Brilliant Nick,
We too have beavers up here, just re introduced and now protected. A guy up the road from me is planning re introducing bears, wolves and bison on his estate in Sutherland, think he owns MFI ?? not sure.
Hi Lowflyer
Many thanks for the kind comments. Regarding rewilding - I'm about to rant. Nothing personal.
Rewilding Britain sounds like a wonderful idea. The trouble is with the British: too many of them in too small an area. Scotland seems big, but it's tiny and not really wild. It would sink in Lake Superior.
Animals like bears and wolves won't conveniently stay where they're put - they'll go wherever makes sense to them including suburban backyards (for instance:
Black bear run-in results in 17 staples for northern Ontario woman ) and my own son came within 5 feet of a bear in a suburban neighbourhood in the same town within a day or two of that event (prob. different bear). They cross roads (don't they Austin!) and go wherever they please. We had a black bear walking through a nearby village near here a little while back. They're called 'wild' animals 'cos they don't operate for our convenience.
The first time some happy hill-walker sees their Golden Retriever eviscerated and eaten by wolves before their eyes, there will be such a public outcry. Beavers will demolish people beloved back garden trees without a second thought and flood their prized bottom lands.
I've heard of a plan to introduce Eurasian Lynx to Kielder Forest. Kielder Forest is a postage stamp (roughly 650sq. km). A single Eurasian Lynx's territorial requirement is about 450 squ. kms. - so they might have enough room for 1 and a bit lonely / hungry animals. We have lakes here that you've never heard of that are bigger than that. Wolf packs typically require between 300 and 1500 squ kms. but since they easily travel 30 miles a day they could be anywhere in Scotland within a couple of days. Imagine the fun of seeing a couple of wolves ambling down Sauchiehall Street at 2AM.
When Scotland was primeval forest and the human population was low, it worked, but I just can't see it working now. If people want to re-wild Britain, the sheep and deer will have to go, along with about 7/8ths of the human population, and let the natural forests emerge naturally. I can't see millions of hikers and climbers who love the bare hills appreciating that. Oh yes - and Bison were never native to Britain. Your MFI guy is starting a zoo, not rewilding.
Sorry to go on, but there are few ideas (other than Brexit and the election of Trump) that are so misguided and ill-considered.
Nick