Interview: Lisa Chilton on Rewilding Scotland
January 23, 2026From vast valleys to moody mountainscapes, Scotland’s renowned landscapes live rent-free in the heads of hikers, bikers, climbers and adventurers across the world. Its extraordinary topography and geology make it a dream destination, whilst also providing a home for rare and elusive wildlife such as golden eagles, red deer, snow bunting, minke whales, white-beaked dolphins and more.
But a misalignment exists between reality and reputation. In fact, Scotland is one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries. Its biodiversity intactness ranks in the lowest 25%; it’s one of the least wooded countries in Europe; and one in nine species risk extinction. Rewilding offers seeds of hope.
A silent landscape
“Silent and largely empty”. That’s how Lisa Chilton, CEO of SCOTLAND: The Big Picture (SBP), describes Scotland’s nature. “No one can deny the grandeur of Scotland’s landscapes. They move us just like they’ve moved people for hundreds of years. But one of the things that we try to do is to open people’s eyes to the fact that they could be so much better,” she says.
Intensive land management practices and overhunting have driven extensive wildlife loss in a region that would have once hosted a variety of thriving habitats. Wetlands, woodlands, peatlands, rivers, burns, lochs and wildlife meadows would have all once teemed with life. Now a monoculture pandemic has taken root, with many areas containing just one or a handful of species.
“What that has done is favoured the wildlife that can hang on in places that are heavily grazed by sheep or deer, or places that are burned regularly for grouse shooting on the moors,” says Lisa.
This has sparked declining populations, or even extinction, among some of Scotland’s legendary protagonists (keystone species) such as wolves, wild boars and lynx, and other lesser-known species: the great yellow bumblebee, the short-necked oil beetle, the small blue butterfly, several moth species, numerous plants and fungi.
“Critically, the natural processes that all of Scotland’s people and nature depend on – from pollination and seed dispersal to predation and the recycling of nutrients in our soils – have been disrupted or fundamentally altered, putting our entire life support system on fragile footing,” Lisa explains.
This imbalance is particularly evident at the top of the food chain. Take wolves and lynx, for example. Without these apex predators, deer populations have soared. This has led to overgrazing, resulting in fewer numbers of critical plant species, invertebrates and other organisms.
“In many ways, there are some urban areas that are more wildlife rich than some of Scotland's seemingly wildest places,” says Lisa, who stepped into her role at SBP just over six months ago, equipped with a lifetime of serving natural spaces – land and sea – and the communities who live in them.
Building a rewilding network
Since its conception in 2020, recovering nature and natural processes has been SBP’s north star. What started as a small network of photographers and filmmakers rallying together in response to the climate and biodiversity crises is now a 20-strong team and a Northwoods Rewilding Network comprising nearly 100 members of small-to medium-sized landholdings.
Through various campaigns, the organisation drives greater support for nature recovery, collaborating with a growing network to commit more land and water to rewilding. Collectively these organisations pledge to a set of core rewilding principles known as The Northwoods Nine:
-
- More native woodland
- More space for water
- Wilder rivers
- Joined-up habitats
- Return missing species
- Let nature lead
- Reinstate natural grazing
- Connect with communities
- Create rewilding business
More native woodland More space for water Wilder rivers Joined-up habitats Return missing species Let nature lead Reinstate natural grazing Connect with communities Create rewilding business
SBP sits among a network of organisations advocating for greater nature recovery in Scotland. Rewilding Britain, for example, calls on the Scottish government to declare the country a rewilding nation and commit 30% of land and seas to nature recovery.
Unfortunately, existing conservation laws and policies often hinder rather than help. “And it tends to be nature that loses out,” says Lisa, who gives one example of this. "We all know that Scotland needs more trees but, ironically, there are protected areas where the landowners are having to pay to remove the native saplings that are naturally re-establishing because, in law, the sites were designated in their existing state rather than for the woodland that they would naturally become if allowed.”
