At first glance, Scotland’s ‘deer problem’ appears to be an ecological issue: too many hungry mouths putting pressure on already depleted woodlands and peatlands.

Beneath the surface, however, debates over deer numbers, deer impacts and deer economics, reflect a much deeper ideological divide about what the Scottish uplands are for, and who gets to shape their future.

The deer problem, in other words, is really a people problem.

Additional info

At the Edge is an independent media and communications platform exploring how people and wildlife can thrive together.

Follow us on Instagram, or join me, Peter Cairns, on LinkedIn and Bluesky. And if you like what we do, please consider Buying Me A Coffee to support the production of future podcasts and other content.

This episode of At The Edge is produced in partnership with Adventurous Audio and is kindly supported by Ballintean Mountain Lodge.

Useful links

Meet the contributors from this episode on LinkedIn: Thomas MacDonnel, Donald Rowantree, Callum Leavey-Wilson, Sam Tedcastle, Nicola Williamson.

Read Views from the Hill by Callum Leavey-Wilson

Learn more about the work of The Common Ground Forum

Learn more about the Affric Highlands red deer tracking project

Learn more about the Centre for Good Relations

Learn more about The Fiadh Project

Read Peter Cairns' illustrated feature: "Monarch or Menace?"

Britain’s woodlands and grasslands were once shaped by vast herds of wild cattle — the now-extinct aurochs. But in a Dutch laboratory, scientists have brought these powerful herbivores back to life — in part at least.

Tauros cattle share 95% of their DNA with the aurochs and have been bred to restore the natural grazing processes long lost from Europe’s ecosystems. Now roaming in increasing numbers across the Continent, could the Tauros fulfil a similar role in the UK? And if not, what’s standing in the way?

Additional info

At the Edge is an independent media platform that takes a deep dive into our relationship with wild nature, exploring pathways to living well with wildlife.

Follow us on Instagram, or join me, Peter Cairns, on LinkedIn and Bluesky. And if you like what we do, please consider Buying Me A Coffee to support the production of future podcasts and other content.

This episode of At The Edge is produced in partnership with Adventurous Audio and is kindly supported by Ballintean Mountain Lodge.

Useful links

Meet the contributors from this episode on LinkedIn:

Grazelands Rewilding, Henry Dobson.

Learn more about the work of Grazelands Rewilding here.

Learn more about natural grazing here and here.

Learn more about Tauros cattle.

The availability of the excellent film 'Return of the aurochs' isn't clear, but you can contact the producers here. I have a copy myself, so let me know if you're keen to organise a screening and I'll try and help.

“People like you don’t understand the countryside.”

It’s a sentence that ends conversations before they even begin.

When it comes to disagreements on issues such as hunting, farming, rural tradition or rewilding, most of us don’t start with facts – we start with identity.

Town vs country. Left vs right. Tradition vs change.

Lines get drawn. Sides get chosen and suddenly, it’s not about the issue anymore, it’s personal - it's about 'people like you.'

In this episode, we step beyond tribal labels, past the lazy assumptions, and into the conversations we’ve stopped having.

Additional info

At the Edge is an independent media platform that takes a deep dive into our relationship with wild nature, exploring pathways to living well with wildlife.

Follow us on Instagram, or join me, Peter Cairns, on LinkedIn and Bluesky. And if you like what we do, please consider Buying Me A Coffee to support the production of future podcasts and other content.

This episode of At The Edge was produced in partnership with Adventurous Audio, and kindly supported by Ballintean Mountain Lodge.

Useful links

Visit Colin Murdoch at Reraig Forest.

Learn about the Cairngorms Crofters & Farmers Community.

Learn about The Centre for Good Relations.

Meet Sam Tedcastle, Matt Hay, Hugh Webster, Ruaridh Ormiston and Julius Purcell.

I'd thoroughly recommend three podcasts hosted by Julius Purcell as part of the Rewilding Earth series, in which he explores the resurgence of wolf, bear and Iberian lynx in Europe.

In August 2025, a farmer from the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, claimed that sea eagles had taken five of his Shetland pony foals.

Whether this happened—or could happen at all—remains unproven, but the incident ignited a media storm and brought a key question back into focus: How do we balance nature recovery with the needs of rural livelihoods?

In Episode #3 of At the Edge, Peter Cairns explores the complex factors shaping perceptions around the resurgence of these charismatic birds.

Additional info

At the Edge is an independent media platform that takes a deep dive into our relationship with wild nature, exploring pathways that allow us to live well with wildlife.

Follow us on Instagram, or join me, Peter Cairns, on LinkedIn and Bluesky. And if you like what we do, please consider Buying Me A Coffee to support the production of future podcasts and other content.

This episode was produced in partnership with Adventurous Audio, and kindly supported by Ballintean Mountain Lodge.

Useful links

Watch the RSPB film "The Return", a celebration of white-tailed eagles (or 'sea eagles'.)

Learn about the Sea Eagle Management Scheme in Scotland.

Learn about the reintroduction of sea eagles to southern England.

Learn more abut the work of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation.

Learn about Tom Fry's research on attitudes towards sea eagles.

Thanks in this episode go to Alice Bacon, Lewis Pate and Ewan Miles of Nature Scotland. Thanks too to the many people who have offered their views on this subject.

Almost wherever they roam, wolves attract controversy.

Today, Europe is home to more wolves than at any point in modern history, and although the UK remains a wolf-free zone, their growing presence on the Continent provides a valuable window into our own willingness to embrace a wildlife comeback.

In Episode #2 of At the Edge, Peter Cairns speaks to author Adam Weymouth and journalist Annick Hus, about what wolves are, both in reality and in our imaginations.

Additional info and useful links

This episode was produced in partnership with Adventurous Audio.

Check out Adam Weymouth's excellent book, The Lone Wolf.

Meet Annick Hus and learn more about her writing on wolves.

Listen to The Wide Open podcast episode about wolves (highly recommended).

Read Yellowstone Wolves by Doug Smith. There are a number of other excellent books on this subject, all of which provide a fascinating insight into our complex relationship with this animal.

Find out more about our supporter, Ballintean Mountain Lodge.

Learn more about At the Edge and follow us on Instagram, or join me, Peter Cairns, on LinkedIn and Bluesky. And if you like what we do, please consider Buying Me A Coffee.

The UK has lost more of its wildlife than almost any other country. So, for some, the return of sea eagles, beavers, wild boar and pine martens is a rare and uplifting conservation triumph. For others, this wildlife resurgence represents a threat to rural livelihoods and an erosion of countryside traditions.

So, how much wild are we willing to live with? And who gets to decide?

In Episode #1 of At the Edge, host Peter Cairns speaks to expert guests who each shine a light on the social, cultural and political barriers facing Britain's wildlife comeback.

Additional info and useful links

This episode was produced in partnership with Adventurous Audio.

Check out Jonny Hanson's book Living with Lynx with Lynx.

Meet David Hetherington, Darragh Hare and Kirsten Brewster.

Find out more about our supporter, Ballintean Mountain Lodge.

Learn more about At the Edge and follow us on Instagram, or join me, Peter Cairns, on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

Across the UK, sea eagles, beavers, wildcats and wild boar are all staging a comeback. Calls for the return of lynx grow louder each year.

But as wildlife rebounds, it’s confronted by a society that has long forgotten how to live alongside wild nature – and isn’t sure it wants to try.

Join Peter Cairns, host of At the Edge, as he explores the fault lines that divide opinion over nature’s place in our future.

Discover more about At the Edge