The Etive Hills

The view west from Victoria Bridge features a very recognizable Scots pine tree.

This lonely, condemned old soul makes for a nice, convenient focal point for photographs; & has appeared in many in the public domain. The sight of it, though, makes me more sad than anything else. Singular, weather-ravaged old specimens represent the wreckage of land abuse stretching back millenia. A stubborn, antiquated & chronic attitude, by the 'sporting' estates, of allowing deer numbers to multiply unchecked - for the purposes of so-called 'sport' - has created the waste ground that makes up a large percentage of the Highlands today. The result, if you're 'lucky' enough, is one or two ancient, gnarled pines where there once would have stood countless - blanketing every glen floor. Most Highland glens have long been wiped entirely clear of the old Caledonian Wood, with little sign - even in this supposedly 'enlightened' age - of a reversal. These are not sentiments you are likely to hear from tourist guides on the ubiquitous coaches that pepper the Highland roads during the summer.

Done