Post by warsaw on Sept 23, 2013 4:42:36 GMT -9
Bears in Scotland
Mandy Haggith
Email:hag@worldforests.org
My interest in bears began as a child. Like most other British children my bookshelves were full of books with bears in
them, from Winnie-the-Pooh to Baloo, from Paddington to Rupert, and all the bears in fairy tales. Some of these were clearly
as stuffed as the bears I had in my bed, but not all of them: the three bears encountered by Goldilocks clearly had independent lives out in the forest, even if they did come home to eat porridge. It was those real bears that fascinated me most, and
it didn’t take long before I was asking, if there were so many bears in my stories, was I likely to meet one when I played in the
woods. And if not, why not?
Brown bears are native to Britain, although they were hunted to extinction probably about a thousand years ago. Bones of
brown bears have been found in more than 100 archaeological sites across Britain, from Essex in the south, to the Salway
Firth in southern Scotland, to the Inchnadamph Caves in Assynt, in the northern county of Sutherland, where the remains of
three brown bear skeletons have been found so far, including the most recent wild bear bones in the UK.
In the light of advice from animal historian, Andrew Kitchener, that it was plausible that Sutherland was the last place
they survived in the wild, I set my first novel, The Last Bear, in Assynt at the end of the 10th century AD. This was a time of
political turmoil, when the indigenous inhabitants were subject to cultural change, with the arrival of Vikings from Norway
and Christian Scots.
Brown bears left their mark on Scotland’s ecosystems, and their impacts have outlived them. As great seed dispersers,
they are probably responsible for the rapid spread across the island of big-seeded trees, such as oak and hazel, after the end
of the last ice age. Conversely, their absence has a detrimental effect, making it hard for the oak and hazel trees to regenerate
from the remaining fragments of oakwood, particularly in the northern landscape where mountains and lakes make seed
dispersal difficult.
There is no doubt of the cultural significance of bears to people in Britain for the thousands of years before they were
exterminated. Thanks to archaeology in Yorkshire, we know they were eaten by people in the neolithic period. Bear tooth
amulets have been found in various sites, including an iron age broch at Keiss and a Roman camp at Chesters, and claws and
bear skins were found in several human burials. There are also several inscriptions of bears or bearlike animals on pictish
stones.
International Bear News Summer 2013, vol. 22 no. 2 31
Bears in Culture
There is documentary evidence of bears in the forests of Scotland in the Roman period, and of “Caledonian Bears” being
used for attacking Christians in Roman amphitheatres. The idea of the Caledonian forest as bear habitat outlived the species,
with, for example, Campden, in his book Brittania, in 1607, describing the forest as “dreadful for its dark intricate windings
and for its dens of Bears”. Despite their ferocious reputation, in stories of the Caledonian forest, the bear is often a helpful
animal. The Brown Bear in the Green Glen is a good example.
In the mediaeval period captive bears were used for baiting with dogs and toured as dancing bears for entertainment, and
there are stories of their occasional escapes, but it is unlikely any genuinely wild bears remained in Britain. Some of the many
place names containing “bear” or related words, including Bearwards Lane in London, are linked to the keepers of captive
bears. Likewise Bearsden in Glasgow, if it relates to bears at all, is likely to refer to a captive or pet bear rather than a wild
one.
Mathan, the Gaelic word for bear, made its way into people’s names: the Mathieson clan, for example. Other names,
including Arthur, Bernard, Bertha, Ursula and even Robert have bear-related origins.
Bears appear on some clan insignia or other heraldric signs, and the famous gates of Traquair House in the Scottish
borders have bears on them. There are records of bear hunting at this estate into the 13th century but this is likely to be of
captured bears released specifically for the hunt. Again, we see that although actual bears were gone, the idea of the bears
continued, and people were keen to gain from their associations with courage and strength.
In British literature, and not only children’s books, bears have an ongoing presence. Bears have a deep and old symbolism
of fertility, and the apparently magical ability of nature to restore life after death. In many indigenous traditions around the
boreal region, the mother bear’s apparant self-burial for winter, followed by her rebirth in spring with cubs, makes the bear
a powerful totem animal. This symbolism is echoed in British poetry, for example Ted Hughes’ poem “The Bear”, in which
“The bear is gluing / Beginning to end / With glue from people’s bones..... He is the ferryman / To dead land.”
