Support Scotland's Wildlife Comeback
Your donation will help increase the abundance and diversity of wildlife across Scotland
Despite widespread recognition that climate breakdown is inextricably linked to biodiversity loss, and that rewilding provides a solution to both, species reintroductions in Scotland remain limited. The appetite for the return of missing wildlife is compromised by social, cultural and political tensions.
SCOTLAND: The Big Picture works to return threatened or missing wildlife to our landscapes.
As well as expanding the range of existing species, such as aspen and beavers, we have core projects dedicated to reintroducing Eurasian cranes and lynx.
MEET THE CAST
Eurasian Crane
The iconic Eurasian Crane stands at more than 1 metre tall, with a 2.4 metre wingspan, and is known for its evocative bugling call and mesmerising courtship dance. Driven to extinction centuries ago, there are presently only a handful of breeding pairs in Scotland.
Your donation will support our Cairngorms Cranes project, which seeks to reintroduce a breeding population of cranes to the Cairngorms National Park for the first time in 500 years, while also supporting the expansion of life-rich wetlands.
Lynx
Across mainland Europe, the Eurasian lynx is staging a comeback. Freed from the pressures of unsustainable hunting and benefiting from a softening of public attitudes, lynx have been successfully reintroduced into several countries and are now gaining in number and expanding in range.
Endless research tells us that apex predators are essential to healthy ecosystems and we believe there are many reasons why lynx should be returned to Scotland.
Your donation will help drive public support for lynx through the Lynx to Scotland project, and pave the way for this enigmatic cat to return to Scotland’s woodlands.
Beaver
Beavers are nature’s engineers – the wetlands they create lock away carbon and allow other species to flourish. Beavers help people too, by ensuring our rivers and wetlands become more resilient to drought, while reducing the risk of downstream flooding. After a long period without their crucial influence, beavers are back in Scotland, but they need help to expand.
In 2021, a family of beavers that would otherwise have been culled, were moved to Argaty Red Kites in Perthshire, a partner in our Northwoods Rewilding Network.
Your donation will support more beaver translocations to Northwoods sites across Scotland.
Aspen
Aspen is a truly stunning native tree, supporting several rare species that rely exclusively on aspen at different stages of its life cycle. This tree with the 'quivering leaves' is also a preferred food source for beavers.
Sadly, due to excessive browsing by animals and the rarity of it setting seed in Scotland, aspen has disappeared from much of our landscape and, as a relatively unknown tree, its decline has gone largely unnoticed.
Your donation will help our Painting Scotland Yellow campaign, which supports more people to recognise aspen’s role in healthy woodlands, driving its comeback across Scotland.
Scotland has lost so much of its wildlife - more than most other countries across the world. Expanding existing species and returning those that have been lost, will help create healthy, functioning ecosystems, bringing huge benefits to the wider environment, to the challenges associated with climate breakdown, and to people - those of the current generation and those that will follow.
By donating today you can help to:
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- reintroduce a breeding population of Eurasian cranes to the Cairngorms National Park for the first time in 500 years.
- drive support for lynx and help pave the way for this enigmatic cat to return to Scotland’s woodlands.
- translocate beavers to more Northwoods sites across Scotland.
- support more people to recognise aspen’s role in healthy woodlands, driving its comeback.
- help normalise the return of missing native species to increase abundance and diversity of wildlife in Scotland.
