SCOTLAND: The Big Picture | Podcasthon 2026

About this episode

The episode discusses the rewilding efforts in Scotland and their impact on local communities and biodiversity.

What does it take to bring wild nature back to a country that has forgotten what it looks like? Can rewilding truly benefit local communities and rural economies or does it come at their expense? And is Scotland really thirty years behind the rest of Europe when it comes to restoring its landscapes? This is a Podcasthon episode and this year I've chosen SCOTLAND: The Big Picture as my featured charity. Founded by nature photographers and filmmakers it has grown from a single employee to a team of twenty-four in just a few years. Today I'm joined by Lisa Chilton, CEO, and Stef Lauer, Rewilding Training Lead. Lisa and Stef walk us through the extraordinary scope of what SCOTLAND: The Big Picture has built. At the heart of it all is the Northwoods Rewilding Network, a string of over a hundred land partners spanning the country from the Solway Firth to Shetland. The research backing this work is striking. Rewilded sites within the network have recorded more than 250% more bird species and a tenfold increase in pollinator abundance compared to control sites that weren’t rewilded. Beyond the network, the Loch Abar Mòrr poject brings together fourteen landowners across 120,000 acres…

People in this episode

Host: Tommy's Outdoors

Guests: Lisa Chilton, Stef Lauer

Topics covered

• rewilding
• conservation
• local communities
• biodiversity
• land restoration
• nature photography
• environmental economics

Keywords

• rewilding
• Scotland
• biodiversity
• local economies
• nature conservation
• land restoration
• lynx
• Northwoods Rewilding Network
• pollinator abundance
• environmental impact

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SCOTLAND: The Big Picture

Places: Scotland, Solway Firth, Shetland, Loch Abar Mòrr, Ben Nevis, Europe

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