Another key idea about bears is their kinship with us, due to their intelligence, omnivorous diet and ability to stand on
hindlegs. The poet Eleanor Rees continues this tradition in her long poem “Eliza and the Bear”, which explores the suspicion
that her lover is a bear. The myth of Callisto, the maiden who is turned into a bear rather than becoming a mother, appears
in many forms in literature, and it was this story that I used as a central thread in my latest novel, Bear Witness.
Bear Witness explores the question of whether, after a thousand years of absence, brown bears might be reintroduced to
Scotland. It was launched at an event in Assynt called “How Wild Can We Go?” on Earth Day (22 April) 2013, which included an enthusiastic debate on the potential for reintroduction of all
of Scotland’s extinct species, including bears, wolves and lynx. Osprey,
red kite and sea eagle reintroductions have been successful and beavers
are now back, and the European Directive on Habitats makes it an
obligation for the government to consider reintroduction for all the
missing species. The Earth Day event took place on community-owned
land, and the current shift towards community land ownership and
land purchase by organisations that give primacy to nature conservation in their management objectives, means that the culture of land
use in Scotland may be more welcoming to predators than at any time
in the past.
There are many organisations in Scotland that support the rewilding of land, and some, including the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Trees
for Life, have explicit policies to promote the return of bears. Other
organisations that support rewilding include Reforesting Scotland,
the John Muir Trust, the Woodland Trust, New Caledonian Woodlands and the Scottish Wild Land Group. Many valuable lessons can
be learned from the many rewilding experiences in other European
countries, but research carried out by Tooth and Claw in 2007 makes
clear that there is a huge range of opinion about predators in Scotland,
and much more debate is needed. A thorough scientific study of the
feasibility of brown bear reintroduction to Scotland would be a good
place to start.
For the time being, however, bears retain their place in the culture
of Britain, primarily on our bookshelves.
©Sara
Mandy Haggith
Email:hag@worldforests.org
My interest in bears began as a child. Like most other British children my bookshelves were full of books with bears in
them, from Winnie-the-Pooh to Baloo, from Paddington to Rupert, and all the bears in fairy tales. Some of these were clearly
as stuffed as the bears I had in my bed, but not all of them: the three bears encountered by Goldilocks clearly had independent lives out in the forest, even if they did come home to eat porridge. It was those real bears that fascinated me most, and
it didn’t take long before I was asking, if there were so many bears in my stories, was I likely to meet one when I played in the
woods. And if not, why not?
Brown bears are native to Britain, although they were hunted to extinction probably about a thousand years ago. Bones of
brown bears have been found in more than 100 archaeological sites across Britain, from Essex in the south, to the Salway
Firth in southern Scotland, to the Inchnadamph Caves in Assynt, in the northern county of Sutherland, where the remains of
three brown bear skeletons have been found so far, including the most recent wild bear bones in the UK.
In the light of advice from animal historian, Andrew Kitchener, that it was plausible that Sutherland was the last place
they survived in the wild, I set my first novel, The Last Bear, in Assynt at the end of the 10th century AD. This was a time of
political turmoil, when the indigenous inhabitants were subject to cultural change, with the arrival of Vikings from Norway
and Christian Scots.
Brown bears left their mark on Scotland’s ecosystems, and their impacts have outlived them. As great seed dispersers,
they are probably responsible for the rapid spread across the island of big-seeded trees, such as oak and hazel, after the end
of the last ice age. Conversely, their absence has a detrimental effect, making it hard for the oak and hazel trees to regenerate
from the remaining fragments of oakwood, particularly in the northern landscape where mountains and lakes make seed
dispersal difficult.
There is no doubt of the cultural significance of bears to people in Britain for the thousands of years before they were
exterminated. Thanks to archaeology in Yorkshire, we know they were eaten by people in the neolithic period. Bear tooth
amulets have been found in various sites, including an iron age broch at Keiss and a Roman camp at Chesters, and claws and
bear skins were found in several human burials. There are also several inscriptions of bears or bearlike animals on pictish
stones.
