Scotland's endangered wildcats could be saved in massive 800 sq mile Highland rewilding plan
The new Affric Highlands charity has set out ambitious plans to restore nature and wildlife over a sweeping area from Loch Ness to the west coast.
Scotland's endangered wildcats could be saved as part of a massive 800-square-mile rewilding plan across the Highlands. The new Affric Highlands charity has set out ambitious plans to regenerate native woodland, peatland and riverside habitats and boost endangered species like wildcats, covering a sweeping stretch of the country from Loch Ness to the west coast.
The group said it will work with local landowners to boost the local economy and make the region a hub for sustainable timber, fishing, farming, venison and wildlife tourism. Affric Highlands - whose emblem is a wildcat, also known as the 'Highland Tiger' - vowed to see the iconic animal flourish as it takes on the huge 30-year project.
The beautiful and rare wildcat - once widespread across the UK - is now only found in northern Scotland. With fewer than 300 left, the mammal is considered critically at risk of extinction.
In a statement, Affric Highlands said: 'It is hoped that habitat restoration will support efforts to help this much-loved species thrive again.'
It also promised action to aid conservation efforts for other struggling species like red squirrels, mountain hares and Atlantic salmon.
The rewilding plan will cover a linked network of landholdings stretching from Loch Ness to Kintail in the west, and encompassing Glens Cannich, Urquhart, Affric, Moriston and Shiel.
Despite the region's world-famous beauty, it is largely ecologically damaged, with much land degraded following centuries of deforestation and overgrazing.
That includes the globally unique Caledonian forest which has been reduced to isolated fragments, while damage to peatlands means they are emitting rather than absorbing carbon.
The charity said this was limiting people's opportunities for sustainable land-based jobs and undermining sustainable farming which depends on functioning natural processes.
Affric Highlands executive director Stephanie Kiel said: 'Affric Highlands is a community focused vision of hope.
'It's hugely inspiring to be setting out as a new charity on this ambitious 30-year journey to take large-scale nature recovery to a new level.
'We want to create new opportunities and real benefits for local landowners, communities and rural economies, so nature, people and livelihoods can all thrive together.'
Restoring habitats will boost biodiversity and benefit wildlife including golden eagles, red squirrels, black grouse, mountain hares, salmon, trout, ospreys and otters.
Despite Scotland's renowned landscapes, data shows the country is one of the most nature-depleted in the world.
Rewilding means the restoration of nature on a large enough scale that it can then take care of itself.
Affric Highlands began work in September 2021, operating as a joint venture led by Trees for Life with support and advice from the Rewilding Europe network - before now launching as an independent charity.
It has already built a broad coalition of 19 landowners backing the project, covering an area of around 225 square miles within the vast landscape.
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Local rewilding schemes so far include restoring native woodlands and peatlands - and creating new woodland on riverbanks to provide shade, nutrients and shelter to Scotland's threatened wild salmon population.
Steve Micklewright, Trees for Life's chief executive, said: 'Affric Highlands' success so far – coupled with the opportunities for people offered by its bold vision of landscape-scale nature recovery – has brought us to the point where it can now begin a new era as an independent charity.
'This is fantastic news for breathing new life into the Highlands through rewilding.'
Frans Schepers of Rewilding Europe said: 'Affric Highlands will enrich the social fabric and wildlife of these glens and hills.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Telegraph
The best supermarket tartare sauce, tried and tasted
Apparently tartare sauce is ready for a rebrand. Heinz, which withdrew its tartare sauce in 2002, launched a Fish & Chips Sauce this year which the company is touting as 'tartare 2... the new must-have for fish dinners.' I'm not sure I need an upgrade on tartare 1.0, thank you. The chunky condiment, known as tartar sauce (no 'e') on the other side of the Atlantic, is sauce qua non with fish, especially fried fish. But it's brilliant with chicken too, and was originally an accompaniment for steak tartar (which never has an 'e'). A proper tartare sauce has a creamy base, generally mayonnaise, although a few of the more expensive readymade versions add cream. Then it needs a feisty, vinaigery crunch, achieved with chopped gherkins, capers, shallots and herbs – the classic is fine herbes, parsley with some or all of chervil, tarragon and chives, although most of the commercially available sauces I tried for the taste test below featured just parsley. The exceptions are the M&S Collection version, which has untraditional but delicious dill, and Heinz which contains dill and parsley, though you'd never know from the flavour. Of course, you could easily make your own, especially if you use ready-made mayonnaise, just stirring in the other components. It will, however, require buying jars, packets and bunches of those ingredients, and using only a small amount. That's a big cost up front: a back-of-envelope calculation, and including only parsley in the way of herbs, came to just shy of £7, while a jar of ready-made costs from 65p to £2.60. But can the ready-made sauces measure up to homemade? Generally not, when it comes to ingredients that nudge them into ultra-processed food (UPF) territory. Of the 18 sauces I tried, most were 'shelf stable', or ambient: in jars that sit happily at room temperature until they have been opened, at which point they need to live in the fridge. All of them contain stabilisers, such as xanthan gum or guar gum, or even modified starch, which does the same job of holding the water in the emulsion. All but three contain preservatives, usually potassium sorbate. Heinz, M&S Collection and Waitrose Essential manage without preservatives at least, which goes to show what is possible. But bear in mind that using ready-made mayo to make homemade tartare sauce will almost certainly add a few industrial ingredients to the mix, such as the antioxidant, flavourings and paprika extract in Hellmann's. If making your own mayo feels like a step too far, but you want to avoid weird additives, there is an alternative, at a surprisingly reasonable price. M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury's all sell chilled tartare sauce (although M&S's version wasn't available when I was testing). None of them have any untoward ingredients, and both the ones I tried taste much closer to what you might make at home. Better still, they are no more expensive than the top-end jars. That's the sauce. Skip to: How we tasted All the tartare sauce was brought to room temperature. While I was out of the room, my lovely assistant (AKA my husband) then dolloped them into individual containers and labelled them A-N to anonymise them. At this point I was allowed back into the room to taste the sauces. After I had judged the sauces for flavour and texture, the identity of each sauce was revealed and I examined the ingredients and nutrition, while also looking at price, in order to assess their value.
