistakes.