Although dramatic and beautiful, much of Scotland's landscapes are now degraded.
The once lush Caledonian forest, which would have covered much of the
country, is now reduced to a few fragments scattered about the land.
And what about the wildlife that used to live here?
Well, many have become marginalized and some lost entirely,
which is the story of the lynx.
And with the rise of rewilding and large scale nature restoration,
the question of the lynx is one which looms large in the background.
Should the Lynx return to Scotland?
Well, there's not yet a simple yes or no answer to this question
because it's one which sparks a lot of debate
and it's a question which we're very much interested in,
given our work to restore Scotland's habitats.
For this video, I traveled to Scotland to conduct interviews
with experts, farmers and people invested in the reintroduction process,
understanding the reasons why Lynx went extinct, the current attitudes
towards them, and look at the evidence we have to best inform us on
whether if the Lynx should return to Scotland.
We don't know exactly when the Lynx went extinct in the UK,
but we do know from their bones that they were once
found on the south coast of England, right up to the north of Scotland.
It used to be thought that Lynx died out
to natural climate change thousands of years ago,
but radiocarbon dating gave us hard evidence
that they survived much more recently when tending to culture evidence.
One of the most interesting references
we have to Lynx in the UK comes from late 15th century Welsh poetry.
It gives a description of appearance and behavior.
Now, forgive me if my medieval Welsh is a bit off here, but llewbrych Literally
meaning the spotted lion, which follows a roe deer up into the hills of Wales.
This is almost certainly a reference to the Eurasian Lynx.
And if there's lynx living in the hills Welsh during the 15th century,
it's very likely that they're living up in the highlands of Scotland too.
But why do they go extinct?
Well, it's all down to how humans have modified the landscape
through removing natural woodlands for farmland and timber over hunting deer,
resulting in declines of prey populations and with direct persecution of lynx.
For its so off the fur.
These pressures together would have resulted
in the demise of the species across Britain.
So one of the first questions we have to ask is, is there enough
suitable space and habitat to support a viable Lynx population?
In search of answers, I caught up with lynx expert David Hetherington.
So in Scotland, we actually have two large
habitat networks that have the potential to support lynx populations.
We have a relatively small one in the south of Scotland
that straddles the border with England into Kielder Forest.
We have a much larger one
in the northern parts of Scotland that stretches from Argyll over in the west
to Aberdeenshire in the east and all the way up to Sutherland in the north.
And the prey densities in that landscape are such
that you could support up to 400 Lynx in the south of Scotland.
A much smaller population of around 50 or so.
But yes, there is enough habitat and prey in Scotland to support a minimum
viable population.
But how exactly will they interact with wild deer populations?
Because right now Scotland has a serious problem with overabundant deer.
Scotland's deer population has more than doubled
over the past 30 years, from 500,000 to over 1 million.
This article from Forestry and Land Scotland recorded
as many as 64 deer per square kilometer in some areas.
A widely accepted sustainable population balance for woodlands
and biodiversity protection is between 2 to 7 deer per square kilometer.
When you say like this, you can't help but see how crazy this is.
This overgrazing is not only threatening the success of tree planting in Scotland,
but virtually halting the natural succession of trees.
So I know what you must be thinking.
lynx hunt deer. Right.
So surely they must help.
Well, of the four their species found in Scotland, red and roe
are the most abundant, and lynx favored taking the smaller roe deer.
There are more manageable size
feelings to make a successful kill are typically found within woodland,
where lynx rely upon cover to stalk and ambush their prey.
It's hard to predict exactly how lynx would influence red deer numbers,
but we can likely assume that it wouldn’t be significant
given their preference for roe.
You see a Lynx
reintroduction is not a silver bullet for reducing their populations.
However, in tandem with other things like harsh winter weather and culling
these things together can drive down deer populations.
So another way the apex predators such as the lynx may impact
deer populations is through the landscape of fear.
It's an ecological idea that was most notably observed
after the wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park.
Their very presence altered the movement and grazing behavior
of herbivores leading to trickle down ecological effects.
Does this mean that lynx will have a similar effect in Scotland?
Well, Scotland's landscape is completely different to that of Yellowstone and Lynx.
Ecology is different to that of wolves.
However, they'll likely have some impacts just given the sheer number of deer
and the fact that there is no natural predators present in Scotland.
The relationship they have with other species
below them in the food chain can be quite significant, especially for the fox.
The carcass after a lynx kill
lays on the woodland floor as a lynx will pick away at it for about a week.
During this time and after the lynx is done,
a whole wealth of organisms will come to feed on scavengers like the Badger.
Fox will try their luck for an easy meal,
but they better be careful as a lynx will kill them if they're nearby.
The Nordic countries where Fox densities are low, similar to that of the Highlands,
scientists have observed a significant trickle down effect with typical fox
prey like woodland grouse and mountain hare populations recovering.
So before we talk about the relationship between lynx and people,
I want to explain a bit more where we come into the picture.
You see here at Mossy Earth, we run this membership that funds
rewilding projects across a variety of ecosystems.
This includes projects as restoring kelp forests in the sea,
rewarding a quarry and even flooding a forest.
And in Scotland, we're helping
monitor wildlife, bringing back rare trees such as the aspen
and restoring river ecosystems to support iconic species like the salmon.
So if you want to help support this kind of work,
be sure to check out Mossy.Earth to learn more.
What about links and people?
Well, in Scotland there is a right to roam and although the Lynx is quite elusive,
that means that there's a chance that we could cross paths with the lynx.
What would happen here? Are they a danger to us?
Lynx are very shy and secretive animals.
They know that humans are bad news and they stay away from people.
If you came between a mother, lynx and our kittens, she would back off.
Whereas if your dog came between them, she would likely have a go at the dog.
The only recorded instances we've got of Eurasian Lynx attacking people in Europe
stem from rabid animals.
So lynx, they've got rabies.
They're not behaving normally at all.
They're very often out of condition that could be half
the size you'd expect a Eurasian links to be.
But they have lost their fear and they will approach humans
and they can be very dangerous under those circumstances.
But that's very unusual
and of course, only found in those parts of Europe where rabies is an issue.
Rabies is not an issue in the UK.
Do we know that
the lynx would not be a danger to us and that there's enough space habitat
and prey and ecological benefits to be had from a Lynx reintroduction?
So why haven't we seen them return to Scotland?
Well, throughout the process, concerns have been raised from sheep farmers.
Undoubtedly, if the lynx would turn to Scotland.
They would experience some losses of sheep.
I visited an upland sheep farmer, Finlay MacIntyre.
But what I would say from my point of view is do have a big problem
with Lynx per-say Probably not so long as there's legislation in place
and there's a process that I as a hill farmer can enact and enable me
to to protect my livestock and of course, my business interests.
I don't think the two can be tied.
And there's with practicality, of that aim.
So you're asking me to have a problem with Lynx?
I actually don't have a problem with Lynx per-say
but do have a problem with how it'd be bureaucratically
delivered and
legislatively delivered and perhaps some of the vitriol
that might be put on some people if they do find they had a problem.
These dots I find it difficult to join.
It's clear that Scotland will need to reassure
its livestock farmers with a proper mitigation process.
So in light of this, what can be learned from mainland Europe?
Generally across Europe links Predation to sheep is a small scale issue
in the East.
In countries like Slovenia and Romania.
Sheep losses to lynx are virtually zero.
This is due to traditional shepherding techniques, people actively
watching the flocks and using guardian livestock dogs in these regions.
They're far more worried about wolves and bears, whereas further west in Europe,
a lot of the large carnivores disappeared
and grazing methods shifted to sheep being unattended in open pastures.
This is true for Switzerland, where lynx were reintroduced 50 years ago.
Currently a population of 300 lynx live here.
30 sheep are taken each year, which is fairly insignificant.
One country in Europe which is very different is Norway.
That's definitely by a long way the worst case scenario
where you're looking at potentially thousands of sheep being lost to lynx
and compensation payments adding up to something like €3 million per annum.
So not an insignificant amount of money.
However, when you cross the border from Norway into its neighboring country,
Sweden, then the compensation payouts for sheep are much, much less almost,
almost anywhere from like 1% of the money that's being paid in Norway.
If you take €37,000 in Sweden and yet there are four times
as many lynx in Sweden. So why the big difference?
And of course, the critical thing about Norway is they are grazing their
sheep in the woodland.
Just reiterate that point from David, Norway experiences such high
losses of sheep
due to the fact that they're grazing in woodlands where they're open
to predation from not only lynx but also many other predators.
Scientists found there
that the risk of predation of sheep was much greater when you had low roe
deer densities below four per square kilometer Scottish woodlands.
There is typically far more than four road deer per square kilometer in woodlands,
making the risk of sheep predation even lower.
This is the evidence we have been ordered to communicate
and discuss how it can be applied to Scotland.
We need to have conversations.
Our biologist Isler is Scottish and knows the importance of ensuring
everyone has a voice.
I think we all need to sit around a table
regularly with one another and just connect
with people that we might not necessarily agree with day to day.
But that's really important because what we don't want to happen
is easy for it to happen with
controversial issues, but we don't want to polarize ourselves beyond communication.
We've touched on the ecological benefits that a lynx reintroduction
would bring for Scotland, but what are some of the other benefits?
A large carnivore reintroduction is a statement,
a commitment to nature that would make global news.
It would put Scotland firmly on the map as a rewilding nation,
getting the attention of not only key naturalists but also the everyday person.
This attention could bring
a lot more people to Scotland, and if well planned and prepare for rural
economies, could certainly capitalize from influxes of tourism associated
with the Lynx reintroduction.
I met with Cairns director of Scotland.
The big picture, the charity that is working for a while to Scotland.
We often and we often try to frame the return of lynx in ecological terms
or even economic terms,
in terms of saving money round deer management, for example.
And there are economic benefits, there's no doubt about that.
An increase in visitors to a so a nature rich landscape,
of course, is is a tangible economic benefit.
But I think more fundamental than that, the presence of lynx, like any charismatic
animal, would just change our experience of the landscape.
It would enrich that experience.
And that's something that's quite often overlooked.
But I think it's very, very real.
I'm feeling inspired that we can come together and work towards a common goal
of creating a better connected Scotland, of creating a healthier Scotland.
And I think a Lynx can be part of that.
But in order to get there, we have to take time to sit down
and discuss these issues and make a solid plan.
And maybe I'm an optimist, but I think we can do it.
So I just want to say thanks to everyone who contributed to making this video.
And if you want to know more about our projects here in Scotland,
check out the video that's on the screen now.
But thanks again for watching.
Until next time, cheers.