I’m walking through an old oak wood on the west coast of Scotland. The air is soaked by a fine mist, so wet I feel as if I am breathing water. The trees are wreathed with lichen, hanging like the ancient beards of tree spirits, giving the place a timeless aspect.
There is rare quality of quiet here. More than silence, there is a peace here that has existed for millennia. I rest my hand against a tree, my heart slows and my soul relaxes, comfortable here. This is the place I came from a thousand years ago.

As I stand beside the tree at a Roe deer, no bigger than dog, tip toes into the clearing. She is twitching and nervous, sniffing the air for the scent of danger, her ears swivelling to catch the slightest sound. Why is she so cautious, what threat concerns her in this gentle place? Then I realise, she remembers, once there were tigers here.

If you had asked me a few years ago to describe a Lynx I would have looked at you quizzically and tried to call to mind a big cat of Europe or north America. It would never have occurred to me that these sleek and secretive creatures once walked the very glens I tread in my Highland wanderings.

In his wonderful book, The Lynx and Us, David Hetherington, perfectly captures the essence of this magical forgotten creature. Published by Scotland The Big Picture a group that aims to amplify the case for a wilder Scotland.  The book is painstakingly researched and beautifully illustrated with incredibly rare photographs by Laurent Geslin. It tells the story of these secretive creatures and argues convincingly that they should return to the wild places of the UK.

Lynx are big cats, about the size of a large dog. They are reclusive and shun contact with humans at all costs. They pose no risk to people and would not compete for food with our Highland Wild Cats as Lynx live mainly on Roe Deer and our native Wild Cats eat smaller prey such as rabbits.
Sadly, not only have Lynx vanished from our forests but they have also disappeared from the public consciousness with few people aware that these animals once lived beside us. Hetherington’s book not only reminds us of that fact but makes us realise how much we have lost.

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It is so long since Lynx roamed our woods, they became extinct five hundred years ago, that they have slipped from our collective memory. We read stories to our children about bears and wolves but never mention the lynx which should be just as much a part of our folklore.

It would be relatively simple to re-introduce the lynx to the wilder, forested parts of Scotland and a recent plan to release the creatures into the huge forests of the border country fell at the last post when it was quietly shelved by the government.
There has been much debate about the re-introduction of wolves, which is more difficult because of the greater ranges they require, yet the re-introduction of Lynx would be much easier to achieve. Once released it is likely that Lynx would simply melt away into our forests and that there own secretive nature would make them an animal unlikely to come into contact with man.
This is an important book for everyone who loves our hills and wild places. It is a glimpse of a world that might be, of how we could heal our planet and bring back the creatures we have lost. The Roe Deer has not forgotten the Lynx, neither have our woodlands and hills, the lynx is as much a part of our natural habitat as the Red Squirrel and the Pine Marten.
Imagine, if in somewhere in the depths of a woodland the golden eyes of a Lynx burnt in the darkness once again. Imagine how wonderful that would be.

(All images courtesy Laurent Geslin)