Inspired by nature
I
t is the summer of 1850 and Sir Edwin Landseer sits in his modest artist’s retreat in Glen Feshie, completing the final sketches of what will become one of the most famed depictions of the Scottish Highlands. Renowned for his ability to paint with both hands at the same time, he works feverishly on his vision of a mighty stag, bathed in warm autumn light and set against a background of cloud-wreathed peaks.
The culmination of years of
painstaking anatomical observations, this startling image will capture the hearts of a generation and go on to immortalise the Highlands in a million postcards, company brands and biscuit tins. But it has also become an increasingly troubled symbol, so closely linked to the Victorian sporting estate, managed to create deer forests rather than real ones. I walked into Glen Feshie with this picture of Landseer in my mind, fashioning a single painting that would come to capture a nation’s imagination. It isn’t hard to see what drew the artist here for inspiration. The lower reaches of the glen are still heavily wooded with Scots pine, the path through them skirting the broad braids of the River Feshie. It is these trees, survivors of the heavy deforestation in the Cairngorms in the early 20th Century, that have long been the focus of media attention. I grew up reading news stories about Glen Feshie granny pines ‘dying on their feet’ with
Since 2006, the Caledonian forest has more than doubled. The indicator species to this woodland’s health are also returning.
overgrazing by a rampant deer population preventing any regeneration.
As I approached this woodland it soon became apparent that Glen Feshie is undergoing a spectacular transformation. Scots pine saplings are sprouting up in ragged profusion through deep rafts of purple heather. Willow, rowan and birch are also making a comeback. Most impressive of all is the juniper, huge stands of spiky green shoots and not a fence in sight to keep the deer out. This looks and feels like a habitat that is literally bursting back to health. One figure alone sums it up. Since 2006, the Caledonian forest in Glen Feshie has more than doubled, from 7,000 acres to in the region of 17,000 acres. The indicator species to this woodland’s health are also returning. The estate has recorded
NOVEMBER 2015 SCOTTISH WILDLIFE 33
Reproduced by kind permission of Diageo on loan to National Museums Scotland
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