Hold Back The Flood

Bamff Wildland shows the miracles that can happen when beavers' hard work allows waterways to meander once more

- POLLY PULLAR

IF, like me, you feel increasingly desperate regarding the state of nature - continual habitat loss and damaging development - then there can be no better balm for the soul than a visit to pioneering conservationists Paul and Louise Ramsay at Bamff Wildland near Alyth.

I'm travelling along the potholed drive on a day of emergent spring, car windows wide, better to hear dozens of avian voices. Song thrush, wren and blackbird lead the orchestra, while newly arrived chiffchaff, willow warbler and blackcap add their unique arias. The avian chorus makes me think of the sweet, natural singing voice of Sophie Ramsay, Paul and Louise's daughter, who manages Bamff's ambitious nature recovery project.

Evidence of nature's rebound is everywhere on the 1,300-acre estate. It's a place where the poignant words of author Robin Wall Kimmerer quoted on the Bamff website - To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it - are put into practice daily. Here, nature can be as wild as it wishes. And the results are miraculous.

There have been dramatic changes since the blissfully eccentric Ramsays began to move Bamff in the direction of environmental management more than 40 years ago.

The project is moving into a new era; even the rough shooting and farming have gone in order to allow natural regeneration.