International Bear News Summer 2013, vol. 22 no. 2 31
Bears in Culture
There is documentary evidence of bears in the forests of Scotland in the Roman period, and of “Caledonian Bears” being
used for attacking Christians in Roman amphitheatres. The idea of the Caledonian forest as bear habitat outlived the species,
with, for example, Campden, in his book Brittania, in 1607, describing the forest as “dreadful for its dark intricate windings
and for its dens of Bears”. Despite their ferocious reputation, in stories of the Caledonian forest, the bear is often a helpful
animal. The Brown Bear in the Green Glen is a good example.
In the mediaeval period captive bears were used for baiting with dogs and toured as dancing bears for entertainment, and
there are stories of their occasional escapes, but it is unlikely any genuinely wild bears remained in Britain. Some of the many
place names containing “bear” or related words, including Bearwards Lane in London, are linked to the keepers of captive
bears. Likewise Bearsden in Glasgow, if it relates to bears at all, is likely to refer to a captive or pet bear rather than a wild
one.
Mathan, the Gaelic word for bear, made its way into people’s names: the Mathieson clan, for example. Other names,
including Arthur, Bernard, Bertha, Ursula and even Robert have bear-related origins.
Bears appear on some clan insignia or other heraldric signs, and the famous gates of Traquair House in the Scottish
borders have bears on them. There are records of bear hunting at this estate into the 13th century but this is likely to be of
captured bears released specifically for the hunt. Again, we see that although actual bears were gone, the idea of the bears
continued, and people were keen to gain from their associations with courage and strength.
In British literature, and not only children’s books, bears have an ongoing presence. Bears have a deep and old symbolism
of fertility, and the apparently magical ability of nature to restore life after death. In many indigenous traditions around the
boreal region, the mother bear’s apparant self-burial for winter, followed by her rebirth in spring with cubs, makes the bear
a powerful totem animal. This symbolism is echoed in British poetry, for example Ted Hughes’ poem “The Bear”, in which
“The bear is gluing / Beginning to end / With glue from people’s bones..... He is the ferryman / To dead land.”
Another key idea about bears is their kinship with us, due to their intelligence, omnivorous diet and ability to stand on
hindlegs. The poet Eleanor Rees continues this tradition in her long poem “Eliza and the Bear”, which explores the suspicion
that her lover is a bear. The myth of Callisto, the maiden who is turned into a bear rather than becoming a mother, appears
in many forms in literature, and it was this story that I used as a central thread in my latest novel, Bear Witness.
Bear Witness explores the question of whether, after a thousand years of absence, brown bears might be reintroduced to
Scotland. It was launched at an event in Assynt called “How Wild Can We Go?” on Earth Day (22 April) 2013, which included an enthusiastic debate on the potential for reintroduction of all
of Scotland’s extinct species, including bears, wolves and lynx. Osprey,
red kite and sea eagle reintroductions have been successful and beavers
are now back, and the European Directive on Habitats makes it an
obligation for the government to consider reintroduction for all the
missing species. The Earth Day event took place on community-owned
land, and the current shift towards community land ownership and
land purchase by organisations that give primacy to nature conservation in their management objectives, means that the culture of land
use in Scotland may be more welcoming to predators than at any time
in the past.
There are many organisations in Scotland that support the rewilding of land, and some, including the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Trees
for Life, have explicit policies to promote the return of bears. Other
organisations that support rewilding include Reforesting Scotland,
the John Muir Trust, the Woodland Trust, New Caledonian Woodlands and the Scottish Wild Land Group. Many valuable lessons can
be learned from the many rewilding experiences in other European
countries, but research carried out by Tooth and Claw in 2007 makes
clear that there is a huge range of opinion about predators in Scotland,
and much more debate is needed. A thorough scientific study of the
feasibility of brown bear reintroduction to Scotland would be a good
place to start.
For the time being, however, bears retain their place in the culture
of Britain, primarily on our bookshelves.
©Sara