Letting nature lead
Traditional land conservation sets specific conditions to achieve preset outcomes. Rewilding walks on the wilder side, forgoing measurable objectives to allow for unexpected outcomes.
“It’s incredible, particularly when water is involved,” says Lisa, referring to a recent trip to one of SBP’s land partners. “They had been rewetting the landscape, which had previously been drained for agriculture. As we passed one of the ponds, a big marshy area, he said it was a barley field just a few years ago”.
Ultimately, rewilding is a more patient approach. “As humans, we like to go in and fix things, hence tree planting has been such a big feature of the nature conservation and rewilding movements,” says Lisa. “But actually, what if you just create the conditions that allow the trees – the forest, the woodland – to regenerate itself? What you'll get is a much more resilient and less uniform environment. The trees will be different ages, different sizes, different species. And when they fall over, they’ll be dead wood and provide life to the surrounding habitat.”
Scotland has lost most of its original forests, with major loss concentrated in the Highlands; only 4% of the country’s native woodland remains. From soil erosion to biodiversity loss, this has presented major ecological challenges.
Painting Scotland Yellow sits among SBP’s portfolio of campaigns. It seeks the return of Scotland’s native aspen, one of the most deforested trees in Europe. Given the difficulty in regenerating the species naturally, the organisation works extensively with network partners to grow tree seedlings and foster flourishing populations.
“Aspen has these glorious yellow fluttering leaves, which are absolutely outstanding and which would have been very much a part of Scotland's landscape, and which hopefully will be again in future,” says Lisa.
Looking forward, not back
Rewilding frees people from ‘shifting baseline syndrome’, the phenomenon where every generation normalises the conditions that occurred when they were younger. It allows for possibilities that live outside of our cultural memory.
But it’s not necessarily about creating a halcyon era.
“A lot of people assume, and perfectly understandably so, that the ‘re-’ in rewilding means that we want to recreate some lost sort of idealistic environment. But we’re not in the 1600s or 1700s anymore. That’s completely unrealistic,” she says. “It’s not harking back, it’s looking forward.”
For that reason, many now refer to the practice as ‘wilding’. Regardless of which name you choose, it has countless benefits beyond reversing biodiversity loss. These include:
- Cleaner air and water
- Healthier soils, positively impacting our food system
- Greater support for local economies
- Strengthened communities through local group action
- Greater defense against climate change
The return of keystone species is another major benefit. Following 400+ years of local extinction, beavers became the first native mammal to be reintroduced to Scotland in 2009. Their engineering prowess has transformed landscapes, creating natural wetlands, improving water quality, and building dams that have fortified communities from floods and extreme weather events.
“Scandinavian countries have had very successful reintroductions of top predators… and also in the range of species such as bears and wolves. People are learning to live with them again, including those in quite densely populated areas. And in areas much like Scotland in terms of size and population density.”
While SBP campaigns do not currently focus on wolves, lynx remain top of mind through their Lynx to Scotland partnership with Lifescape and Trees For Life.
“We’ve carried out a national lynx discussion, which brought together stakeholders from different sectors to examine the potential of lynx reintroduction… There are valid concerns, but we provide support with landowners to find a way forward.”
Rewilding at every scale
Caught up in the legends of more famous fauna, the media often negates other, often smaller, potential unsung heroes of rewilding reintroduction. For example, maerl is a slow-growing, hard, coral-like red seaweed. In marine environments, it supports extraordinary amounts of wildlife. Similarly, on land, ants positively affect soil structure, aerating it and constructing physical structures that become havens for other wildlife.
Critically, though, rewilding champions nature recovery at any scale; it is not a practice exclusive to major, multi-stakeholder action such as species reintroduction.
“I think one of our next steps is going to be to look at even smaller sites such as gardens,” says Lisa. “We want to encourage even more people to do their bit in terms of nature recovery… We’re entering an era of rewilding democratisation, if you like.”
To forage more information on rewilding in Scotland, visit the SCOTLAND: The Big Picture website and explore their work.