Alladale update

For those of you who followed our scientific fact-finding trip to the Highlands this spring, the plot thickens! Mercurial British millionaire Paul Lister and his plans for the estate are the focus of a six-part BBC Scotland TV series, The Real Monarch of the Glen. Apparently, Paul's somewhat difficult character is one focus of the show, which aired it's first episode the other night.

It comes as no surprise to us that the BBC saw a "star in the making" here. We were all quite amazed and entertained by Mr. Lister's antics when we visited the estate.

But none of this means he isn't right to advocate for some of the things he's advocating for. For one thing, culling deer will help regenerate the Caledonian forest. For another, a cheap efficient way to do this would be by introducing predators.

I'm just not sure he can get them the way he's going about getting them.

Here's the review. Enjoy.

The man who cries wolf

PAUL LISTER’s dream is to re-wild his highland estate with wolves and other animals long since driven from Scotland, but not everyone shares his vision

By Julie Davidson

There is nothing grand about the Laird of Alladale; or, as BBC Scotland prefers to call him, The Real Monarch Of The Glen. He rarely claims the master bedroom in his big house - an opulent corner room which has all the glory of the River Alladale gorge, bright with new birch leaf, outside its windows. When the lodge is full he happily slums it in a small back room with no en suite and an inferior view. "I think I've slept in every bedroom in the house," he says. "There are only two which haven't been refurbished, and I can make plans for them when I'm lying awake at night."

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