Reuters
04-06-2025
- Reuters
Georgia to shutter EU and NATO information centre as ties with West fray
TBILISI, June 4 (Reuters) - The Georgian government is to close its information centre on NATO and the European Union, Georgian media reported on Wednesday, citing the country's foreign ministry, amid souring ties between Tbilisi and the West. According to its website, the information centre aims "to engage our population in Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes and to gain their well-informed support". The centre, opened in 2005, is based in a large building on Freedom Square in downtown Tbilisi and flies the flags of the EU, the NATO military alliance and Georgia. Georgia's Interpress news agency reported that the centre is to be merged into the foreign ministry and that some staff have been told they are to be dismissed. The ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Georgia has been an EU candidate member since 2023, while NATO said in 2008 that the mountainous country of 3.6 million would eventually join the alliance. But though once among the most pro-Western and democratic of the Soviet Union's successor states, Georgia's government has in recent years moved to clamp down on domestic critics, while also rebuilding ties with former imperial overlord, Russia. Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister widely seen as Georgia's de facto leader, has said the EU and NATO are controlled by a shadowy "global war party" that seeks to topple the government and drag his country into war with Russia. Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream party in November 2024 paused EU accession talks until 2028, abruptly halting a popular national goal that is written into the country's constitution. The EU has said Tbilisi's application has been frozen over laws on "foreign agents" and LGBT rights that Brussels has criticised as restrictive and influenced by Russian policies . Georgian Dream says it still wants to eventually join the EU and NATO, but that it also wants to keep the peace with its huge northern neighbour, as well as preserve the country's traditional Christian values. The United States imposed sanctions on Ivanishvili last December, accusing him of dismantling Georgian democracy in the interests of Russia. Tbilisi and Moscow have had no formal diplomatic ties since 2008, when Russia defeated Georgia in a brief war over two Moscow-backed separatist regions.
Daily Mirror
04-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
Drivers told to remove three items from car boot before Monday
The heatwave can result in havoc with drivers' cars, it has been warned. Here's how to take action to stop running into trouble in the hot weather Motorists are being warned to remove three items from their vehicles as the UK braces for a 'mini-heatwave'. With temperatures expected to soar to 31C in June, drivers are being advised to take precautions to prevent damage to their cars. Aerosol cans, electronic devices and bottled water should all be removed from vehicles, experts have warned. Aerosol cans can explode when exposed to high temperatures, causing potential damage to the car's interior. It's generally recommended that these items are not left in unattended vehicles at any time of year to completely eliminate this risk. Electronic devices could suffer permanent battery damage if exposed to hot weather, and in some cases, they could even short-circuit. This could lead to sparking and potentially start a fire inside the vehicle. Bottled water is another item to avoid leaving in a hot car. Recent studies have shown that plastic water bottles can leach BPA, microplastics, and other harmful chemicals into the water when heated, reports Birmingham Live. BigWantsYourCar said: "Many drivers are surprised to learn that something as simple as a can of cola or a damp towel can lead to significant damage. It's especially common during heatwaves when people leave items in the car after a day at the beach, gym or park." The Met Office's early forecast for June says: "Changeable weather across the UK with a mixture of Atlantic weather systems moving in from the west interspersed with dry and sunny periods. "The wettest conditions are likely to be in the northwest, with the driest weather in the south and southeast. Temperatures are most likely to be near or slightly above normal, perhaps with some hot spells at times, especially across the south."
